Can This War Heal Us?

As I watch the news, I feel anger and disgust at Putin. And when I see the images coming out of Ukraine, my heart aches, and I fear for the future of our beautiful planet. But it doesn’t help anybody for me to stay in my reactive, judgmental, fearful mind. 

How can we possibly frame this war in a way that allows us to respond with wisdom rather than continuing the world of struggle that has bred wars, greed, and heartache for eons? 

It helps me immensely to see it all from a bigger perspective. So, I invite you to come sit on the moon with me and as you settle in, there is our beautiful home floating before you. Just like you have evolved from an infant to a baby, to a child, to a teenager and then to an adult, the Earth too has evolved. In its infancy, it was just gas and dust. After 4 ½ billion years of maturing, it slowly created the magical world of water that shows up in so many different expressions, along with myriad variations of land, including majestic mountains covered with emerald green forests. And if you doubt the enormous creativity of this being called Earth, recognize the stunning variety of flowers, insects, and mammals that can be found all over the planet.  

The amazing thing to realize is that the first rudimentary homo sapiens only showed up around 300,000 years ago, which is just a blip in universal time. We are a very young species and for most of the time we have been around, we have been caught in the world of our mind, the kind of mind that grasps and resists, wants and fears and feels if it just gets what it wants then everything will be okay. Look at history and you will see the devastation this has brought forth on our planet. 

But amazing things are happening in the evolution of our species. Now that we are so connected technologically, we are beginning to see that we are all in this together, living on a tiny blue-green jewel of a planet and that we breathe the same air and drink the same water and eat from the same earth. More and more of us are beginning to see that our sanity and our survival are dependent on our ability to connect and communicate, recognizing our sameness even if we speak a different language, have a different culture, believe in a different religion, and even have radically different politics. 

What I’m talking about is the wisdom of our hearts and our hearts will help us to see that the old way of domination, judgment, greed, and force does not heal us, whether it is in our personal relationships, with groups that are different than us, or between nations.  

So, for me, Putin is the expression of the old kind of human mind that believes in force over others. He lives in the illusion that he can take what he wants even though it causes death to innocent people along with destruction and heartache. We have seen this over and over again, down through the eons, whether it is in individual relationships, religious institutions or heads of countries.  

It is time for a new way! And we are in a messy, painful birthing process from the old kind of human mind that believes it is a separate entity and its needs are more important than anything else to a new kind of human mind that connects and unites, realizing there’s only one of us here. 

As I have studied the evolution of the Earth, I see all along the way, as an old way was dying and a new way was being born, the old way got very strong as the new begins to find its expression. This is seen clearly in the creation of a butterfly that I’ve talked about so many times.  As the caterpillar turns into goo in the cocoon and the first cells of the butterfly begin to show up out of the goo, the goo always kills the first wave of butterfly cells. In other words, the old tries to stop the new. But this causes these cells to come together into a community and out of that cocoon comes a butterfly who is an entirely different creature than the caterpillar. The butterfly’s view is so much bigger than the caterpillar, which can live in one tree its whole life whereas the butterfly can fly from Canada to Mexico. And rather than just taking, like the caterpillar, it gives by pollinating and sharing its beauty with the world.  

Putin is a representative of the old kind of mind and practically the whole world is saying this is not okay. He has painted himself into a corner as the old kind of mind is in its death throes. We don’t know what will happen with Putin and Ukraine, but I do know, in time, this new kind of mind will become stronger and stronger. 

Is this an easy time? No! But it is a time of birth. And you are a part of this birth. How you see what’s happening in the Ukraine matters! When you notice you’re caught in your mind, whether it’s judgment of Putin, fear for the future, or despair about what is happening, for a moment here and a moment there, pull your attention out of your struggling mind and ground it right here so you won’t be seduced into the world of struggle that is the hallmark of the old kind of mind. As Stephen Levine says, “Letting go is the opening into the flow of life that allows you to see that each moment is just right, giving birth to the next. There is nothing askew, nothing amiss in the flow of life. It is perfection.”  

This is such a radically true statement and yet your mind may have reacted because the mind is incapable of seeing that life is trustable. But it is your heart that can open you to the truth of respecting and honoring the intelligent flow of life. We don’t have to like what’s going on but with your heart, it is possible to trust it. 

So will you hold with me that even though the war in Ukraine is very difficult to let in, and the pain and suffering of the Ukrainians is heartbreaking, something smarter than individual human beings is in charge of this constantly expanding and contracting thing called life? In the long run, this is another step where humanity is maturing out of the old ‘caterpillar’ mind into the new ‘butterfly’ mind that sees with the eyes of the heart. And through our ever-increasing ‘butterfly’ mind, the Earth will take another step in its healing. 

If this calls to you, enroll in my new interactive online course beginning March 30th, Falling in Love with You. If you want to know more, watch my Masterclass overview. Enroll by March 16th and receive $150 off tuition with coupon code: filwy4$150off. Contact devrah@maryomalley.com for more info.