Howling to the Moon & Taking the Long View

In this session, I explore the second of Peter Cawston’s suggestions. See last week’s tea for an exploration of the first. Here are all four of his ‘landmarks’:

Refuse, Revel, Accept, Midwife, and Choose!

A friend, a GP on the front line of health care in Scotland, has offered these suggestions – landmarks he’s called them – points of reference for our thoughts at this time:

– Refuse to let this thing rob you of your life: revel in every moment of bliss that you can, acknowledge and allow every sad or frightened feeling as also sacred.

– Accept this opportunity to become more at peace with the prospect your own death, learn to accept the small possibility that it might be sooner rather than later.

– Be a midwife of the new as well as a hospice worker to the old: while much suffering arises from loss, give your love and energy also to activities that point to what is to come.

– Choose to make sense of this apparent catastrophe as humanity’s last chance to avert a much greater disaster. From the collapse of the old economic order commit to building the earth-wise, conscious, connected and enduring society that will follow.

~ Peter Cawston

In the following two Tea sessions, I will explore each of the second two suggestions.

In preparing this Tea, I synchronously received David at Raptutide’s blog post. See:  https://www.raptitude.com/2020/04/take-the-long-view/

He presents a ‘thought experiment’ based on Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, explaining that “All problems exist within a context that dwarfs them, but often we’re too close to see it.” In the experiment, which can easily become a meditation, we become aware of the wider context, and this can relieve our anxiety. If you are experiencing anxiety related to the epidemic, The Institute of Psychosynthesis is offering a free telephone support service. They are great people. You can find details here: https://www.psychosynthesis.org/coron…https://www.psychosynthesis.org/coronavirus-support/

If you’d like details of the Home Retreat I mention, The Garden of Flowing in Perpetual Happiness. Details are here.