New Perceptions of our Role Now

Walking home from the grocery store, together with our big black dog Q, I take a shortcut through a neighboring farm. Winding by a pasture and behind the barn, we pass a few cows and a chicken coop and continue along a dirt track to a gate at the far end of the farm. It’s a big heavy gate which I can edge open just enough for Q and me to squeeze past.

Continuing toward home I’m startled by a rooster hopping out from behind a shrub into our path cackling at us vociferously. This rooster is a long way from his barnyard chicken coop; how he got out so far away I had no idea, but I figured I should usher him safely back to his coop. Evening was coming in and coyotes would be coming out.

The rooster obviously wanted to get home too; he stayed by the big gate, knowing he had to get back through it but skittered away each time I tried to herd him through the narrow opening.  I tried repeatedly to direct him through, but he would have none of it, continually scurrying this way and that to evade my directive.  Q, in the meantime, had settled in to watch this charade. He eyed my futile efforts passively.

Exasperated, feeling I’d have to leave the rooster to the coyotes, I finally turned away, throwing my hands up in defeat exclaiming “I don’t know what to do!, I give up!”

Then, as if on cue, Q languidly arose, looked at me, looked at the rooster, and proceeded to stroll back through the gate toward the farm.  The rooster promptly fell in behind him, as though following Q’s marching orders. After recovering from my momentary shock, I followed in their path.  So there we were: a big black dog leading the way, followed ardently by a rooster, with the human tagging along behind.

Our procession made its way directly down the dirt track and through the barnyard until the rooster was safely ensconced in the chicken coop.

A fun little story, right? But there’s more to it than that.  If we look at it more expansively, this little story can be seen as a microcosm of the way most people see our role in the world:  don’t we all so often believe we need to take charge, figure out, and manage situations around us?

What if the opposite is true, as Q showed me?

What if our role now is to step back, ask, allow, and listen.  Be the observer.   See what may arise to guide us in new directions, whether it’s a big black dog or the expansive wisdom that inhabits all of nature, our planet Earth, and the multi-dimensional world around us.

Right now, particularly in this time of worldwide quiet, Earth herself is stepping forward to share her wisdom and guidance with us. Here’s one aspect of that, an excerpt from  Earth Speaks Up which seems particularly applicable today:

In Earth Speaks Up here’s a wonderful meditation, Exercise 5, (which you’ll find Here) that guides us in connecting and working with these energetic currents. It’s a way of engaging which will be beneficial for each of us as well as our planet in these turbulent times.

We are in a time of such worldwide hardship with this pandemic right now. Yet in this time of quiet, when we allow ourselves to be the observer, to step back and listen, there is also wisdom that can come forth to inspire us and guide us in new directions.

And the amazing thing is, when we begin to listen and to engage on these subtle levels, there is so much we have not yet known about our ability to bring healing and change to our world; so much we are capable of.