As I returned from my home country Colombia to the US I was greeted by some very interesting news. There is a storm brewing on the Atlantic and we must prepare. For at least 5 days prior to the storm, all of Florida mustered the determination to avoid catastrophe and every one of us, in our own way, prepared for what was to come. We purchased dried goods, gathered up water, filled our gas tanks and braced for the storm. Millions of people evacuated the state. Many stayed and some of us even got inspired to clean up our house, like a spring cleaning in late summer. After all, what else do you do at home for 3 days?
Then the day before Irma arrived, the earth shook in Mexico with a magnitude 8.2 earthquake, leaving destruction and confusion. Not the type of news you want to get while you wonder if you will survive this massive Category 5 hurricane as it approaches your home at a slow and steady pace. Even worse, after Irma came and went, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and yet another earthquake shook Mexico, leaving more destruction, more loss of precious lives and much reflection to do.
These events have left me wondering what exactly is happening in the world climate-wise. One week after Harvey devastated and flooded Texas we were looking at 3 hurricanes forming on the Atlantic, wildfires consuming California on the West Coast, and on the other side of the planet, Nepal and Bangladesh were experiencing mass flooding. It seemed as if Fire, Water, Wind and Earth were all violently revolting against humanity, against each other, against themselves, against the world.
On the outside, that’s what it looked like, mass destruction. On a deeper level however, the message being carried was becoming evident. It seemed like the elements were simply manifesting a truth that lurks beneath our skin as humans, beneath her skin as Mother Earth. We live in a state of disconnection from our internal elements. We allow the passions of attachment ravage and fuel the fire inside, while the winds of the mind create destructive tornadoes that self-sabotage the clarity of who we are. Our emotional layers keep whirling, slowly gathering more emotions and adding more to the slow and destructive spin that keep us in a pattern of emotional confusion. All the while we are poisoning our bodies with unhealthy foods, habits, toxins and behaviors creating a toxic ground into which we place the seeds of our sorrows, pains, suffering and then we just let them grow. Bad earth, bad seeds.
The world is not at war with itself, we are at war with ourselves. Beauty, and destruction, are indeed in the eye of the beholder.
After pondering on all this I still felt incomplete, still felt like the outlook could not possibly be so grim. Nope. I was not going to feed into the fear of what these images could bring up inside. There has to be some kind of positive message being brought from these circumstances. It almost seemed too timely, too perfect, all this chaos perfectly ordered and aligned with each other. Of course, I say this from the comfort of not having had any losses due to these disasters. My heart is with those who have lost material possessions as well as family or friends and I pray they too, can find meaning and something positive in what cards the universe has dealt them.
Right during this time, Pope Francis arrived in Colombia. He was met by thousands of devoted Catholics and also by tribal leaders advocating respect and harmonious living practices for the planet we live on. After hundreds of years of Catholic suppression of indigenous and traditional ways of living, finally it seems we are witnessing a time of conciliation. The thought of the planet’s kundalini waking in the Andes, catalyzed by the Pope’s arrival in Colombia Then moving upward reaching Mexico and California, moving up the entire East coast with Caribbean hurricanes to exit at the top of the planet.
It seems as if this time of chaos is bringing us closer, to each other, to ourselves and to the planet. The planet is calling our attention, our social crisis is getting worse, our governments continue to exploit us, and even threaten the security of all who live on this planet, technology continues to advance faster than our morals and driving us further from that which is meaningful. We can cry in sorrow, and some might find comfort in it. However, I invite us to pray for the awakening of our planetary consciousness. For our Mother to be merciful in the way she calls out attention, but also for our human brothers and sisters to rethink the way we are living our lives and hopefully to gain more awareness of the impact each one of us has on our surroundings. Remember the butterfly effect? A moment of non-reactiveness, a prayer, a positive thought, a helping hand to a neighbor, a hug to a tree, or simply being at peace with having no electricity for weeks can be great help to a planet and society that is experiencing great turmoil already.
Metta to all!!
Maria Farfan 