29 Jan Embracing an Evolutionary Worldview

When our mind is open and fresh, we see beauty everywhere, including within ourselves. There’s a sense of savoring the uniqueness of each moment. ~ Pema Chödrön

In wishing the precious souls in our community a Happy New Year and New Decade, I find myself most specifically wishing for us to embrace an evolutionary worldview. This is an orientation toward life that Richard Rohr describes as seeing the good in the new and what’s coming into being. It involves a stance of finding, discovering, and being surprised. It also involves patience and trust that reversals of expectations, changing roles and status, etc are all part of a positive evolutionary movement supported by an intelligence beyond our imagination.

When we step back and look at how life really works, we see that things are constantly changing and evolving.

Minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, Life has a life of its own.

Yet our ego’s need to control what’s happening according to its desires cause us to experience and engage with life in vastly limiting ways. Our egoic drives, which are largely unconscious, cause us to remain stuck in seeking illusions of security, certainty, comfort and predictability. Heeding these drives causes us and others to suffer while missing opportunities to engage in more creative, intelligent and life-affirming ways.

At the heart of embracing an evolutionary worldview is the capacity for vulnerability – the ability and willingness to refrain from protecting and guarding ourselves.

Of course 99% of the time we armor up, we are unaware of doing so. Usually when what’s happening or being said differs from our habitual egoic perspectives we don’t realize how we turn away rather than stay present and allow ourselves to fully receive and experience the new and different.

Thus, the first step to embracing an evolutionary worldview entails a deeper self-awareness and courage to notice when we’re closed off. After this, a possible next step is to practice appreciation – of other people as companions on our journey through life, of trusting what’s happening (even if it’s not what we wanted) as a mysterious unfoldment of life’s greater intelligence. This step often warms the heart, fostering a sense of deeper connection, support and belonging. It fuels our capacity to fully show up and co-create with what’s emerging and unfolding. It enables us to come from a place of love and be vessels for growth and positive change.

Wishing this amazing community a year and decade filled with love, courage, and joy.

Ipek