Essays, MWA Newsletter, -  Feb 04, 2025

Mountains And Waters Alliance February 4, 2025 – Metamorphosis.

This morning I remembered the butterfly story.

Before becoming a butterfly, a being lives as a caterpillar for a few weeks,

then as a pupa for weeks or months, during which period it completely dissolves.

This is called metamorphosis.

It comes out completely new, and it can fly.

We could, very carefully, use this as an analogy.

Before, the caterpillar’s life is to eat, to consume, to grow itself. Our capitalist system has been doing that, to a point of threatening the natural world.

During the chrysalis stage, it self-destructs completely, as a result of things innate in the being from the start. In a nation built on imperialism, colonialism, racism, and capitalism, facing the inherent human nature as connected, loving, and creative, naturally the conflict would appear. (We have been taught to think of human nature as selfish and bad, but there are thousands of years of evidence showing otherwise.)

We’re watching the destruction of what we had thought was us, but was just a stage.

Don’t think I am casting Trump and Musk as intentional carriers of a new age. For the purposes of this story, they are the last gasp of the old way. We carry the new, and we must embody it as well as we can.

This thought is just a few hours old in me. It’s too new to elaborate, to give details, to defend itself. I share it as a question. What if this disaster, this coup, might be a natural process? This idea doesn’t mean the lives of those deported, killed, or exploited are any less valuable or that the pain is any less. It does call for us to be ready to give up everything so something can be born. And it requires us to drop all our expectations of how that new way manifests. Except that it be more kind.

Personally

I took a 10-day media fast after the US Inauguration, finally ended with regret because things need to be done. There was anidea that as a Zen teacher I should be a source of calm for others. I didn’t notice I was frozen. But last Saturday, listening to a song, the tears burst loose. Then for two days I read too much news, posted madly on Facebook, and began referring to February 1 as “the coup” because that’s when Musk’s people took over the U.S. Treasury. I won’t continue the story here; it keeps moving, and there is some resistance.

It would be great to have so little attachment to my life that I could just stay calm. But I’m in the middle of it, looking for ways to be useful and calm.I find the new story helpful.

Please continue your life.

Get sleep, go outdoors, exercise, eat sensibly, avoid intoxicants. See the people you love, continue spiritual practices, play, be kind, enjoy the children and youth, appreciate the joys in life as much as you can. The reality of our lives is the core of the solution.

Watch less news, and avoid hysterical analyses.

Know whether you, your family, or your loved ones are likely at risk, and take appropriate steps. National Center for Immigrant Rights has practical information for safety.  Or this Youtube: There are many, many organizations doing the same for various groups.

If you are not at immediate risk, consider how to resist the attempt at dictatorship. I’m choosing not to make a list here, but feel free to ask me. This is a time of showing what we will accept – and not. And the slaughter continues in the Middle East; we are in crisis but it’s not only us.

Sanity Resources

I am getting ready to make two supportive offerings, one online and one local, and will post here when they’re ready. Online, I imagine offering guided visualizations offering grounding and support in the natural world, including our ancestors and our own bodies, followed by brief discussion. In Northfield, it would be an in-person support/discussion group with some of the same resourcing plus more discussion time. I’m seeking co-leaders.

At home, life continues with the earth and sky. Soon we’ll tap maple trees, start the garden, sit in meditation, and appeal to the trees, waters, and stars for support through this transition.

Another resource is an hour online Monday evenings, by Patrice Koelsch, a Buddhist and a psychotherapist. She writes,

“The format is 15 minutes of a lightly guided mindfulness meditation so that we can all arrive and settle in. Then I make some remarks related to integrating Lovingkindess and the other Brahma Viharas of Compassion, Appreciative Joy, and Equanimity and invite responses. We finish with a formal Lovingkindness practice. And it is always perfectly fine to join the Zoom room whenever you arrive during the hour. If someone wants to practice generosity, I encourage them to donate to a cause that is in alignment with their highest aspiration.”

6 pm Central Time, 12 Mondays into April, passcode metta.

Practical

We have a new mailing address, particularly for donations but everything else too. We’ll check mail at least once a week.

Mountains and Waters Alliance, P.O. Box 264, Northfield, MN 55057.

I’ll be updating events regularly, for a preview see this page. A few changes: informal retreat/land work time; February 23. June 13-16 community retreat is now open. Online dharma talks are not yet posted, but the first is March 1.

Closing Thoughts

These words from Ram Dass, Nov 23, 2024:

“Whether this is the first day of the Apocalypse or the first day of the Golden Age,

the work remains the same… love each other and ease as much suffering as possible.”

 

With love,

Shodo