Post symposium in Menlo Park, California I have the luxury of some time to read, reflect and write. Homeopaths from all over the world came and met for five days, working together to address autism with the goal of helping children heal from this diagnosis. As is the case often with our profession, we want to save/change the world. Homeopathy is such a revolutionary system of medicine and there is a tendency to get rather zealous about sharing the information…in a good way. By helping folks heal.
Chronic diseases like eczema, asthma, diabetes, migraines and autoimmune conditions are rapidly increasing with each succeeding generation…so much illness and poor health in the news today. As homeopaths, we are often the last resort when medications fail and conventional treatment has no answers.
In the 1980’s it was kids being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit/Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder); today it is the current epidemic of Asperger’s and Autism.
From Margaret Wheatley’s most recent book So Far From Home:
“Time and again, innovators and their highly successful projects are ignored, denied or pushed aside, even in the best of times. In this dark era, this is even more true.
If we choose to stay in our work and claim the role of warrior, our aspiration changes in a dramatic way—we give up needing anyone else to adopt our good work. We focus on where we are, who we’re with, what we’re doing within our specific sphere of influence. We do our work with even greater focus and determination: and we abandon dreams of influencing anybody else. This is what I mean by giving up saving the world.
But we do not give up our work. We act with greater clarity and courage once freed from oppressive ambition. And we cheerfully choose a new role, transforming from savior to warrior.”
This is ancient wisdom, expressed clearly by the Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyam Trungpa:
We cannot change the world as it is,
but by opening ourselves to the world as it is,
we may find that gentleness, decency and bravery are available—
not only to us but to all human beings.
So it is that today as I write I find myself ‘far from home’, planning the next trip across the globe to work with homeopaths working toward a healing presence in the autism community. We are collaborating with other homeopaths in their respective countries, learning from each other. I will keep you posted!
Margaret Wheatley’s book will be my spiritual guide as I read, reflect and write more on what it means to offer homeopathy to a world suffering with chronic illness and disease.
So for every acute illness that our children or we have, it is a good reminder that when there is a beginning, middle and an end to an illness, our immune systems are being exercised. We are becoming stronger with every challenge. Chronic illness is a whole other challenge…the suffering is continual. Homeopathy can help address both.
I invite you to join me in reading Margaret Wheatley’s book. Drop me line, send in a comment. Read over Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyam Trungpa words. How do you open yourself to the world as it is? What does that mean, if anything to you with where you are at in this world?
Today’s Warriors
The first reflection of Margaret Wheatley’s that I am considering is the use of the word ‘warrior’. In the 12-week Vaccine Free: Now What? e-course I teach the immune system as a metaphor of co-operation, communication, co-creativity, commensal (eating at the same table as) and community as opposed to the idea that our internal workings are somehow at war, a battle within at any given moment.
So what could Wheatley mean? This is a long quote (buy the book…it is brilliant!) and so eloquently stated. (If you were sitting beside me as I read and write, I would be compelled to interrupt whatever you were doing and read to you.) We are in a dark time right now. Barbara Marx Hubbard calls this ‘the crisis before the birth’.
“For many years now, I have been inspired, motivated, and comforted by a prophecy that comes from Tibetan Buddhism of impending darkness and the summoning of the warriors. Although this word warrior has heavy connotations of force and aggression, it means something very different in Tibetan culture. The Tibetan word for warrior, pawo , means one who is brave, one who vows never to use aggression.”
Here is the prophecy as written in Wheatley’s words:
“There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. Great barbarian powers have arisen. Although these powers spend their wealth in preparations to annihilate one another, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world. In this era, when the future of sentient life hands by the frailest of threads, the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.”
And I cannot say it any better or any differently than Wheatley herself, so here is the final part of the chapter as she reflects on what this means for us individually and collectively. You make a difference. Believe it. Live your life, with the choices you make, with joy, with love, with compassion. Yes, it is a dark time in terms of health, vaccine choice (or not), autism and chronic disease. But together, we are making choices each and every day that do make a difference.
Believe it.
“You cannot tell who these warriors are by their appearance; they look like normal people doing regular jobs. They are, however, extremely well armed. Their ‘weapons’ are powerful: compassio
n and insight. Well trained in their use, they go into the corridors of power to dismantle the beliefs and behaviors that are destroying life.
When I first heard this prophecy, I was very moved by the description of the warriors – already inside the halls of power, knowledgeable about the inner workings of these systems, perfectly positioned to discern the causes and conditions that had led to the descent into darkness. These warriors would not succumb to aggression or be paralyzed by fear. They would know where best to use their skillful means of compassion and insight.
Perhaps you see yourself in this description or are curious to investigate what it might mean. This is my invitation to you, to all of us who are in these systems of power, who know their inner workings, who know they cannot be rescued or reversed. We are free to choose a new role for ourselves, to transform our grief, outrage, frustration, and exhaustion into the skills of insight and compassion, to serve this dark time as warriors for the human spirit.” – So Far From Home by Margaret Wheatley
Believe it.
Thank you for letting me ‘read’ to you Wheatley’s words! And let me know if any of you are interested in a e-book club to talk about this book.
Big Post Script!!
The Homeopathy First Magazine website is live! Woohoo!! Check it out: www.homeopathyfirstmagazine.com
The actual magazine is awaiting approval from Apple newsstand and we will let you know when the inaugural issue goes lives. Tell everyone you know. The birth is imminent.
Yours in health and healing,
Donna
