Where are you now?

Not in the literal sense of longitude and latitude. How do you feel now? What are you thinking? How have your routines changed as a result of this pandemic?

We like to have a routine, for things to be predictable. That gives us a sense of security, a feeling of safety. A sense of hope for the future.

I don’t think most of us feel that any longer.

The consequences of the virus have destroyed our routines. We feel insecure, that we are in danger and are afraid. Not only for ourselves but also for those we love. Those we gladly sacrifice for. Those we might feel helpless to help now.

Many people have expressed this in many ways. That we aren’t really in control of our future. The many consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are forcing us to face this.

Do you have a sense of how your future might look? What future generations might be like? Whether there will be future generations? Do you have hope?

Our societies are increasingly polarized. A stark choice divides us. You either do anything you can to try to maintain the status quo. Or you try to adapt to a new reality. I hope we can find peacemakers, healers to bring us together. So we can move forward together.

Something holy moves here on the land
It is my brothers’ and my sisters’ hands
It is the way we make our plans
We don’t make them.

Well this is it, what is this?
This is Eden, Eden is
Where I live and where I give
My whole being to the Great Spirit
We’re not waiting and we’re on our way
Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, Nahko Bear

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin is a simple yet profound statement. It comes from the Lakota Nation and means all my relations. It is spoken during prayer and ceremony to invite and acknowledge all relatives to the moment. To most of us today, relative means a blood relation or another human in the family lineage.
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I love this song. In the midst of the chaos of the virus we see “something holy moves here on the land. It is my brothers’ and my sisters’ hands.” The first responders and medical personnel, those who have found so many ways to help their friends and neighbors cope. All who stay home to help stop the spread of the disease.

“It is the way we make our plans. We don’t make them.” If we ever thought we could make plans, the pandemic has demonstrated otherwise.

“Where I give my whole being to the Great Spirit.” I’ve heard Nahko speak and sing so many times and appreciate the way he expresses spirituality. I feel the authenticity of his spirituality because it is embodied in his whole being. Its not a separate thing. I believe listening to the Great Spirit, however you do that, is the way we navigate these uncharted territories we are now in.