Hope is Here
Join me in creating the world we want
The geese have started to return.
Not only have the geese started to return, but there are open stretches of water — rather than cold hard ice — for them to land and float on.
These are some of the first signs of Spring, here in Minnesota.
The Spring Equinox just passed.
Soon, the grass will change over from brown to green — so gradually that we won’t notice any changes… until suddenly everything seems lush.
Spring drew on... and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night… and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.
― Charlotte Brontë
Soon, there will be buds on branches.
Soon, the tops of daffodils will be pushing through the damp, soft earth.
Soon, the flowers will be everywhere.
We know this.
We know to wait in expectation for the beauty, now.
We know that hope is dancing across the landscape, more and more each day, and that we can expect warmth and color and new growth to appear soon.
We hope now.
But friends, remember: hope is not only for certain months of the year.
Hope is a discipline.
Hope is a commitment that we make — to ourselves, and to each other.
Even when we see what looks like death all around us, we must always remind ourselves that we live in a world that moves in cycles, and those cycles will always come back around to light… to life… to love… to beauty. They always do.
Morning always dawns after night.
Spring always returns after Winter.
Hope is something we’re committed to, here at For the Love of Humanity. Hope is a discipline we return to, again and again. Hope is with us even in the darkness.
We are living through dark times.
Authoritarian leadership and fascism are dominating in more places around the globe — including in the country that used to be the Earth’s beacon of freedom and democracy. The gaps between the haves and the have-nots are yawning wider than they ever have before — when one person might have multiple homes and vehicles, much more than any person needs, while others struggle just to eat. Our Earth is getting sicker and sicker, after years of abuse from humanity, and climate chaos is causing death and destruction to dominate the news more days than not.
Still, we hope.
Why?
We hope because we know that all of these dark realities were created by human beings… and thus, as human beings ourselves, we absolutely have the power to transform them.
And the more of us who realize this, and commit to creating this transformation, the quicker it will come.
The Reality of Change Passes Through Each of Us
So often, when we talk about change in this world, we’re pointing at problems we think are outside of us — like buildings that need to be demolished.
We see the proverbial bricks held together with mortar in our mind’s eye, and we imagine that they need to be dismantled one by one.
Thus, the problems seem solid and immovable.
Thus, overcoming them seems SO hard.
Certainly, a few regular humans couldn’t do it. You’d need massive machines, powered by diesel and skilled labor. You’d need a lot of resources you don’t have.
Sure, you’d probably need those things…
… if the problems were actually brick buildings.
But they aren’t.
The problems in our world are much more like weather patterns — warm air masses pressing into our days, creating the weight of humidity and heat that makes us feel like we can’t even move… or wind howling around us, rattling the windows of our buildings, whipping our hair around our heads… or rain pouring down from the sky, drenching our clothing, overwhelming our rivers and streams, so that water starts flooding into the streets and fields where it was never supposed to be.
Our human minds and hearts are ground zero — the place where any reality that will prevail needs to pass through like a front… and be accepted and embodied by us in order to materialize.
And the thing about these weather patterns?
They become more powerful, the more of us who welcome and accept them into our atmosphere. And they pretty easily spread, from person to person.
We affect each other. Deeply.
You’ve surely witnessed this, again and again.
Crabby person walks into a group of people?
That crabbiness so often spreads and multiplies… right?
Same thing with kindness.
One kindness shared… so often becomes another… and another.
No matter what the weather pattern is, it passes through the atmosphere of one or more of us, picking up power as it touches and overtakes human after human.
Don’t you see?
Large-scale transformation passes through the hearts and minds of each one of us… and ripples out from us to all those we’re connected to… and then to all those who they are connected to… and so on.
You’d maybe be surprised how few connections — human-to-human — would get us to reaching around, and covering, this whole big blue Earth.
But where does any change start?
Change starts within us.
Inner Work is Key
Friends, we are all here together on this planet having a human experience.
We didn’t create the planet.
Our bodies are made of the substance of the planet… but our minds, hearts, and spirits are made of something else.
Remember: we are human beings.
We are not human doings.
Or human goings.
The substance of who we are is a powerful energy of being — which is to say of creating, of caring for, of loving, of nurturing, of giving and embodying life.
There is much on this planet that we didn’t create.
But there is SO much on this planet that was birthed straight out of the beings of humans.
Look around you.
Everything that is not of the natural world was originally seeded in the mind, heart, being of a human being.
We are creative powerhouses.
Every moment we live, we are creating… something.
We may be creating fear… or anger… or discord… or domination… or chaos… or violence… or betrayal… or destruction.
We may be creating love… or beauty… or connection… or community… or belonging… or peace… or joy… or understanding… or kindness.
We are always creating something.
The organizations we call “nonprofits” were originally created by people who saw needs in their communities and wanted to do something about them. They had the best of intentions. They wanted to help.
And nonprofits do help. A lot.
But they also harm. Often.
And how could they not?
Again, they are created and embodied by human beings, who, last time I checked, are not perfectly perfect in everything they do.
We doubt. We have biases. Sometimes we worry more about ourselves and our own egos than we do the missions we’re working on. We have conflict with each other.
These realities often create harm.
And I know that you and I don’t want to create harm.
So.
How does the harm get resolved?
Certainly not by looking “out there.”
We need to look “in here.”
When we start transformation inside our own beings, we are creating a powerful reality that absolutely affects the realities of those we’re connected to. Then, as they’re transformed too, they affect others… and those others affect others.
Before we know it, we’ve birthed a new reality.
How?
We started with connecting with our own humanity.
We started with relaxing… which helped us see more clearly… and envision and create from love and care, rather than fear and anxiety.
In doing that, we helped others see that love and care are actually real things that they can encounter here on Earth…
… and, having received love and care, they were then able to provide more love and care to everyone around them.
You see how this goes?
This is how we do it.
Are you in?
Are you ready to birth the era of human flourishing that honors the dignity and humanity of every — every! — single human on the planet?
Are you ready to see love crowd out fear?
Let’s do it. Let’s be it.
Together.
If you’ve learned from or been inspired by this piece, please consider giving it a like! I’d love to hear from you in the comments, as well, as we work to grow the sense of community here in this space.
Thank you for being here!
💗