RESILIENCE AND HUMAN NATURE
Dear reader,
This June blog is inviting you to
reflect on the current events that have made all our global community a place
of crisis of major proportions. I the USA alone 100,000 deaths and more to
come. This is not new to humanity, we have suffered many pandemics, wars, and
all sorts of damages but came out with more creative ways of dealing and
healing. People are resilient in times of troubles. Michael Meade states:
“The common usage of the word
resilience suggests “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties” the current push to reopen the country after shutting down to stop the coronavirus
exhibits this desire for a quick recovery, especially at the economic level.
The problem is not just that the choice between open or closed is a false
dichotomy; there are many nuanced paths between the two positions. The greater
issue is that those who worry most about the economy and want to rush back to
save it, may cause a much greater loss of human life and still fail in trying
to force the economy to recover quickly.
The word resilience means “to
rebound, to leap or spring back.” There is also a connection to the word
salient as in “salient point,” the tipping point at which the heart of a human
embryo seems to leap towards life. Seen that way, the point of resilience is
not simply “going back” to a state that existed before; nor is it seeking a
“new normal.” True resiliency involves both springing back up and arriving at a
new starting point in life.
“We live in a time of multiple
crises, radical changes, and increasing adversity in terms of both nature and
human culture. Only when faced with obstacles, stress, and even environmental
threats does resilience emerge. Recent psychological studies show that children
who do not face adversity early in life tend to lack a capacity for resiliency.
As an old proverb succinctly puts it, “Smooth seas make bad sailors.” That also implies that resiliency can be
learned and that people can become wise old salts when it comes to facing
waves of adversity and finding meaningful ways of resetting the course of life.
The issue in a crisis is not simply survival, but also a transformation of the
survivors”.
CREATION AND CREATIVITY – ART
I am reflecting on what my
mentor Michael Meade describes as RESILIENCE. I am back in my earlier life as a
young teen in Venezuela when my mother left Europe after WWII. I am incredibly
grateful to my mother who alone (father was killed in the Ukrainian conflict
with communism) developed a great resilience to survive and give me a model of creative
work for more than 70 years. She was a great cook and managed to earn enough
for us to live well until migrating to Canada. There she worked in a food store
and cooked for others, and thus we lived well until I graduated from University
and was able to work. So, I find that only our soul is the centre of
resilience. Meade states:
“The soul is the only thing in
a person that cannot be overwhelmed. The soul is also the seat and living
source of human resilience. Even in the midst of a great crisis or a tragic
descent, the soul can find salient points at which the human spirit can awaken
further, and a quickening of life can occur. Whether it is a crisis, a
conflict, or a great loss; creation is the only outcome that satisfies the
soul.”
As we are experiencing a global
pandemic and slowly many countries are relaxing their strong rules of
protection of people, we note, on the news, how everyday carers and helpers in
all types of work are being very creative in developing new ways of saving and
protecting whole countries. Leadership is required to direct all countries no
matter of what political persuasion, to confront the coronavirus pandemic that causes greater activation of both the archetype of the healer and that of the
leader. To consider how failures of leadership can undermine even the most
heroic attempts at healing, Michael Meade turns to an ancient myth from India.
When Indra, the prototype for all subsequent leaders, becomes wildly inflated
and endlessly demanding, the growing sense of chaos threatens the entire realm
of life. In the myth, an intervention on the part of the gods reduces the
hubris of the ruler and brings balance back to the realm. At this critical time
on earth, an awakening of genuine and inspired leadership may have to come from
the hearts and minds of a multitude and diversity of people for even greater
tragedies to be avoided. But human nature is resilient.
Finally, let us reflect on the
source of creative resilience – the SOUL. Wisdom comes from a developed soul.
Let the collective culture of all humanity start to listen to each soul that
has great wisdom to heal and creatively lead us all forward to a new and different
and more peaceful future.
