A Ministry for an Era of Change
This service is led by Rev. Lynn Woodland
We live in an amazing time when all aspects of life seem to be speeding up. No sooner have we bought the latest high tech piece of equipment than it has become obsolete, replaced by something better, quicker and cheaper. The pace of life gets faster and faster. Who hasn't felt, from time to time, overwhelmed by the challenge of keeping up with it? Just as we think we've got our lives on an even keel of quiet predictability, some great change erupts, turning everything upside down, for better or worse.
At the heart of this quickening is a reshaping of the whole nature of reality as we have always known it. The findings of quantum physics are exploding our most deeply-ingrained beliefs about the nature of matter, time, space and consciousness. This expanded paradigm of reality is showing us that everything in the universe is part of an intricately connected web where consciousness itself has the power to effect change, and matter can leap from one point to another without passing through all the points in between. When we take some of these findings out of the physics lab and look at them in the everyday world of our lives, they become startling, amazing, miraculous, even. Science is quietly proving that nothing is what it seems. While this has the disconcerting implication that nothing is solid or predictable, it also suggests undreamed possibilities. The one thing we can all count on is that nothing will remain the same for long.
Periods of great transition are always unsettling. Any new beginning is preceded by some amount of dying away. This is the natural order of things that makes room for new growth. We have all experienced this at a personal level. Recall the last major breakdown period of your life and see if it wasn't soon followed by a powerful growth spurt. Yet, when great change is happening at a collective level, it's disturbing in ways that are profoundly felt by all, whether we realize it or not.
In recent years, we can hardly turn on the radio or open a paper without a report of a new world catastrophe: wars, plagues, politics, natural disastersÉ. Can you even recall how many recent natural disasters have had the frightening distinction of being "worst in recorded history?" We can't help but all be affected no matter how far removed we are from the latest "ground zero." It's easy to feel powerless in our world today. And when we feel powerless and fearful, we're more inclined to cling to what's old and familiar, even if it's crumbling out from under us.
In this era of tremendous change, we have a choice to embrace it and look forward, or resist it and cling to what we know. Our attachment to the familiar runs deep. There's an illusory safety and comfort in it. Yet, the more we deny inevitable change, the more we see only the signs and symptoms of an old way of being coming to an end. We become immersed in loss instead of growth. As we give our attention to what's ending instead of what's beginning, we're also more likely to fall back into old ways of living and coping that don't work any more.
Have you ever heard the story of what happens when you slowly boil frogs? I have no idea if this is trueÑI've never actually boiled a frogÑbut I've heard it said that if you put a frog into cool water and slowly bring it to a boil, the frog won't jump out. It will just keep acclimating, being lulled to its death, not noticing the incremental rises in temperature enough to take action. This is the way I perceive our growing, collective challenge of breakdown: a complex, brewing soup that challenges us to become conscious and to take "out of the pot" action even when it doesn't feel like we absolutely have to.
As slowly boiling human froggies, we've tried everything "in the pot." We've protested and fought against our circumstances, we've adapted to survive for a time or just gone into unconscious denial, even tried standing on our fellow frogs so they go down first and we buy ourselves a bit more time. We've tried everything short of jumping out of the pot.
The leap out of the pot isn't simply about winning the next war or averting danger in time. It's not just a matter of taking the right action to save the environment, feed the hungry or right injustice. Neither is it about going into denial that there is a problem, or hunkering down with our own survival provisions waiting for the world to end. The leap that's being asked of us is something altogether new. It's a change in being, not just a change in doing. To borrow a term from physics, our next step needs to be a quantum leap. Just as physicists have observed subatomic particles to miraculously leap from one point to another, spontaneously, without passing through all the points in between, so must we leap to a new paradigm of understanding ourselves, the universe around us and our place in it. This leap changes everything. It introduces solutions we couldn't see from inside the pot.
Paradoxically, this type of leap requires less effort, less pain and struggle than everything else we've tried. It's something that one person can do, defying the notion that "one person can't make a difference." It is, however, something completely different. It means using familiar resources in unfamiliar ways, stretching our imaginations to places they've never been before, surrendering where we usually exercise control and most of all, going bravely into the unknown. As author and physicist, Fred Alan Wolf puts it "taking the quantum leap means taking a risk, going off into uncharted territory with no guide to follow. Such a venture is an uncertain affair at best. It also means risking something that no one else would dare risk."
In this era that can so easily leave our minds boggled, nerves frayed and immune systems depleted, there is, at the same time, a sharply contrasting sense of wonder growing. Just as we instinctively sense that we will increasingly have our old comfortable guideposts of sameness torn away, so do we also know at the deepest level of our being that new wonders are becoming possible that will take us Home in a way that is joyous and marvelous in its unfamiliarity.
We're in the midst of terrible times and wonderful times that will continue to invite us or force us out of our comfort zones. Leaders are needed who are capable, not just of right action but of heroic magnitudes of being, seeing, understanding and loving; leaders who understand that consciousness, not force, is the power that will now take us where we need to go.
This is the ministry we all need to embrace. When we commit to taking this quantum leap in consciousness, we can't help but take others with us. Our presence in the world becomes fundamentally different and, consequently, makes a difference.
What can you expect to gain for yourself when you heed the call to this kind of ministry? Truly, no less than the fulfillment of your dreams. Understand, however, that stepping into your spiritual power in this way opens the door to dreams you never thought to dream before. You may discover your True Dreams: things your heart has always longed for but your mind has never known how to name, and these may require you to leave your comfort zone far behind. And now, I hope you are excited, a little afraid, and ready to take the leap!
Thank you for coming.
Namaste
For a deeper dive into this journey of consciousness and practical spirituality, consider participating in Rev. Lynn Woodland's Quantum Spirit Unlimited online course of education and ordination, offered on a self-determined tuition basis. For information, see www.quantumspiritunlimited.com. For more on Lynn Woodland's work, see www.lynnwoodland.com.
Rev. Lynn Woodland is a writer, and founder of Miracles of the Spirit. She has spent her entire professional life promoting spiritually empowering alternatives. To learn more about Lynn Woodland's work, visit www.lynnwoodland.com.