building a new world

Seeking Justice and Other Distractions

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

If we are sitting here waiting for justice to be served in all the loathsome and heinous crimes that have been perpetrated by those currently (and formerly) in perceived positions of power, we are wasting valuable time that could be spent getting on with the business of building the new world!  As the dying world is busy making jaw-dropping statements and filming ludicrous videos, instead of giving these our attention, we could be building the new world. As the dying system clings to its perceived power and control by proposing laws that further deprive us of our freedoms, instead of worrying about their smoke and mirrors, we should be busy building the new world.

Now is the perfect time to get busy building because:

  1. They’re not paying attention to us anyway.
  2. The current system does not need to fall before the new can rise up in its place.
  3. The seeds of the new world are already among and within us.
  4. The work has already begun – right in front of our noses – if we know how to see it.

(Case in point, if you haven’t seen the masterful way in which Stephen Colbert worked around newly instituted network rules to make his interview with Texas State Representative, James Talarico, please watch it here.)

Regarding the death throes of the institution, in the immortal words of songsmith, George Thorogood, “That don’t confront me.”  No longer is our work to witness in rapt attention, the dying world – its gasping, writhing, and wringing of hands. Our job is to let the dying world be, and as Jesus once said, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

Our work is done here. Instead, we are meant to build the new world. Step away from the distractions, including the search for justice, and get on with building. We need you. The world needs you.

How are you being called to help build the new world?

Wandering, Wandering, Aimlessly Wandering

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Aka – Life in the Void

This morning, I woke up with a million topic ideas wrestling in my head. Do I write about collective despair or survival? Do I muse on about living as an interdimensional being? Do I remark on the radically different lives many of us find ourselves living? Do I talk about the state of our world (yes, let’s go ahead and beat that dead horse!)?

When I sat in the center of these swirling topics, I realized that the common thread in all of this is where we find ourselves at this moment – Sitting in the void between a world that is coming to an end and a world that has not yet been fully born. Void space, as I have come to know it, is a restless place filled with anxiety and certainty, yet when we know how to move through our need to control, we find the deep, dark, peace that is at the center of the Void. (Psst: The Void could also be called “Source,” for it is out of the Void that all things come into being).

The world as we have known it is dying. I need only point to the community engagement I was invited into this week regarding a $6 million deficit facing the Oshkosh Area School District. The current proposal for balancing the budget includes the elimination of 23 full-time equivalent positions in “elective” classes, specifically art, music, theatre, industrial and culinary arts, and more. Of course I did my part in writing to the Board and the OASD Administration on why maintaining these classes is important and the impact these classes have on students, along with the devastating effect eliminating these classes would have on student enrollment and graduation rates. I did the proper 3d world thing on a topic I am passionate about.

At the same time…….I know that education is one of the systems that is facing its own death as the empires around us collapse. Education, as we have known it no longer works – if it ever really did. Education, like all other patriarchal/hierarchical institutions, is clinging hard to status quo. In my letter to Oshkosh schools’ leadership, I called for innovation while knowing that they have neither the courage nor the insight to accept that invitation. The superintendent offering no acknowledgement or response to my letter says it all. OASD will be dying along with all other educational institutions who would rather live in denial than do the hard work of radical reform.

Radical reform is what the new world is calling for. For those with eyes to see, we see this and we know this. We know and understand what will need to pass away, collapse, or die in order for the new to come forth. We know and sense the new, but for those of us of a certain age, it is not ours to build. No, our children, and our children’s children will be the ones creating the new world – as they already are.

And yet, here we are, in the space between a world that is in freefall and a world yet to be born. It’s a strange place. Everything feels bad, uncertain, worrisome, violent, and despairing. This is the place of the unknown and in the face of the unknown there is anxiety. The signs of death are everywhere – from increasing grocery and housing costs, to political insanity. Everything sucks. In the suck, we become restless, aimless, wandering. We are trying to find ground, balance, safety, and security. We desperately want to feel safe in a world that is everything but safe. We are desperate to have control over something uncontrollable.

When the world as we have known it is in freefall, all we can do is stand back and hope it doesn’t fall on us!

The temptation is to get swept up into the chaos of a world trying to die, believing that this chaos is our reality. IT IS NOT!  The chaos is only a symptom of a dying world. Beyond the chaos, or rather, below and within it, is the true reality – that of THE VOID. The Void is the space between death and new life. It is the Source of all that is and the emptiness from which all things come to be. The Void is the “No Thing.”  It is the ultimate place of peace, comfort, and hope. When we allow ourselves to be objective witness to the chaos swirling around us, and not get caught up in it, our wandering settles, our restlessness becomes calm, we are able to release our need for control, and we are able to simply meet life as it is with acceptance and surrender. Remembering, in the immortal words of J.R.R. Tolkien, not all who wander are lost.

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Be Still

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know I.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Psalm 46:10

During times of great upheaval, chaos, and turmoil, the most loving thing we can do for ourselves and the world is to be still. Being still draws us inward toward our original nature which is peace. In stillness we are able to locate the deep well of contentment that is present within us always – when we remember to take the time to return there. Returning there is the remedy to the anxiety, fear, and hyper-fixation that is triggered when everything around us feels to be outside of our control. In that deep well of inner peace, we find comfort, inspiration, guidance, and even a sense of safety when everything around us seems to be on the verge of collapse.

Collapsing it is. Collapsing is what it needs to do. We cannot prevent the collapse, nor should we try.

Instead, we are invited to be. To be witness. To wait and watch. To observe where and how we are being triggered by the collapse, and care for ourselves by turning within.

It is in being still that we shall be unharmed. Stillness provides us with safety and protection. Simply being allows us to find center while everything around us is turning to shit.

Eventually, the collapse will come to its natural end. What will remain will be those who were able to be still. Those who knew how to simply be will be the ones gathering the seeds left behind by the winnowing and who will know how to plant them so that a new world might begin.

If you want to be part of the new world that is coming into being:

Be still.

For over 25 years, Lauri Ann Lumby, MA, has provided one-on-one support for those seeking peace and/or direction in their lives. As a trained spiritual director with a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology, Lauri has the perfect education, background, and experience to support you in hearing your own truth, healing past wounds, overcoming trauma, and finding the tools to help you move through the inner obstacles that might be keeping you from the inner contentment you most desire.

Learn more here.

The World Needs You

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Desperately!

As we are finding our way through the great collapse, I am reminded of how now is not a time to shy away. Instead, “all hands on deck” is imperative. But not necessarily in the way that our capitalistic conditioning would have us believe. Instead, we are invited to look deep within ourselves to be reminded of our true uniqueness and how we are called to bring that forth.

Each and everyone of us is uniquely gifted to participate in the collapse of the empire. Some are being hospice for the dying world- tending to the grief that comes when things are coming to an end, providing comfort, hope, and pain relief. Some are visionaries – imagining what a new world might look like. Some are prophetic messengers – pointing out the truths that no one wants to admit. Some are revealers – pulling back the veil of illusion so that the sometimes difficult truth can be seen. Some are healers, providing care and support for those who are hurting. Some are beacons who simply by their presence are leading and guiding people to truth and love. Some are gatherers – bringing forth community for a common cause. Some are builders – creating something new out of the ash of the old. Then we have our artists, writers, poets, musicians, dancers, etc. – all those who communicate despair, frustration, rage, beauty and hope through their arts so that all we are feeling in the midst of the collapse might be given expression.  

These are the gifts we want to acknowledge. But, beyond perceived separation there is unity and wholeness. From the perspective of wholeness, even that which we might judge as evil or destructive is also playing its role in the story of the great collapse. These men and women are showing us what is in need of healing among us. They are showing us the lies and deceptions upon which this empire was built. They are showing us our greed, our gluttony, our lust for power, and the truth of our envious natures. They are reflecting back to us corruption, prejudice, and hatred. They are living out their pre-ordained roles as harbingers of truth – the truths we don’t really want to see or acknowledge about ourselves. It is only in seeing the truth of our woundedness as a species that we can begin to bring forth healing.

The journey is difficult, but the destination is the same. No matter what role we are playing in this drama, it is all leading to the same place.  The place and the destination is LOVE. Whether that Love is something we uncover within ourselves, or something we come together to build, it is all the same. We came here for the purpose of Love, to come to know Love, to heal all the barriers to that Love, and then to live out that Love. Experiencing life is how we get there – each in our own unique way.

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The Courage to Wake Up!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

This week, I was reminded of the price of waking up and why most of the population works really hard at defending their right to stay asleep.  The answer in short is because if we wake up….we are obligated to do something about the pain, hardship, disorder, violence, fear and hatred in our world.  In waking up we become personally responsible for making different choices in our lives. modeling these choices for others and if we are so-called, being a force for positive change.

If we stay asleep, however, we don’t have to do a thing.  Instead, we get to remain in the mindless patterns of familiarity that define our lives.  We get to remain in the status quo that gives us the illusion of safety and security….only because it is known, not necessarily because it is safe or secure.  We don’t have to rock the boat, risk rejection or condemnation, or even respond to another person’s pain.  We get to avoid responsibility, falsely believing that it is someone else’s job, or hoping that if we ignore it long enough, it will simply go away.  The problem is it doesn’t go away.  As the Buddhists know:

What you resist will persist.

The more we resist it, the harder the problem works to be known, usually by coming out sideways in horrible acts with devastating effects. 

This is what happened in the Church (and continues to happen).  This is why the sex abuse scandal erupted the way it did.  For centuries, the Church looked away as their priests were sexually abusing children and taking advantage of other vulnerable populations, silently hoping it would go away (or worse, priding themselves in their power and their right to have control over others).  In this, they have never had to take responsibility for what CAUSED the sex abuse scandal in the first place – the demonization of the body, sexuality, and the Holy Feminine, an institution built of fear, power and control, guided by the Unholy Masculine.  And finally…..systems that continue to attract and keep underdeveloped men in the priesthood.  The Church needs to wake up…..but they are highly invested in status quo, in their power and wealth and if they actually took responsibility for all that needs to be changed….they risk losing all of this.  What they don’t know is that there is so much more to be gained, if they could only risk being Christ-like – putting the authentic teachings of Jesus to work and being the force of change Jesus calls us to be. 

What is true of the Church is also true of every other institution that has its roots in a patriarchal, hierarchical model, based in fear, power and control.  Government.  Education.  Healthcare.  Psychology.  Academia.  Banking. Corporations.  Commerce.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  The longer they avoid their own disease, their own shadow, the more it will be coming out sideways. Pretend it’s not there, and then we don’t have to do anything about it.  Change is hard. We don’t know how to support change.  Change scares us.  So, we keep our heads in the sand hoping it will go away on its own or that someone else will clean up the mess. 

The longer we look away, however, the larger the pile of debris becomes, and the harder the truth works at being known, being seen and being addressed.  As we look away hoping things will go away on their own – our planet is being destroyed, millions of people are living under the constant threat of war, millions are now homeless refugees, people are getting sicker.  Joblessness and underemployment are at an all-time high.  Corruption rules our government and corporations, and our children are dying.  None of this will change.  In fact, it will only continue to get worse the more we choose to stay asleep.  And for the 99%, this is what they will continue to choose.

The good news is that it only takes a pebble to start an avalanche.  As the power of the 1% has ruled our world, it is THE OTHER 1% who have the power to change it. 

You know who you are.  Thank you for being awake and thank you for being willing to listen to the voice of your soul – a voice crying out in the wilderness speaking to sand, perhaps….but you are listening.  We are listening.  The OTHER 1% are awake.  We are listening.  We are taking personal responsibility and we are working for change. 

We are the pebble that starts the avalanche….

and the time for the avalanche is NOW!

Building the New World Starts with You

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Building our new world begins with ourselves and the choices we make around how we want to live our lives and what we want our new worlds to look like.  For those who have found their way to the Soul School community, the world we build will be reflective of our individual temperaments and desires yet rooted in our unique calling to be of service to the betterment of our world.  But again, bettering our world, begins with us and with the choices we make around how we want to live our lives. 

I cannot speak for others, but for myself, the new world of which I want to be a part is quieter, simpler, gentler and kinder than the world we have been living in.  It is a world that treats our planet gently and with great honor, acknowledging that it is only in treating the earth as sacred that She might produce the fruits that we need to survive.  It is a world in which every human being is honored as holy and sacred and where diversity is not only honored but celebrated.  It is a world that supports the full development of every single human being by providing the resources we need not only to survive, but to thrive. 

Yes, these are big dreams, and I know this is possible when we begin to make these choices for ourselves.  When we as individuals live simply, gently, quietly, kindly; when we treat our world as sacred – taking only what we truly need while sharing the surplus with others; when we treat other human beings with dignity, honor and respect and when we work to insure the needs of all humans are being met to not only survive (food, clothing, shelter, safety, healthcare), but also to thrive (education, enrichment, self-development, etc.) then it can be done.  But again, it starts with US.

Over the past several years, I have been taking the steps to building my own new world, steps that I have found to be very simple:

Laying the Foundation:

            The foundation of my life has always been my relationship with the Divine.  In my NOW and into my NEW world, this foundation will continue and as I have witnessed, deepen.  I begin my morning with my spiritual practice and return to it frequently throughout the day. This simple time dedicated to myself and the Divine of my understanding is the foundation out of which the rest of my life unfolds.  Everything I need for guidance, inspiration, understanding and to find a place of comfort and safety in an insane world, I find within these moments.  Even when I’m not in a time of dedicated meditation and prayer, the fruits of my practice continue to unfold.  With this I have come to understand Paul’s invitation that we “pray without ceasing.”  When this relationship is the foundation of our lives, everything becomes a prayer.

Building the Supports:

            Cultivating well-being.  My physical and emotional health are critical to me.  With this I make healthy choices.  I choose healthy foods.  I enjoy gentle exercise (yoga and walking).  I take supplements and my prescribed medications.  I do what I need to do to keep my mind and my spirit healthy (meditation, yoga, setting healthy boundaries, honoring my need for solitude, choosing how and with whom I want to spend my time).

Ongoing learning: As part of my temperament and passion, I have been given the gift of learning.  I love to learn.  As such, I take time each day to cultivate learning.  I learn.  I study.  I explore. 

            Time for enjoyment:  “All work and no play makes Lauri a dull girl.”  I’m kind of boring anyway and I like boring, but that is not to say I don’t have enjoyment.  I take time to read for pleasure and I love a good movie or binge-worthy television series.  The more magical or mystical the better, but even a good piece of historical fiction can whet my appetite.

Don’t Forget the Aesthetics:

Our new world is meant to be enjoyable and to have beauty.  This will mean different things to different people, but to me, my world has beauty when I am nurturing, cultivating and sharing my gifts – for my own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.  As such, this is about:

            Taking time to CREATE: I write.  I draw.  I publish books.  I develop and share curriculum.  I cook.  I clean.  I nurture my children.  I show kindness and am a listening ear to those I meet.  I nurture my friendships – old and new. 

            Being a Source of Support for Others: Making myself available for guidance and support for others through my books, online classes and services, local gatherings and one-on-one support through Reiki and Spiritual Counseling.

Questions for your own reflection:

What is the new world you want to create for yourself?

What steps are you taking in support of this new world?

Feeling Numb? You’re Not Alone!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Numb. Slow. Unmotivated. Paralyzed. Uninspired. Despairing. Blank. Grey. Depressed. Sad.  These are the words people have been using to describe how they are currently feeling. It seems we are experiencing a collective numbness, the likes of which no one (in my generation at least) has ever experienced.

We are suffering from what I’m going to call PPTSD:  Post Pandemic Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We might also call it:  Post Political Traumatic Stress Disorder because it seems that literally everything has become a political issue over which people are  choosing to argue, fight, and divide.

For the past three years (I might argue since 2016), we have been bombarded with one violent event after another: contentious elections, school shootings, insurrections, a pandemic that some decided to make political, the rising cost of housing, inflation, “supply chain issues,” “food shortages,” global warming/climate change, the whole world on fire, war in Ukraine, the threat of violence from China, etc. etc. etc. The bombardment has been CONSTANT.  Every minute of every day we are getting pummeled by one threat after another. It’s exhausting.

No human was meant to experience this kind of constant external assault.  We were not wired for this. If you happen to be sensitive, an empath and/or healer, the effect has been even more profound. And there is no sign of things lightening up. Until the current system is done with its dying (for what we are really witnessing is the death of an empire and any system built on a similar foundation of fear, power, oppression, and control), the writhing and screaming will continue.

We have a right to feel numb, unmotivated, paralyzed, uninspired, etc.  We were not made for this kind of constant, collective trauma – especially one of this nature over which it seems we have no control. 

The old world is dying and dying it must. We cannot save it.  Neither should we try. That does not mean, however, that there isn’t SOMETHING WE CAN DO! As the current world, rooted in fear, power, oppression, and control is dying, a new world IS being born to take its place:

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Isaiah 43: 19a

A new world is being born among us, and we are the ones who have been quietly and stealthily building it. It is being born out of our unwillingness to submit to the status quo. It is being born out of our inherent sense of value and refusing to work in conditions or for pay that doesn’t reflect that value. It’s being born out of our love for the planet and our decisions to treat her more lovingly through our buying and growing decisions. It’s being born out of our care and concern for our children, and out of our hope for their future. It’s being born out of the generation of young people paving a new path to self-sufficiency through the creation of innovative business ventures. It’s being born out of those who have untied themselves from societal/religious/institutional conditioning, discovering their own truth, and living from that truth freely.

While we cannot escape the trauma of the dying world in its death throes, perhaps we can find hope in the new world that is being born, and inspiration for how we might begin or deepen our participation in its creation.  

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