Belly of Discomfort

We are in the belly of discomfort. And that is not because of the presidential election. The election has exposed the deep discomfort we are living in the midst of, the false idolatry we have created. It has exposed the seductive story of us versus them, liberal versus conservative—and our addiction to the trance of separation. 

We are beginning to understand that this country has been anesthetized. That we have been suckling on the teat of consumerism, the teat of competition, the teat of capitalism for a very long time. 

We are coming to terms with what actually exists in this thing we call the United States of America.

We are waking up. 

Quite frankly, to imagine that the results of this election would be overwhelmingly in favor of a Biden-Harris ticket is naïve. I can appreciate the heartbreak behind that naiveté, the jarring epiphany that Disney+ doesn’t sync up with real-life America. But for organizers, mobilizers, and activists who have been in the trenches fighting for meaningful social change long before the murder of George Floyd, there has been a deep knowing of the dis-ease that lives in this country. That knowledge has sat in their bellies, heavy and sour, for many years.

I write this at a moment when we do not know who will be in the office of the presidency come January 2021. A moment where if in fact the candidate I voted for is to be elected President of the United States, it will be by a very small margin.  

Not only am I optimistic. I am encouraged. 

My optimism is not born of the whitewashed brand of personal transformation that spins people’s lived experience into colorful memes. Most of the people touting those platitudes do not actually understand the depths of those statements, and are often using them as a way to move away from discomfort. 

The discomfort is where the work happens. It is where our native, holy, divine, connected selves reside. 

I am optimistic because there is a reckoning in the soul of humanity. There are a million systems and structures that are being exposed, whether they be the Electoral College, voting rights, or the construction of the Supreme Court. All of that is manufactured to maintain a lie that does not serve our collective awakening as human beings.

So here we are. We have arrived at a choice. We can choose to curse at the TV, throw our hands up, be shocked or disgusted, furious or discouraged. Or we can choose to step into the discomfort, to affirm it as a meaningful contribution to our sobriety and spiritual maturation. 

I invite you to imagine and dream beyond binaries. To come back to a place of oneness and connection. To make a critique of that which is occurring on the planet—AND call for something greater—AND create a new reality.

We are in a season of reckoning. It is uncomfortable. Welcome.