welcome to planet earth...
Welcome to Planet Earth...is what I hear my inner voice say whenever I’m faced with a personal struggle. It’s a tough planet...a beautiful planet...a wounded planet...a painful and joyful planet...and it is our home.
I’ve always believed that earth, for humans, is a school...this unique place we come to learn about who we truly are, not who we think we are...and that takes time...a very long time.
The very nature of a school is to be home to the ignorant as we move towards becoming the learned. Earth school isn’t about the math or the grammar or p.e. class. It’s about learning how to love...and many of us, so utterly lost in ignorance, are failing miserably. Humans have been failing miserably since Earth school opened her doors. What’s different is we know within seconds about all failings...the whole world’s failings and it can feel too much to bear.
Carlos Santana once referred to humans as the “mutts of the universe.” Perhaps we are. We are this rich abundance of diversity that should be our glory when instead it is what tears us apart. Our earth school is filled with at risk students, behavior disorder classrooms, remedial lessons, things we thought had already been learned...but haven’t. It can be hard to remember that this is the very purpose of a school, a place designed for those so terribly lost in ignorance.
Those further along on the learning curve can feel overwhelmed and defeated...or can feel their sorrow and their joy...feel their broken hearts and inner knowing of core goodness. We can feel our pain for what is happening and try to remember that in ignorance ‘we know not what we do.’ We truly don’t.
In Buddhism there is the teaching of the bodhisattva, a being who, when enlightenment is reached…when samsara, the cycle of birth and death is completed...can leave earth but who, through compassion for others, chooses to remain on earth and be of help…
Look around at the people in our lives...truly look...the kind ones, the funny ones, the forgiving ones, the ones who respond to the prevailing hatred with an even deeper commitment to hold close to what they know is true...we are here to learn about love...how to love and how to be loved. In that moment we find we are surrounded by little bodhisattvas...those who in the midst a chaos choose to remain, stay present, stay supportive, stay loving. Welcome to Planet Earth.
(Image: Great niece Malina)
Mary Jo Heyen is a Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients throughout the country and abroad in person, phone or Skype. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com or www.thenaturaldream.com