Just For This Moment

by Caitlin Johnstone
January 26, 2020
Source

We could sit here all day
talking about how the news man is always lying
or how both parties are functionally the same
or how the Bastards toil endlessly to hide the truth from us
or how we know better than all those foolish brainwashed sheep
who are just trying to survive another day on this earth.

We could sit here all day doing that.

Or,
maybe,
just for this one moment,
we could look inward
and be honest with ourselves.

Maybe just for this moment
we could ask if we are truly being present here
and perhaps contemplate what it is we might be running from.

Maybe just for this moment
we could be real about what ways we continue lying to ourselves
and try breathing the light of truth onto those endarkened areas.

Maybe just for this moment
we could stop escaping into smugness and self-righteousness,
into ideological conflict and drama,
into paranoia and suspicion of anyone who stands out,
into worry and fear of what’s coming,
and be here now.

And maybe we will find deep wounds inside.
And maybe we can heal those wounds.

And maybe we will find conflicted aspects of ourselves.
And maybe we can move from conflict to integrity.

And maybe we will find all the parts of ourselves which run to escape from here.
And maybe we can love them, and reassure them, and nurture them into presence.

And maybe then we’ll look around,
and notice that the smoke has cleared from our vision.

And maybe we’ll notice all sorts of things we’d never noticed before.
Things about ourselves.
Things about the life we’ve been living.
Things about our social circles and relationships.
Things about our political system and government.
Things about our media and information systems.
Things which were previously hidden by cowardice and compartmentalizing.

And maybe we’ll start seeing opportunities we’d never noticed before.
Doors and windows which were previously invisible to us.
New escape routes and entryways
as we realize we’d been looking at a 3-D model in two dimensions.

And maybe then we’ll have a chuckle
as we realize that the sages across the ages were right.
That it really is all one.
That we are inseparable from the whole.
That any consciousness brought to any area helps awaken the totality.
That the greatest gift anyone can bring to the world
is their own self-realization.