Can’t Blame the Chaos - A Path Less Traveled in Perilous Times
“The Wind in the Meat” By Amanda Sage & Joe Bob Merritt in collaboration.
“Consciously or subconsciously, we all strive for chaos in life. No one is content living happily ever after. There is boredom in that.”
Have you seen the news recently? The planet is burning, corruption rules the world, and fear mentality keeps spiraling the vicious cycle. Should someone do something, or is it all just sensationalist naive fairy tales? Are there any other options?
As grim and urgent as current world affairs are, it lifts my spirits to know I’m not the only one who stands for the possibility of a beautiful, natural world for all the children and generations beyond. However, to make this possibility a reality, recognizing the mind-traps of social conditioning may be key.
Curiously enough, the societal establishment knows the quandary of being alive very well. Hence, a vast majority of media headlines focus on sensationalist content specifically meant to take advantage of people’s inner turmoil. Heaven forbid you suddenly realize that a mere drop in the ocean has all along been an ocean in a drop, masterfully tricked into oblivion.
In my experience, it’s in times like these that there’s nothing more powerful than for people to awaken from the nightmare of fearful isolation. A unity of diversity emerges from self-acceptance, and not from fitting in or hiding behind collective stereotypes.
Life Not Bound by Extremes
“I finally figured out that not every crisis can be managed. As much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can’t protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos.”
So, is the world really turning into a burning hell, or is it just normal statistics and business as usual? Am I now labeled a demon for eating meat or an archangel for being vegan?
I can choose to remain in denial, or I can self-righteously pray for the world’s salvation and sing about rainbows and unicorns, finding approval in each divided social group.
It’s easy to make excuses based on collective opinion polls to avoid facing my own unresolved inner conflicts. Yet, all this ignored inner darkness is actually the much-needed compost for the heart-seed to awaken and sprout!In many ancestral lineages, including the Amazonian, Andean, and Tibetan wisdom traditions, the obstacle is the solution. This teaches us to awaken the heart’s essence beyond extremes.
Yes, the traditional Amazonian diet is meat-based. However, the culture honors the reciprocity of life by avoiding overconsumption, eating locally, and encouraging biodiversity.
Yes, many Amazonian tribes traditionally performed controlled burns. This was to prevent the rainforest from suffocating itself when trees grow too close together, but it wasn’t done for the benefit of the logging, beef, or soy industries.
Anything can become either medicine or poison, depending on the underlying intention. For indigenous wisdom carriers, caring for the environment was a practical matter based on the recognition of the greater organism we are all a part of.
Prioritizing heart-centered presence allowed ancestors to care for future generations while honoring those who came before them.
How consciously can each of us honor the Unity in Diversity, also known as The Great Spirit, which provides all the necessities of life?
The answer to that is a question: Are you willing to get to know and come to terms with the overbearing brilliance and abysmal black holes of your own inner universe?
The Love-Hate Affair with the Self
“In chaos, there is fertility.”
It took a fair degree of perseverance in my life to grant spacious presence to the vicious cycles of avoidance, recognizing their womb-like nature. The gestation of infinite human potential equally takes place in the dark limiting womb of unconscious social conditioning.
How about acknowledging all the wars, diseases, and ecological disasters as the essential evolutionary womb for birthing your highest purpose?
Taking the time to understand the dualistic extremes of hope and fear for what they are revealed the catch-22 of illusory promises and endless disappointments. Yet, going through that wash cycle enough times provided the creative friction necessary for clear sight to be born.
Clearly seeing into the awakened potential of fearless heart presence, unabated by adversity, is an essential first step beyond hopes and fears. With a steady pace and the support of friends, even the seemingly impossible task of eradicating suffering in the world becomes conceivable.
My real motivation awakens only from honoring the calling of the heart rather than guilty mind-trips.
A Practical Blueprint to Check in With...
Here are some meaningful evolutionary steps I found on my own journey:
For me, it all started with a wake-up call, which, in my case, was a physical illness. This illness pointed to a disconnect from the nature of the heart. My health only deteriorated further as I tried to avoid that call until I got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
1: The Spark
Connect with your innermost pure motivation. Of all that’s happening in your world, what’s calling you back to reconcile with yourself? The wake-up call doesn’t have to be a physical illness; it can be any pressing issue, unresolved conflict, or simply a life lacking greater meaning.
In responding to the wake-up call, I first had to find the tiny ocean drop of motivation to heal my illness and harmonize with my inner universe. By applying this motivation in my everyday life choices, I began awakening to the surrounding ocean of incentive, tapping into a purpose greater than myself.
Doing the inner work as service to the greater whole, and acknowledging myself as part of it, made a real difference for me. With that kind of unconditional empowerment, I could transform the stale identity that limited the nature of my becoming. I don’t believe that some people are born more determined, capable, or brave than others. In my experience, these qualities arise from the direct realization of the power found within our shared heart.
2. The Vision
Develop the outer circumstances of your life in accordance with the inner calling. How can everything in your life encourage that inner relationship?
My own response to the call of the heart was to honor the nature within and without. Transforming my inner health and well-being propelled me on a journey towards unity and collaboration. From this, Paititi Institute was born—a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the ecology and indigenous culture in the Amazon rainforest. The path of evolution unfolded when my individual purpose encompassed the well-being of the greater whole. Thus, the founding vision of our organization is to be a conduit for the innermost timeless values of humanity, reemerging in this material realm and being fully honored by it.
3. Manifestation
Once the vision of awakening sprouts as a unifying direction for your life, deepen your commitment by rooting it in what matters for the greater whole
After many years, my visionary initiative reached a threshold in 2014 when our organization acquired 4,000 acres of pristine Andean wilderness bordering the cloud rainforest. This area is designated as a sanctuary reserve, and our grassroots non-profit continues to steward this essential watershed for the Amazonian region.
Yet all this is only made possible through the steadfast dedication to unconditional openness amidst all circumstances that millennial wisdom traditions guide us towards. Without this inner puzzle piece, the preservation of the environment would have no real meaning to me.
While it will appear distinctly to each individual, the essence is the same—an innate passion to be shared with the outer world as a way to blossom into a life of deepest meaning and highest purpose. This essence can then crystallize into a continuous reminder to be rather than to avoid, distract, or react.
What practical endeavor in your life could serve as this continuous reminder?
4. Firm, Steady Steps
Being overly naive and idealistic early on in my journey, I found that a balance of theory and practice was essential since many of my fantasies were unrealistic when put into action. Integrity in following through initiatives implies an integral approach. In our community, we see it as Work, Play, and Pray, all coming together in one continuous stream of Evolution. There’s a sense of perpetual fulfillment and replenishment when I love what I'm doing, while simultaneously evolving and being useful to the greater whole.
It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary – I’ve met amazing people from all walks of life, from hairdressers to chefs to janitors, who embody their work with dignity and inspiration. The whole world is transformed when seemingly disconnected outer events are imbued with inner meaning. The greatest gift of ultimate benefit to the world is to wholeheartedly be yourself.
Making a difference
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do”
There are and have been very inspiring role models across the globe, such as Rosa Parks, Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jr. and others who changed the course of history by not getting lost in mass hysteria. They led by example, encouraging people to think for themselves.
What would happen if multitudes of people embodied this way of being in practical, everyday situations? I estimate nothing short of a new dawn for our civilization, brought forth not through external doom or salvation but individual awakening.
In no way should this be interpreted as an excuse to ignore the multitude of issues in the world today, thinking it will all resolve itself as long as I’m in my privileged ‘love&light’ bubble. In my experience, it’s in the midst of real-life trials and tribulations that genuine inner truth shows itself.
Those who made a positive lasting difference on the grand scale of things did so with the kind of objectivity that only tried and true inner peace can provide. While no one can take on all the world’s issues, each of us facing gradually increasing challenges allows for critical mass consciousness on the planet to be the change.
It’s through getting to know myself enough to start seeing myself in others and vice versa that a natural wish to benefit all beings is born. May we keep mirroring the ocean-like nature of limitless possibilities in each other, for the destiny of our world may depend on it!
💭Inspired to make and active step in collaboration with us?
