Humanity, Past and Future

(This might be a tough read, but it ends on a positive note.)

I just finished watching the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT (the prison in El Salvador that many Venezuelans were mistakenly sent to from the US) that was pulled from airing at the last minute. It was predictably horrifying. Nothing I saw surprised me, because I already knew that absolute horrors are being inflicted on the people sent there.

In 1997 I toured Dachau, a former Nazi death camp in southern Germany. The horrors inflicted on thousands of people sent there still echo, and it was a place I will never forget.

The CECOT video showed cages crammed floor to ceiling with racks of beds. They looked exactly like what I saw at Dachau, just updated with newer technology.

A few weeks ago I re-read a novel called The Source, by James Michener, written in the early 1960s. It’s about a fictional archeological site in Israel, with stories of people in various time periods through the history of the site, going back to very early humanity.

When I first read the book as a teen I found it interesting and informative. I learned what I thought was accurate information about Jewish culture and the various peoples of the region who influenced that culture.

I am so much more discerning now. For one thing, I found the book incredibly sexist, which led me to reflect on just how much sexism and implied misogyny I’ve been bombarded by all my life. This is not news to me in any way, but I found it fascinating to encounter yet another example and realize how pervasive it has been throughout my entire lifetime. At some point the scales fell from my eyes and now I see more clearly.

Another thing I noticed in this book was its not-so-subtle pro-Israel stance. In light of the horrors (current and past) being inflicted in Gaza to Palestinians, I found this pretty obscene. I thought about abandoning the book, but I also felt it was important to finish it.

By the time I came to the end of the book, I realized what I needed to see.

Every story in the book, every historical time, every culture, portrayed people doing horrific violent acts to other people for the sake of religion, beliefs, cultural rules, disagreements, fear. One group was ”wrong” and another was ”right”, which somehow warranted torturing, maiming, and killing in horrific ways.

I realized that ALL of humanity has been doing this, throughout its history. No doubt I, in past lifetimes, have done horrifying things to other people, and had horrifying things done to me at some point.

Several years ago I had a reading done by Malidoma Some, a west African shaman. One of the things he told me was that I am a ”mother” of humanity, to thousands of people who are being discredited and disempowered, and that my power is in service to the human community.

When I hear or read about horrifying things happening around the world—CECOT, Gaza, Sudan, the Rohingya people, ICE raids, and so many more—I feel deeply sad. I weep. Sometimes the sadness feels overwhelming, but I’m sure it’s a fraction of what the people experiencing those horrors must feel.

And then I feel angry. Sacred rage. These are MY PEOPLE who are being hurt, MY CHILDREN. HOW DARE YOU HURT MY CHILDREN.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

We are going through a tumultuous time. Old structures of society, economics, and politics are being dismantled. This is happening rapidly, as if each time we blink we change to a slightly different reality.

The old structures collapse and burn so that new ones can be created in their ashes. We have been existing within these structures for thousands of years. It may feel impossible to imagine anything different from what we’ve known, but there are visionaries among us who will bring pieces of the future to the collective so that they can be expanded (New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani is an excellent example).

One day, in the not-too distant future, we shall live largely collectively. Everyone contributes as they are able, and everyone shares the resources. No one goes hungry, and everyone is valued. I have envisioned this future for several years, and each year this vision becomes more clear.

This is a magical time of year. Not because we celebrate the birth of a famous Palestinian who wasn’t even born in December, but because humanity collectively has shared fellowship and love at this time of year. Many cultures created rituals and celebrations at around the time of the equinox, to honor the shift between light and dark.

Let’s use that magic to help co-create our collective future, and allow the visionaries to emerge who will show us points of light along the way. And in the meantime we can acknowledge the humanity in our neighbors and community members, which is its own kind of magic.

May the blessings fall on you like rain.

Love always, Talyaa

I’ve spent the past ten days in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, far from my present home in the northeast but closer, much closer, to my true spiritual home, and during this time one of my specific goals was to immerse myself into a deeper connection with Nature. Though my home is in a semi-rural area, affording me an opportunity to frequently bike through rolling hills amid cornfields and farmhouses, I really don’t feel all that connected with the nature element of it usually. Perhaps it’s because I don’t connect energetically with the space, or resist a deeper connection; perhaps it’s the human element in a long-inhabited space that has overwritten the elements of nature, but in any case I felt a huge difference in my little cabin in the forest, a short walk from the beach, easily moving into a space of love and appreciation for Nature and my place within it. I spent several hours roaming the trails through the forest, meandering along the beach, and standing in the rain under the trees at night.

And then I upped the ante considerably and spent some time in a different forest last night.

I entered the forest under a nearly-full moon, bright on a cloudless night, and instantly I felt a different sort of welcoming, an embrace, an invitation. Through connecting with the trees who are themselves all connected and always aware of that connection to one another, to the earth, and to All That Is, I could reach back into time and feel roots tapping into the dawning of human consciousness on the planet with such primordial innocence that it took my breath away.

At the same time I was aware of every possibility that continues to stretch before us in time: possibilities for each one of us and all the myriad possibilities available at any given moment, every choice, every road taken and not taken, and I felt vast, knowing that I was a part of everything that ever has been and everything still yet to come. I was as tall as the trees and as bright as the moon, and I turned my face toward her, accepting the spotlight, fully acknowledging my completeness and perfection.

To say this was a joyous and magical experience doesn’t quite do it justice.

But it served as a wonderful reminder, one that I will take back to my home with me and one that I offer you now, that our connection with Nature is an essential of simply being human. It’s part of us, and to deny it is to deny part of Self.

Afterwards, I channeled this:

There is of course value in connecting with animals, trees, and other elements of what you consider to be “nature”. These elements, are of course, part of your home, part of your world, and are as such connected to you, to humans, in a very intimate way. You share space. You share air. You share resources. Not only that, but you share in the creation of your world, the global creation of the reality you know as life on the physical plane. And because of that, there is an undying connection between you as a human and ALL of the so-called “natural” elements of Nature.

Some of you feel this connection more deeply, more emotionally, than others. Some feel a return, when confronted with Nature, especially in her most raw state, to that innocent and childlike state of simply Being, existing, that lies dormant within all of you. And as such, you feel it deeply when one of nature’s children, one element of the intricate tapestry that is constantly being woven and re-created, moves through natural transition into another state. There is, for you, a deep sense of loss, as there is the recognition not only of the timelessness of transformation and the cycles of life on the planet, but also of the transference of human-type connection to an element of nature. You can mostly only experience connection with nature by transferring those feelings to a more human perspective, and when loss of an element of nature, such as a pet or tree, occurs, there is transference to the human state of grief.

We have mentioned the energetic connections between you and your pets and we wish to elaborate. Again, not only is there a very real symbolic connection here (discovery of Self, of Love, of perspective: these things were gained through and with your interaction), but also there HAVE in most cases indeed been some past-life associations. Though most animals live lives in mainly hive-type soul arrangements, there is a constancy of energy that can flow generation after generation through one individual animal to another, and even of course crossing boundaries of species. There has been for many of you, then, a common thread through many lifetimes of connection with various elements of nature, and it is this thread, now running through you and the pets you love, that has touched this present lifetime.

The lessons from connection to Nature are many and varied and often depend on the individual, but regardless of perspective there is ALWAYS growth opportunity through human connection with Nature. After all, it is your home. It is your LIFE. To deny Nature is denying an aspect of Self, and to fully EMBRACE Nature, to ACCEPT it in all its splendor, ugliness, and beauty, is a HUGE step in actually accepting your Self.