The Turning of the Wheel
It's the last day of 2023. Ancient ways of tracking of time are about cycles, which are circles. The physical universe is all about roundedness. Not perfect circles necessarily, planetary orbits are often elliptical, the Earth is not a perfect sphere, but the force of gravity tends to round things out.
We experience cycles in our lives; birth and death, day and night, fertility, "to every thing, turn turn turn" etc. We even see cycles in our human inventions; economic cycles, cultural cycles, even fashion.
When we are younger and have less life experience, we tend to experience the moment and generalize it into the future, "it's like this now and so it will be like that then." As we get older we have a different perspective, and so what is happening in this moment can more easily be seen as just this moment, something that is unfolding, rippling effects through time, throughout our lives. For example, let's say one chooses to care for one's body in certain ways as a young person, that will affect the person's life as they get older. Likewise if one chooses not to care for one's body, the effects will be quite discernible as time passes.
What happens when we bring together our understanding of the cyclical nature of things with our ability to make choices? I think this is part of wisdom. That's a word we don't hear a lot these days, nor see practiced by those who are prominent. We see lots of decisions made for expediency, political and economic, usually very short-term thinking. It hasn't always been thus. The people we call Indigenous to the land mass once known as Turtle Island, famously considered the actions of the group in terms of it's effects seven generations into the future. How will this action affect the people and the place seven generations hence? This appears not to be a consideration in our modern technologized societies. Instead we have sped things up. We walk fast, drive fast, eat fast, think for the present, plan only a short time into the future. We're busy busy busy. I am reminded of how small children (and some larger children too!) have trouble with delayed gratification. They want it NOW! Modern societies on Earth are very much behaving like small children in this way.
Like all things physical, this Earth has it's limitations. The biosphere is finite and exists within a delicate balance. If you study biology at any level, macro or micro, you learn that life can exist within a fine balance, chemically. Change certain ratios, say salt to water, and organisms die. Change the CO2 - O2 ratios in the atmosphere and some life forms will flourish while others die off. This isn't an opinion, it's observable fact, what we call "science."
As we recognize another cycle around The Sun it would be wise for us to examine our behavior, as individuals and as a group, to understand the impact we are having on our physical world and in our abstractions (politics, feelings, social behavior). This is why cultures throughout time have taken moments to stop and reflect on what has happened and how that informs what will happen. Isn't that what New Year's Resolutions are about?
All of this to say that today and tomorrow we have this cultural tradition of reflection, taking time to stop and sit with what is, both to evaluate and to digest. This is the practice of wisdom, and wisdom leads to better choices. Humanity is (always) faced with choices that have significant effects, in our individual lives and in the life of the group (and by "the group" I mean ALL life on Earth). What would happen if we stopped moving so fast, and instead, considered how our choices will affect the whole in seven generations? What if we stopped thinking about our desires, and instead focused on the well-being of the whole field of life on Earth, and how we as individuals and as part of the group can choose consciously the intentions on which our actions are based? I invite all of us to take this with us into 2024.
Tonight's episode of Paradigms features Yungchen Lhamo, a woman from Tibet who makes music with the intention of spreading kindness. The music is so beautiful and effective, and Yungchen brings wisdom to the conversation. I hope you'll listen to the episode.
