[email protected]
All will come again into its strength:
the fields undivided, the waters undammed,
the trees towering and the walls built low.
And in the valleys, people as strong and varied as the land.
And no churches where God
is imprisoned and lamented
like a trapped and wounded animal.
The houses welcoming all who knock
and a sense of boundless offering
in all relations, and in you and me.
No yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond,
no belittling of death,
but only longing for what belongs to us
and serving earth, lest we remain unused.
--Ranier Maria Rilke, from Rilke�s Book of Hours,
translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Imagine the beautiful future possible for all of us. Imagine a world of unlocked doors, sufficiency, kindness, freedom, creativity and fearlessness. We are called to make this ideal real, for our sakes in the striving and for the sake of our children, and our children�s children.
There are two basic kinds of suffering in the world: One kind is natural and unavoidable, like a hurricane or Alzheimer�s disease, and the rest is because of human beings. We cause most of our own and others� suffering, intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly.
This suffering we can eliminate tomorrow, if we choose. We can transform the entire world--this is not optimistic nonsense but fact--we could change it all today. Such change requires only our Compassion, our Love, and our Presence. We have to bring our willingness to change with us and SHOW UP, �serving earth, lest we remain unused.� If we remain unused, we will not see the transformation of the world into one of �boundless offering in all relations.� Change requires us to be fully present and participating, willing to serve others for all our sakes.
At the same time, this change is inevitable. I believe it is part of our evolutionary process, and the only way we will survive as a species. �All will come again into its strength� when we choose to come again into ours.
Come, then: undam your waters, open your gates, take down your fences and walk the fields of your life undivided, uncompromised, enobled and empowered to transform the world.
[Return to Spirituality Archive]