For nearly half of U.S. voters, the new year 2025 does not easily bring hope. The values expressed by the new administration about social justice issues and not addressing climate change are in conflict.
New York Times/Ipsos polling, released January 18, 2025, shows significant cleavages around the upcoming administration, the economy, and immigration.
News of polarization of societal values and environmental degredation may cause one to wonder about "human-nature." Some believe we have already reached societal and environmental tipping points and it is best to adopt a post-doom perspective.
Fear and cynicism can overshadow the scientific evidence that there actually is a positive direction of evolution toward greater complexity and unity. This was recognized a century ago by Pierre Tielhard de Chardin who coined as the "noosphere." This long, cosmic view helps put current events in proper balance..
We live in southern Oregon where fog and overcast are typical during winter. It is sometimes hard to remember the the sun is always shining brightly above the clouds. Hope is sometimes like that - its a matter of perspective.
Some of us are turning to the Source to find balance and hope.
Beatrice Bruteau, in her 1993 book Radical Optimism says "The way to meaning is the path of perpsective. We have to find the right ange from which to view our situation" When we "shift our identity to the root, to our real self, to the source of our being in God, and all looks very different....The deepest truth is our union with the Abosolute, Infinite Being, with God. That's the root of our reality."
In the recent YouTube video above Nicholas Vesey similarly quotes Cynthia Bourgeault:
"We ourselves are not the source of that hope. We do not manufacture it, but the source dwells deep within us and flows to us with an unstinting abundance, so that so much of it might be more accurate to say that we actually dwell within the hope." ~ Mystical Hope, p. 20
Cynthia Bourgeault goes on to say: "Hope’s home is at the innermost point in us, and in all things. It is a quality of aliveness. It does not come at the end, as the feeling that results from a happy outcome. Rather, it lies at the beginning, as a pulse of truth that sends us forth. When our innermost being is attuned to this pulse, it will send us forth in hope, regardless of the physical circumstances of our lives. Hope fills us with the strength to stay present, to abide in the flow of this Mercy no matter how the outer storms assail us. It is entered always and only through surrender; that is, though the willingnes to let go of everything we presently clinging on to. And yet when we enter it, it enters us and fills us with its own life - a quiet strength beyond anything we have ever known." ~ Cynthia Bourgeault, Mystical Hope, p. 86-87
Wisdom from the Top of the World offers an annual subscription to the Aspen Explorers Club to "bring together like-minded people to explore with those who have pushed the envelope in their lives."
In a YouTube video Ilia Delio explores Teilhard's notion of Omega, as a governing principle of increasing complexity and consciousness, accompanied by increasing spirit and the energy of love. The Omega principle provides a framework to discuss a possible direction of evolution.
Listen to Ilia Delio as she talks with Nicholas Vesey about the Inauguration of Donald Trump (10 Mins) here.
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