“A huge shift in consciousness is underway in our time. A sea change from the “I and it” marketplace conception of the world to an “I and thou” sense of communal identity. Joanna Macy describes it as a “Great Turning,” an ecological revolution widening our awareness of the intricate web that connects us. Teilhard de Chardin called it an evolution of consciousness, an emergence of the “planetization” of humankind. We have to think now like a planet, not like separate individuals. We need a “psyche the size of the earth,” James Hillman says … “The greater part of the soul lies outside the body.”
—Belden C. Lane, The Great Conversation: Nature and the Care of the Soul
During a recent staff retreat, we reflected on the many changes we’ve experienced in the last year and a half, personally and at Prairiewoods: the losses have been many, as have the gains. One of the images shared during our time together was that of shattered glass. If multiple pieces were broken at the same time, and all the pieces scooped up, we would not be able to put them back together in exactly the same way. Instead, utilizing the pieces would result in something new—a mosaic, perhaps—possibly as beautiful or more so than the original pieces. That image of a new wholeness crafted from the pieces of what shattered has been a hopeful one for me.
It feels important to acknowledge that we are changed both by what we have lost and what we have been gifted, whether we are talking changes at Prairiewoods or within our larger communities. Haven’t we all learned in a more visceral way just how interconnected we are? Even in our divisions and moments of separation, we realize that our choices impact one another in every way—we may argue about how to respond to that knowing, but that doesn’t change the fact of it; we can’t unknow what we’ve learned. Belden Lane is exactly right when he says, “We have to think now like a planet, not like separate individuals.” What happens in Italy or India has a direct impact on me, and then on whoever serves me at the local breakfast place or provides my healthcare.
We are all living in the shift of consciousness Belden talks about in the quote above. And times of shifting awareness and transition from what was to what will be are incredibly challenging. That sense that we are all facing this challenge is clear in so many ways. As I listen to “Marketplace,” a public radio show about economic matters, I recognize it in the host’s references to “the before-times” as compared with now. As my Instagram feed fills up with people converting vans to living spaces, as the news fills with stories of people who quit their jobs rather than return to work the way it used to be—and a myriad of other examples—we see that struggle to craft something new and beautiful from the shatterings we’ve experienced.
The temptation is to move quickly toward a “new normal,” to get the pieces put back together even if we don’t have a clear image of the mosaic we’re crafting. This is understandable because, as James Hillman says (above), “the greater part of the soul lies outside the body,” which makes every one of us feel so vulnerable. Our most tender parts are literally exposed. This isn’t new, but our new awareness makes it feel like a recent exposure. We can’t blame ourselves for wanting to get covered and protected. The problem is that if we just cover up we risk enclosing the infection, the “wrongnesses” of the past within, where it will fester and lead to further shatterings. I keep thinking that the only thing that makes what we have all been living through “worth it” is if we somehow come out the other side into “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible” (to borrow from Charles Eisenstein). We are all carrying the grief and trauma of these past months within our bodies, and our exposed parts feel raw. But we can learn to “think like a planet” if it means a better future, one with less shattering and more beauty, can’t we?
—Jenifer Hanson, Prairiewoods director