We cannot find new solutions to old problems if we keep looking in the same places, or doing the same things in the same ways. We have to find the courage to seek elsewhere, because that is where the treasure lies. We live in times where there is a profound need for new solutions to the problems we face as a collective. And there are many exciting inventions that promise to secure the future of the earth for coming generations. All of that should give us a bit of hope.
But as a human race, we need to find more answers than merely the ones provided by the invention of new technologies. We have to redefine who we are and question the institutions that have forced their definitions on us for far too long. If your life is mostly defined by institutions like the church and religion, government, or even family traditions, it might be time to re-examine those beliefs we have accepted as our own. It is not to say that many of those institutions have not played important roles in governing our society. But at the core of most of them, they are not there to empower us. They are there to tell us how our lives are supposed to be structured and lived. And their roles in our lives become increasingly emphasised, once we discover that their prescriptions do not work for us any longer. This gives rise to unrest and upheaval, as we are witnessing in the world today. And all of that is positive, because change is necessary. It may be uncomfortable, disturbing and unsettling in many ways, but change is necessary, as we search for and find new ways of looking at ourselves and each other.
Much of the discomfort we currently experience is only a manifestation of a much older story that has dominated our world for far too long. But now, as each of us realises this and wakes up to a greater truth, in a “remembering” of sorts, the scales will hopefully slide back into greater balance. A very important part of this remembering is the resurrection and celebration of the true feminine qualities that have been absent from our society for too long.
In one of many creation myths, the world was born from an egg. The egg is a symbol of something waiting to be born, holding all potential and the promise of new life to come. But for the world to be born, the egg had to break open, leaving the shattered pieces behind of what is no longer needed.
Each one of us chose to be here now at this crucial moment of transformation, and it asks of us to give birth to something new. As you allow for that which is falling away, and as you venture bravely into your own unknown future, you do it for all of us. Do not dismiss or devalue your own story, your own experience. We all need it.
Fortunately, we have symbols, stories and metaphors to help us rewrite the stories of our bodies and our souls. Tapping into this vast well of wisdom helps us to bring understanding and meaning to our experiences. In doing so, we prepare for a new time to arrive when we start creating a new myth, a new story that will be told by our children and our children’s children, of a time when women remembered again.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing, if everybody was able to make the shift to not have your life being about being successful, or getting ahead and having and getting more? What if our entire culture rested on: how do we become more whole? Wouldn’t this be a different world?” (Oprah)
In becoming whole, you will probably have to face your greatest fear. In doing so, you will find the courage to face what needs to change. If you are willing to submerge yourself in your own unconscious fears, you will need to be brave. Being stripped down to your essential self is most certainly not for the fainthearted. You will spend time below the surface, diving deeply into your unconscious, where your greatest fears may lurk. Maybe this particular time is not the moment for you to do this, and that is fine too. But if it is, you will uncover the gem that is waiting for you. You will bring it back to the surface and emerge triumphantly. You would have discovered a part of you that has been ignored for too long. This will be a part that could only be discovered by your courage and your chivalry, the bravest part of your being. Once you act and change your life, you will feel more alive than ever before.
And that became the story she lived – the story others wanted her to live. Her story became their truth, and it was declared, day after day, to be so.
But one day, she started hearing a faint tune. It was playing in the far distance, but somehow it sounded very familiar. She decided to walk towards this entrancing sound. As she came closer, she could hear it more clearly.
The mesmerizing sound had such an exquisite message, that she could almost not bear to hear it. She fell to her knees, because there was something in that sweetness that was truer than anything else she had ever heard before.
She felt invisible hands lifting her up to walk further. Suddenly, she no longer felt so alone. She learned to trust these invisible hands as her close companions.
She followed the tune over mountains and valleys. It became stronger and stronger. She could feel the sound touching the cells in her body and it felt good. She was dancing now, no longer walking. The heaviness in heart lifted. She looked up at the sky and saw an eagle gliding high, high up in the air, with effortless grace. The shadow it threw on the earth, showed her where her next steps should be.
Her path became clearer and clearer. She no longer looked back. She knew this was a new way of walking in the world. She knew there were many pathways she had not discovered yet. They were now inviting her to walk them, to follow them to their secret hideaways, because there was so much more to discover.
The land she came from was left far, far behind, never to be visited again. She forgot the wounds that were inflicted on her, the scars now scarcely visible. She was free. She was free.
