I’m giving a talk tomorrow on Wild Hope. I’ll take you on a little journey down the rabbit hole that brought me to this title.
I’m currently enrolled in a two year program through the Center for Wild Spirituality to become an Eco-Spiritual Director. Valerie Loorz started the program after her own journey lead her to creating Church of the Wild. Through her work she is helping us remember our other-than-human allies and walking us down a path of reconnection and healing. So, I have been hyper focused on what is occurring around me as I move through my day. What are the heavy questions I’m holding and how are the answers trying to find me?
Fast forward to a few days ago and I’m driving and listening to Jane Goodall’s incredible lessons in The Book of Hope. She is sharing that hope is a social trait, a social gift that we are born with, and that our collective hopes and dreams have power.
I then flashed to the line from Mary Oliver’s The Summer Day poem, “What are you going to do with this one wild and precious life?” And the answer that emerged within me was this - I’m going to hold onto Wild Hope for our collective future.
Wild Hope holds us all in its desires and manifestations. It unites all life in a dance of change and balance. It reminds us that we are never alone. Our journeys, challenges, celebrations are intertwined and forever connected.
I’m reminded of an experience I had about 4 years ago. I was driving from Colorado to Patagonia, AZ. The news being shared on my drive down was all about the dire state of the Colorado River basin. We (humans) were continuing to deplete it faster than its ability to replenish and recover. I looked around and saw the evidence of the lack of ground water impacting the trees and vegetation around me. It hurt my heart.
When I got to Patagonia I went for a walk. As I walked I noticed the rushing stream flowing beside the road, the vegetation was lush and thriving, there were butterflies everywhere and it felt truly magical. What if this is what life is really like and we are just missing it? It felt like a major shift took hold for me in that moment. It gave me Wild Hope.
When I got back to my computer I sent an email to a good Hopi Grandmother friend with the subject Patagonia is tropical!! I shared what I had seen and felt on my walk. I asked her, “Could we actually be stepping into a time of beautiful change? And our awareness (human mind) is just seeing the world as it was and missing how it is? Is that possible?” The response she sent cemented this experience in my heart.
“Yes indeed, what beauty we see when we connect with the reality of the divine creation! Just think all that you found yourself surrounded by, is made up of exactly the same elements that you are made with that make you alive! As the elders say, a part of our mind has been put to sleep, and now depending on the path of compassion, love, faith, hope, and charity you are gifted a greater appreciation for all that is of a divine nature! I'm happy for you!”
This, my friends, is the Wild Hope I am holding in my heart. A hope that we can all connect with the reality of the divine creation and see the beauty and goodness of the world all around us and within us.
Gregg Braden often shares that our collective awareness could make the rivers flow and the flowers bloom in the desert once more.
What is your Wild Hope you are holding for the collective good of all life?