The Discipline of Hope

Over the past 9 months our world has dramatically changed in a way that has affected almost every part of our daily living. It may have affected some more than others, but no one is entirely free from the impact. This is not something that we are experiencing vicariously; it is altering the very patterns of our own day to day thinking, feeling and acting. And with the change, a great awakening is rippling subtly across the globe, revealing truths and bringing them to focus in the light of the human soul.

Justice is then demanded – not just the legal constructs of it, but the essential rightness that our shared living calls for. This new sense of justice requires an equity commensurate with essential need and applied within the context of the planetary Life that sustains us all. We know this and yet it is a knowing that is so counter to the basis on which current world structures have been built. The flow of life’s resources has been caught up in nets held by those who already have all they need thus denying many others the basic requirements of human living: food, shelter, health care and education.

Until now, many inequities have been kept hidden because of the powerlessness of the disadvantaged. But the pandemic has revealed how each human being and every element of our world is an integral link in the chain of life that connects and supports us all. As businesses collapse and families become destitute, we are coming to the realisation that each one is an essential link that keeps life and livelihood flowing. We are, each one of us, not only recipients but distributors of life. Without an income a family cannot support the shopkeeper who cannot then support the supplier and thence the primary producer. An economy works when the flow of resources sustains everyone.

As this global awakening ripples through human consciousness, it inspires various responses. For some the unfolding realisation stirs them to take responsibility for the whole and for bringing about needed change; it has an empowering effect. For others the failure of much they depended upon generates a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness. Yet, in such unprecedented times, the power of hope is needed more than ever before. A new understanding of hope is described in an article in the Guardian:

“Restorative justice activist Mariame Kaba put it thus: ‘I always tell people, for me, hope doesn’t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn’t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism.’ And she has famously said hope is a discipline. It’s a commitment to the future that must manifest as action. That discipline matters most when it is hardest. And when the stakes are highest. This is such a moment, with much to lose, and much to win.” For full Guardian article, see: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/19/covid-climate-change-

Perhaps one of the greatest exemplars of this discipline of Hope is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. Her passing has brought into sharp focus the need for real equity in a way that expresses the human soul as it reflects through each and every one of us. It is the Soul that guides us towards fairness and inclusiveness. And with the global awakening it is inspiring a gradual shift from me-centric to planetary-centric living. We are realising ourselves as points of light within an interconnected network of light, a network of souls. We are becoming sensitive to the light that flows from the subtle soul dimensions, awakening our hearts, and flowing through us into the network of living flow which is the life-stream of the planetary body.

And as this realisation transforms our living patterns, we become part of the weave of the garment of the Mother of the World: we truly become her children and enter the realm of joy. As the veils of ignorance and separation dissolve, the Mother lifts her veil. And so, as the point of true balance is achieved, the symbol for justice removes her blindfold. The invocative call from humanity then grows in power:

Lead us, O Lord,
from death to Immortality;
From darkness to Light;
From the unreal to the Real.”
~ From the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

This ancient prayer seems more relevant than ever as highlighted in the Lucis Trust booklet, From the Unreal to the Real: “Addressed to the Supreme Being, Brahman, it echoes a cry that has flowed ceaselessly from the human spirit, through all ages and all faiths; a cry for the hidden truth to be revealed. In an age that has cynically been called the ‘post-truth world’ this cry has taken on a fresh immediacy and relevance.”

As hope and a demand for a just world grows, a welcoming vibration is generated in preparation for the coming World Teacher Who, we are told, will appear with many of the enlightened and wise. The Bhagavadgita reminds us that in the worst of times a great Presence appears, One Who embodies the goal of human progress in a new era – to show the way for all who can recognise the need.

For the protection of the good,
and for the destruction of evil-doers,
For the establishment of the sacred law,
I am born from age to age.” Bhagavadgita

Let us make ready to welcome Those Who will come to embody the glorious ideal towards which we progress. With the discipline of Hope, we can help prepare the way towards the new era which They will inaugurate – one of justice, balance and right relationship with all that comprise the great and beautiful Being we call Earth. And so, we will come to a new point of balance between the great energies: the Masculine and the Feminine Origins. We are told that:

The Mother of the World appears as a symbol of the feminine Origin in the new epoch, and the masculine Origin voluntarily returns the treasure of the World to the feminine Origin…”
Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 150

Her Presence and power support the Great Ones Who appear in our time of need:

I have already told you that the Mother of the World conceals Her Name. I have already shown you how the Mother of the World veils Her Face. I have already made mention about the Mother of Buddha and Christ.
Indeed it is time to point out that the one Mother of both Lords is not a symbol but a Great Manifestation of the Feminine Origin, in which is revealed the spiritual Mother of Christ and Buddha.
She it was Who taught and ordained Them for achievement.
From times immemorial the Mother of the World has sent forth to achievement. In the history of humanity, Her Hand traces an unbreakable thread…” Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 220

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