dying world

Leaving the Dying World Behind

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I’m writing this at 7:46 on a Monday morning and I’ve already received three text messages from friends who are dreading returning to their dying world jobs. It is taking everything in them to put on their shoes and drag their bodies to a job that is not life-giving and that seems to be sucking the soul right out of them.

They aren’t alone! They are also not wrong in feeling these feelings.

The world as we have known it is dying. System after system is in its own form of collapse. Whether it be healthcare, education, governance, or the old boy corporate world, they have outlived their usefulness and are no longer effectively meeting the needs of the people they claim to serve.

Workers are feeling it. They are feeling the death of the hierarchical/patriarchal model, along with their Soul’s calling to be part of bringing forth something new. The status quo no longer works – and it hasn’t for a very long time.  We know this and if we’re dreading going to work, it likely means we are meant to be part of the change.

Being part of the change is easier said than done (says the woman who was forced out of the Church because she dared to take Jesus’ commandments to heal and serve seriously). Also, being part of the change does not happen overnight. Further, some are called to be that change from within the institutions they serve, but for many this is becoming increasingly difficult.

Building the new begins with self-knowledge. Who am I – really?  What are my gifts and passions?  What fulfills me and gives my life a sense of meaning and purpose? These are the questions we must ask ourselves (and discover their answers) before we can a) leave the dying behind and b) set out for something new. Yes, we can leave that sucky job, but until we know the answer to these questions, we’ll likely step from one frying pan into the fire.

As we are coming to know ourselves, we can begin to look out for and make choices on behalf of our Soul.  We might undertake training or education in the work that is more in alignment with our true gifts and passions.  We might take up a hobby related to our interests. We might volunteer.  As we move more and more in the direction of our Soul, the Universe conspires on our behalf, sending people, opportunities, and resources to help us deepen our knowledge and develop our skills, readying us for the big decision: should I stay or should I go?

Leaving the dying world behind is never easy. For many, the biggest obstacle is the perceived security of dying world jobs, and the salary and benefits that some provide. For others, it is the comfort of the status quo – “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” It is rarely an easy decision to leave what we know behind for something that might be life-giving, but may or may not provide for our needs.  It is a risk that few are willing to take – and truly – many are unable – and that is ok. However, if you find your dying world job becoming increasingly dreadful, it may just be that you are being called to leave behind the dying world and be part of building something new. 

What part of the new world would you like to help build?

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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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