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This is a time of sorrow and wonder. Many hard and painful truths are there for us to see, as well as stories of human courage and healing. We are seeing it is possible for the Earth to heal too. Where I live, it is the peak of summer’s glory – everything fresh and alive – even as the pain of racial division continues. Fresh flowers and fresh wounds.
The accelerated pace of change is dizzying. Could anyone have predicted, on the eve of 2020, that the coming months would unfold like this? In truth, many have been sounding the bell for decades, warning of pandemics, climate chaos, rising gun violence and deepening systemic racism. Yet, only now are we collectively waking up to the intersectionality of these concerns. The virus is forcing us to scrutinize everything, finally revealing the web of fractures in our social, political and economic systems. Like you, I struggle to imagine what the future will be like for our children and their children, and how to make the right decisions for them now.
I chose the theme of the labyrinth for this edition of Kosmos to represent our collective journey in this moment. A labyrinth is not a maze – we can’t get lost. It is however, a mystical path with twists and turns – a deliberate, metaphorical journey of the heart – to the ‘center’ and out. We are not alone in the labyrinth. Others are taking the same circuitous pilgrimage, and yet it is a journey we must take ‘by ourselves’, filled with strong emotions. Friends have reported a kind of fog that lately settles over them..a mix of confusion, fear, and ennui. The labyrinth can feel this way, and it is OK. It is not a journey that always offers answers, but it teaches us to work with uncertainty.
The writers in this edition of Kosmos are on labyrinth journeys too. Maybe you have felt yourself to be on such a journey. We chose essays that expressed experiences and feelings, not rhetoric or opinion.
Each step we take, banal or profound, affects outcomes, not just for ‘me’, but for all. Will I wear a mask in public? Fly in a plane? Eat meat? Grow food? Join a protest? Two ideas can help us: accountability and reverence. To be accountable is to answer personally for the outcomes of our choices, actions, and behaviors. No more excuses. And I like this definition of reverence – ‘a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe’. What does it mean to live a life ‘tinged with awe’?
Many of the threads that we must now weave into a future, have long been examined in-depth in Kosmos: Regenerative culture, global citizenship, consent-based governance, spiritual ecology, the commons, living earth, local living economy, intentional community, peacebuilding, mindfulness, interspirituality. These models and practices have something beautiful in common – they reflect in some way our instinct to take care of each other. Let’s never underestimate that instinct, the human spirit, the human heart. We journey by ourselves, together. And step by mindful step, we find our way home.