No straight lines in nature

Change is not loss of safety; change is the very condition of life.

Dear friends:

The spring equinox is upon us. We witness the shift to longer periods of daylight than dark, here in the northern hemisphere. This shift reminds us that all of life traverses in cycles rather than straight lines. There are no straight lines in nature.

We seem now to be in a cycle of deep challenge to old ways of viewing the world and one another. Tyrants and would-be tyrants here in the U.S. and around the world gain traction by offering false reassurances of protecting “traditional” values. They seek to hold power by playing to our fear of change.

And in so doing, they wreak the most destructive changes imaginable: war, violent attacks on civilians, deprivation of the conditions of safety that make life possible.

The international alliance of far-right groups sees itself as a bulwark against what it defines as the evils of globalization. It is, in fact, a product of globalization, and an exploiter of it. (See source after the photo.)

Dictators and power mongers of all stripes will always try to convince us that, if we just give them enough power, they can stop the changes they teach us to fear. Don’t believe them.

Our beautiful planet, as it tilts and rotates, offers us the lessons that guide our path through turmoil: everything is connected, there are no straight lines, experience is cyclical, and always, always, always, in flux. Change is not loss of safety; change is the very condition of life.

As always, I am so grateful for your company on this journey.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-the-fog-of-war?tab=summary