I read a Rilke poem this morning, and was struck by the phrase “Heart of the World.” It inspired the piece of writing that follows. I hope it can be of benefit to you during this time.

Like you, all of my emotional and personal resources are being called upon to process what we are going through collectively at this time, and to face the situation without panic. It might seem counter-intuitive, but learning to sit with uncertainty is key right now. There are invitations to panic as well as to gloss-over what is happening. What we know for sure is that this moment, when time seems broken, is the beginning of a new time. A time when humans in the white world have begun to truly feel what we are doing to the Earth. We are receiving a strong correction.

It is important not to minimize this moment. It is important to not lose the opportunity of this moment by finding ways that it is going to “be okay.” Inside our hearts is a gift if we are brave enough to find it, and the Earth is presenting us with an opportunity to let go of the pain of pretending that everything is just fine.

We can choose to be present with what is, the fact that everything is not just fine and hasn’t been for some time. And we can breathe. And then somehow the sound of the birds sweeten, and our hearts swell with love for those we are close to. I encourage you to feel into this moment. To breathe. To let it take you. As Rilke says (with some of my own translation):

So like children, we begin again
to learn from these things,
because they are in the heart of the Tao;
they never left.
This is what the things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before they can fly.

The Heart of our world

Is now when the ignoring stops, as we are pulled towards the heart of our world?
We panic — things are changing!
Meanwhile, my heart is loving more than it has been allowed for so long.

Start here, in place.
Start here, here…
I’m pointing to my heart.
Start there, in your heart.

It won’t be easy… things are sharp and broken there.
And there are abandoned children and caged animals and all those creatures who haunt your dreams.
You may have forgotten them, and they might have given up on you ever seeing.

In dreams, if you even go there anymore, you just spend time terrifying each other.
But that feeling you feel in your dreams, that feelings that is so strong?
There is your truth, there is what is real:

Great sorrow and pain.
Sadness and grief.
Elation, joy, relief.

They are all there inside of you, and now our Earth calls to your Earth,
calls you to have the courage to feel.

This is what you have been getting ready for all these years, reading about liberation.

This is the missing piece: feel your own pain.

Feel the grief of disconnection.

Feel your way home.

For you are the heart of our world.