It is beyond imagination. Millions of gallons of crude continue to spew uncontrollably from the bowels of the Earth, fingering their way to shore with the force of Voldemort. Some say until August, some until Christmas, others fear for a decade. How can we possibly wrap our minds around such a thing? How do we carry on? Close your eyes and imagine floating in water filled with tar balls and shiny black goop -- as far as the eye can see. It is almost unbearable.
The way we respond to this disaster is a reflection upon us all. Right now, everyone has tar in their eyes, with an insane focus on blame, righteous anger and money. One high ranking British official told local Brits who receive a majority of their pensions from British Petroleum, "When you think of all that oil spilling into the Gulf, think of it as your retirement dollars."
BP and the State of Florida spent $25 million dollars last week on ads convincing tourists "Florida's beaches are clear." They intend to pull the ads by this week, as they know the oil will reach the shore -- and they want to have "truth in advertising."
We are surrounded with a smoke and mirrors campaign no one wants to hear, and retribution dominates these critical moments of clear thinking and action. The frenzy of "Drill baby drill" has transformed to "Sue baby sue." Something is terribly wrong with our priorities, and with corporate leadership. Everyday folks are weeping with despair, and feel totally powerless.
One of my great heroes in the field of leadership consulting is Margaret Wheatley, author of best selling Leadership and the New Sciences, professor, and co-founder of the Berkana Institute. Her newest book, Perseverance, has arrived at a fortuitous moment when all of us are wondering how we are going to persevere through one more disaster -- economic, natural, or man-made. It is potent, allegorical and healing in a way only Wheatley can manage.
Ironically, part of the inspiration came from a letter written by a CEO friend who lives on the Gulf coast, and was there during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her note to Wheatley simply said, "Every day I make a conscious choice not to give up."
That note was written before the oil spill.
I asked Wheatley what her friend has to say now. Shortly after the rig exploded in early May; Wheatley did receive a follow-up note so powerful it sent chills up my spine:
"Game over. For the shrimp and fishing industry, game over forever. For Louisiana wetlands- game over. For Cajun culture- game over. All Systems Fail."
The pain and suffering of the oil spill is preoccupying both our minds, and Wheatley is deeply concerned. She commented, "This is in our face as a nation, and we are in a moment of true impotence."
The first step to perseverance is recognition. Her book opens with, "We have never been here before in terms of the global nature of our predicament -- yet we have been here before. Humans have had to struggle with harsh times many times over; and you too, like all humans, have overcome difficult times. Now it's our turn to be the ones who step forward, who engage in the small actions that can, over time, grow into meaningful change."
Perseverance offers reflections on topics like righteous anger, blame and abandoning success, as well as hopeful aspects like steadfastness and joy. I asked Wheatley which passage best reflects the crisis in the Gulf, and she quietly yet firmly replied: "Lost".
"When we are overwhelmed and confused, our brains barely function. We reach for the old maps, the routine responses, what worked in the past. This is a predictable response, yet also suicidal. If we keep grasping for things to look familiar, and frantically try and fit new problems into old ways of thinking, we will continue to wander lost, and eventually collapse from our own confusion."
Whether it is getting out of a bad relationship, changing a corporate system, or facing the greatest natural disaster in our history, the only way to get out of "Lost" is to know the old ways don't work. "We have to abandon our anger," Wheatley said. "The calls for justice aren't getting anywhere -- besides destroying us as a nation." By recognizing we are lost, we can see new territory, and grasp the depth of what we don't know, so scientists of the world can sit and think together."
Even though no one has the faintest idea how to plug that gushing, subterranean arterial hemorrhage -- we have been here before. We have survived horrors and devastation, by strengthening our relationships with one another. The locals on the Gulf need to be recognized, heard, and given help. Those who can self-organize represent the true steadfast qualities of perseverance. The power of a community emerges out of necessity.
Wayne Landry, parish council president in St. Bernard Parish, and other leaders from parishes and counties in Louisiana and Mississippi have organized their own response, called the "coastal zone authority for recovery." Others are sending money, visiting troubled areas, and sending in thousands of suggestions to BP for clever ways to stop the bleed. It is a start.
How do we, Huff Po readers, persevere through all this? Wheatley warns, "We have pierced into Mother Earth's core, and maybe we can learn enough from all this for it to become a moment to evolve, rather than collapse."
This is a wake-up call. A chance for all of us to choose who we want to be. Let's get out of anger and blame, and recognize our crude oil addiction has got to stop. Let's learn something. "Perseverance is seemingly a journey without end. We become patient because we have to. Every day we have to make a choice. Will we give up or will we keep going?
Here is a very powerful meditation tool to help focus on the Gulf, and find ways to persevere. It is called a Tonglen Meditation, found in books by Pema Chodron. Sit, relax and get an image of the Gulf. Breathe in the image of endless oil polluting the Gulf, and breathed out light until it is clean and clear once again. Tonglen is an intensely powerful meditation that can be very hard to do, yet is so healing.
Ed and Deb Shapiro also suggested meditating while repeating the mantra, "May all beings be free from suffering and the conditions that cause suffering."
We can persevere. We have to. If you would like to share a comment, please do so, as our relationships help us all to persevere, and our conversations are of great importance.
Follow Kari Henley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/karihenley
Meditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meditation: Take a stress-reduction break wherever you are ...
Thank you so much for this beautiful post. Like you, and so many other people writing here, as well as many more silently grieving with the suffering produced by ignorance, my heart is broken by the harm done to our beautiful, precious wild creatures of the sea, the beaches, and the marshes-- the very places where the first life forms manifested on planet earth and courageously crawled out of the waters up onto dry land.
Who or what can replace them? What gain, shelter, or nourishment horded in our excess of human craving and self-importance could compensate for their loss?
In your beautiful writing and the space of these exchanges you have laid upon our troubled earth a woven web of community for those who would kneel down and weep their tears of regret into the earth. Dear ones, let us be unafraid and unashamed to pause silently, and listen to the wind for guidance and the sharing of prayers, warmed only by the hearts of others who deeply care.
I gather these beloved creatures of sea and marsh in my arms. I cradle and rock their gentle souls to sleep with whispered coos and wordless blessings. I lay them to rest gently on the earth, and bow my head as their souls take wing.
With love and gratitude to you, Kari, Ed & Deb, Cara, and all the deep ones here,
Alison
www.healthjournalist.com
btw - our name is spelt Ed & Deb Shapiro - ha
do kindly comment on our blog on Oprah.com/spirit
Direct Link
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/How-to-Unhook-Yourself-from-Negativity
Changed it right away!! How did I miss THAT?
muchas gracias!
K
I can take a lot, and have, and kept getting back up, over and over, which seems to define life for the majority of us. But when I begin to feel overwhelmed, that is when I become immobile. I can't even manage rage. My brain barely functions. And my body follows.
But I don't reach for old maps (or any maps at all). I just can't move. A therapist told me, when that happens, just take one tiny baby step. (Sometimes that step is calling the therapist and saying, What was that again? Yes, it gets that bad.)
But it does work. Instead of looking at the big picture, if I can focus on one little thing that I can do at that very moment, it starts to break the log-jam.
I want so desperately to go to the Gulf Coast and wash birds and hug shrimpers and eat seafood! But since nobody seems to want that, as much as I disdain throwing money at a problem, and have little to throw, I guess I'll send a check to bird rescue folks. And keep writing the White House and Congress. Meanwhile, if not immobilized by the magnitude (and unfairness) of this devastation to this beloved area, my brain sometimes feels it's about to explode from trying to wrap itself around the event itself and the appalling level of incompetence and greed that caused it!
My husband worked on an oil-rig in the North Sea some thirty years ago. One of his niece's husband's used to work a shrimper in the Gulf. I spent time, while on vacation a dozen years ago or so, on Santa Rita Island, near Pensacola, where tar balls have now come ashore. I live in Arizona, far from the Gulf, but this is disaster has felt very immediate to me. I have been among those filled with impotent rage at the careless arrogance that wounded our only planet. But the rage hasn't been enough to overcome the sick feeling in my stomach every time I think about the destruction of so much life and beauty
I'll continue to write letters and emails, asking our government to move away from our oil dependency, asking industry to admit that their accounting need to include responsibility for damage done to our world and its inhabitants. (I've always said a LONG enough bottom line includes all such factors.)
But while I'm a novice at trying to meditate, I will try this Tonglen Meditation, imagining myself sitting on those incredible, beautiful, soft white sugar sands.
I am beginning to think that perseverance is another of those spiritual qualities that is as necessary as oxygen in our air supply.
I have been continuing to play around with how the word perseverance affects my life, and do believe it is a foundational principle to follow as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts from AZ.
we sure are facing more than I expected- I naively believed when Obama became Prez that we would move in a more sane and compassionate direction. That doesn't seem to be the case.
We need to persevere with patience and compassion. Do our best and enter more deeply into
loving kindness - life is a precious gift.
May all beings be free from suffer - May all beings be happy!
Ed
Thank you again!
K
How true, how poignant the words you include from Wheatley's friend: "Her note to Wheatley simply said, "Every day I make a conscious choice not to give up." Sometimes, when looking at the pictures of wildlife in peril, as well as our 'brothers and sisters' in the area closest to the spill, I think it is more like a moment to moment choice not to give up.
Frankly, I was shocked to read the other Seattle-ites statement that 'people in Seattle tend not to be aware of what is happening,' ( a rough paraphrase). Perhaps it is an age thing? I'm not sure how we can remain unaware, for we are One people, who've come here, sharing One Life, with One planetary future, whether the folks at BP, or all the other big oil jock companies and lobbyists what to play blind, or not.
And so, your invitations to Pema's work, is more than timely. I do believe we do not have the luxury of giving up. We are in the soup together, as Carl Jung used to say.
Peace, blessings, and gratitude to you,
Cara
Thank you for sharing the soup...a moment to moment choice.
a wake-up call. Most people will not change unless forced to do so. We need intelligent leadership
right now. I agree with Margaret Wheatley... game over.
I know of a product that in 12-30 days can EAT 98% of the oil, encapsulating the remaining 2% in an even dermatologically safe gel.
this can be used on water as well as on land.
It is well documented and in light of your crisis their main office just launched an american website.
www.bioversal.com
http://www.bioversal.com/index.html
I have talked personally with the danish CEO of this company. Mr. Jarl Seehus. He says their product can, I quote: "In a maximum of 30 days completely contain, clean and save the entire ecosystem"
In the light of this i implore you to please check their website and product out.
Yours sincerely. Lasse Lorentzen
Denmark.
I heard an absurd NPR story here about the huge number of suggestions and alternatives being put forward to clean the mess and cap the spill- and BP does not even respond to the bogus website they put up to accept suggestions.
What an amazing gift if this product could be put in the right hands.
I would suggest trying to find a way to get it directly to some of the local clean up workers on the coastline- samples, etc. If it works,what an answer to everyone's prayers.
good Luck!
Thank you and bless you for giving an articulate voice to what is overwhelming my brain and heart and psyche these last weeks. "Everyday folks are weeping with despair, and feel totally powerless" - that's me. I am literally weeping with despair. I have given money, I have signed petitions, I have written letters. I can continue to make changes in my lifestyle that are important, but, in the scheme of this true disaster, these seem very small indeed. "Every day I make a conscious choice not to give up." This one I struggle with for it almost feels like too much. This seemingly unending gulf tragedy, along with all the other horrible things that continue and escalate are almost more than I can bear. I so appreciate the meditation suggestion, and the Wheatley quotes and book referral. If we are all on the planet at this particular time for a reason (which I believe), then I MUST not give up and must find ways to persevere and contribute and help. I do believe that WE, the human race, are at a real crossroads point, and as Dr. Judith says, we are being called to wake up. I am very awake. I hope the majority of my fellow humans are awakening too. Thanks again for your voice.
Thanks
What an elegant statement of purpose and belief! A belief I share, I might add. I take great delight in saying Fanned!
How can we blame BP or our government for prying every bit of oil from the earth when we are demanding oil, gasoline and other petroleum based goods as cheaply as possible?
According to the US energy administration 7% of each barrel of oil is used to produce:
* Ink
* Crayons
* Bubble gum (ewe!)
* Dishwashing liquids
* Deodorant
* Eyeglasses
* CDs/DVDs
* Tires
* Ammonia
* Heart valves
The oil spill is happening. We can wring our hands, get angry and find someone to blame. I see that as wasted energy!
Another option is to see this as a huge lesson in what not to do going forward and as an opportunity to work together to mitigate the damage. We can donate to our favorite cause in cleaning up the spill, meditate on healing the earth, use natural products and we can vote. There are many choices to make that do not create more anger and chaos.
Going forward every American can reevaluate how much stuff they really need and how big a car they need to drive. Large families got along with smaller vehicles years ago. How much ego is invested in your automobile, the size of your home, the clothes you wear and the handbag you carry???
Persevere
I received an email instead with the following message:
My name is Joe Monto from Seattle. I recently co-wrote a song about the gulf coast tragedy. We don't think about it much here on the West Coast. My hope is that as a result of this video we will...
Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtIWvkDvVUM
Please check it out. It is filled with amazing images not seen on TV and a beautiful heart wrenching song. Thank you Joe!
That being said, Joe's song/video is still poignant and heart wrenching. Whether his interest was self-motivated or truly altruistic, his song brought me out of my numbed, overwhelmed reaction enough to consider actions that I might take, however small, to support positive change.
I am an American, and I have been thinking about the oil spill. But honestly, all I was doing was thinking about it. Now thanks to Kari, Joe, and you I’ll be doing something as well.
I have been angry that I can not do anything about it. I even was angry that you seemed to suggest do nothing, stop relax, think, breathe, ...rrrright!!!!! That is doing nothing !!!!! How can she suggest meditation !. Then I calmed down and reread ( a couple times actually) and "remembered" my meditation classes and my Faith; and, Hey I CAN pray. Of course it works, It has before !
I do believe that any level of the meditation ( as you said: Sit, relax and get an image of the Gulf. Breathe in the image of endless oil polluting the Gulf, and breath out light until it is clean and clear once again) can be a prayer toward cleansing a problem. The power of prayer is very stong and I thank you for reminding me.
I can not go to the gulf and wash a bird but I can pray and I can change the way I live with conservation and I can encourage it in my family, friends, and neighbors for the long term. Taking in the vision of a problem and breathing out the image of the finished solution does send a universal prayer and many people sending a prayer creates collective unity of purpose the physically active can tap.
Wow.
Thank you for sharing your piece in this amazing conversations. Yes. I completely understand and love how you have articulated this process of being numb, angry, and frustrated. The meditation is clearly not written to be the "answer", however it is a practice that is almost intellectually confrontational, isn't it? That is why I included it. thank you for trying it out, and participating in this process of perseverance.
If America gave us gasoline today, wells would still be drilled in the Gulf and other oceans.
Conservatives are angry because the crisis was long predicted by liberals. It had to happen to us one day. It is easier to be angry than to admit to believing in a false system of unregulated capitalism.
Liberals are angry because they could not find some other way to get the point across that offshore drilling will one day slap us in the face.
A foreign company drilled our lands to get petroleum to sell on the world market. There was no WE in this.