Our true nature can never be handcuffed, imprisoned, pirated, hacked, held hostage, nor destroyed.  In the reality of this now moment, freedom is living, breathing, loving, and expressing within, through, and as your spirit-soul.  This spiritual principle is evidenced through the lives of those who related to themselves as being free amidst the loss of outer independence—persons like Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Victor Frankel, Rosa Parks.  They, along with others who have shared how their inner spirit of freedom sustained them, are for us the examples of the changeless reality of being.

Authentic freedom cannot be described as being political, financial, physical, mental or religious, for in their highest definition these categories represent various states of outer independence rather than inner freedom. As world events have proven throughout human history, all of these external structures can and do change without notice. The singular, changeless reality of being is that each of has been born out of and as the very essence of freedom itself: Spirit.

Use this time to deepen your spiritual practice for it is then, as Thich Nhat Hanh informs us, “Love will enter our thoughts, our words, and our actions.”  Affirmative prayer, meditation—these are especially contributory to developing limitless love, goodwill, compassion and discernment.  Through prayer, the tendency to set anger and retaliation loose gives way to patience, forgiveness, loving-kindness.  Then, whether the winds that begin to blow are revolutionary or evolutionary, we will stand in them with a healing peace radiating out from our being into the world. 

The call to our collective heart and soul is this:  to let go of reactive habit patterns and ground ourselves in trusting the fundamental goodness of the universe, the same goodness that lives within each one of us. Then, if our heart feels called to protest injustice, let it begin with prayer.  If our mind feels called to take action by signing petitions, to marching in support of our world family, let us do that also, beginning with prayer. Prayer detoxes the heart of worry, fear, anxiety, and restores equanimity, leading to wisdom-guided, impactful action. It is prayer that speaks most meaningfully and clearly to the dilemmas and questions with which our world family is now dealing.

Reeling. Barely coping. Mourning. Taking a stand. These are just some of the more printable comments I’m receiving from countless individuals about the times our world is currently facing. And I am no exception to standing in what is unchartered territory, in not knowing what’s next.  But there is one thing I absolutely do know:  Spirit is now and ever shall be in charge. Now, in the precise moment you are reading these words, I invite you to also know that with me; to know that while the current appearance is wayward, the way forward is about trustingly walking hand-in-hand with Spirit.