Always precluding great power is the state of vulnerability. This, being one of life's great paradoxes, appeals to me because of the tendency for vulnerability to facilitate strengthening and growth.
When we are vulnerable, we are in a state of helpless surrender, which, I believe, is the only time we can actually become something greater. We have to get out of our own way.
This paradox is found everywhere in nature - think of cocoons, or the eggs of birds, reptiles, fish, or new shoots of buds on a lowly bush. Each of these forms of new life is subject to risk before it is even ready for the world.
I don't need to go into details about the vulnerability required in order to make babies. Hopefully, trust and intimacy are key factors. These are two things also required for properly birthing those babies. What intense vulnerability it takes to give birth! But it's always coupled with great power, which is both creative and violent. It's as real as it gets. It is new life!
Our babies are our most precious, fragile ones. When they are first born, they have just risked the comfort and safety of the womb to brave the world and become a part of it. There is a very good reason that we have deeply-rooted instincts for protecting our younglings. They are truly helpless.
Children are just beginning their journey on the continuum we all traverse - of learning right from wrong and what is appropriate. Those who do not have proper guidance from adults throughout their days during their childhood years are the very definition of 'at risk'.
When we are young, we are our most vulnerable, yet we are also our most innocent. I've said it before, innocence is a rare form of true power. If only adults could make themselves more childlike, maybe the world would be less like it's the 'survival of the fattest' and it would resemble a playground where everyone gets to play his or her own scenario - and everybody would be fed.
When non-worriers know we don't have control of a situation, we say, 'que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be' and we 'give it up', so to speak, because we know nothing more can be done. We pray that the best outcomes will be achieved and in doing so, we open ourselves up to embrace uncertainty. Risking not knowing what will happen, we find faith that we will receive our answers or desired outcomes.
But surrender isn't that easy for everyone.
Many people live their lives in such a way as to never render themselves vulnerable. They take no chances and leave no open doors. No amount of high-tech security systems or hermitic habits, however, can protect anyone from their human vulnerability. Anyone who watches TV dramas knows there are endless ways one can become killed, let alone victimized - or worse... heartbroken.
They say it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. Either way, love strengthens us. Sacrifice always does. Love almost always hurts, but it's worth it. Anyone who has become a parent knows that, no matter what, the risks we take to be together in this life are always worthwhile. Loving for love's sake turns vulnerability into the greatest power imaginable.
Author M. Scott Peck said, 'there can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.'
Can you drivers please remember this when we pedestrians are trying to cross the road safely?
Just like walking through traffic in Weyburn requires us to risk our lives, authentic living requires us to bare our souls. I believe that global healing requires each of our unique expressions of humanity to move forward. So, how can you save the world? Be yourself.
You can't be yourself without risking scrutiny - take it from me, I know! Creating your own destiny is worth risking your faults being exposed. Without discovering our shortcomings, we can't see how other people fit into our lives. We all need each other.
Paraphrased song lyrics of the week (by Phil Collins): 'Don't be afraid to let them show - your true colours are beautiful!'
