A good friend and spiritual rebel recently reminded me upon discussing safety when we have only ourselves to rely upon, that it's Just Us.  Now that may be a common spiritual aphorism playing on 'Justice' I'd missed, but boy did it hit home.

In reading the various Face 2012 forum posts on the hot topic of Security in our embryonic communities, there seem to be two camps emerging. One camp, the one I fall into most often, is the camp of Spiritual knowing/relying on the power of the purpose of transformation woven together with a shared sense of basic human decency. Divine Love will guide us home.  The other camp, I find myself in it at the oddest time - like when I'm shelling out hard earned, big bucks for grain to squirrel away.  I consider those I've warned who pay no heed and who will show up hungry, unskilled, ill prepared and needy - it's the camp of get the guns, stock the ammo and build the walls.   I'll call the two camps "Spiritual Cooperation" = can't we all just get along and "Us and Them" = get the guns and check your ID. 

In the "Us and Them" camp, there is a lot of historical precedent.  It is a model we have used for thousands and thousands of years and while it's not fun, we still exist as a species; it got us here.  Moving into community, how much of it do we bring along?  Whether the "Them" is my a-estranged daughter who shows up with nothing, the vile ex-husband, a group of violent marauders, government infiltrators, the local militia or just somebody who is really scared and hungry and has a very big gun; there are a million different "them".  Where is the line?

And the "Spiritual Cooperation" folks?  We're all spiritual beings having a physical - though illusory - experience.  The way will be made clear.  Well, as I ponder turning our entire 2 acre yard into garden this spring I wonder if: a rototiller is the best use of my money, if there will be enough money to buy the gas to run the rototiller to plow the land, to plant the seeds ( BTW, how many seeds should I get for how many years?  ), to grow the veggies ( and which ones will grow well enough to provide good nutrition) to feed everyone. Phew!  In looking further at community living, I also remember that my best friend often drives me utterly crazy and the thought of sharing my house with her is...unthinkable. We walk a similar spiritual path.   I love her dearly and.  It's enough living with my husband; how many times do just the two of us butt heads? Let's not even get into the whole men/women thing. ( See, I'm really liking the "Us and Them" thing ).  Let's face it, I'm not sure I really like people.  Not sure I have the skills to cooperate.  My ivory tower is just too comfy; it's taken me years to make it perfect for me, alone.

The problem with both these camps is that they each hold truths - and lies.

We can agree that for all of us, we're afraid - whether we admit it or not.  And like my friend the spiritual rebel who has traversed the dark side of the street said, "Here we are, whether we explored the dark or the light side of life, here we are together in the same boat, facing the same ....."  End of life as we know it. THE END of thousands of years of behavior that has even made its way into our DNA.  A monumental opportunity for a gigantic do-over.  A clean slate.  Clean except for the seeds that are us.  Seeds embedded in the generations who wished to be part of 'the buck stops here' transformation of humanity.  Can't you smell the brakes burning and feel the crash of thousands of years of behavior.  The world as we know it is colliding with our human desire to grow beyond division and separation, to be more.  Maybe they're feeling it in Chile, Haiti; the shock waves of change rippling outward.  It's that big.  I often shake my head, wondering what was I thinking when I signed up to be here on Earth now.  At these times, I remember the possibility of humanity making it's first steps beyond speciel adolescence into our adulthood as a world.  An adulthood where we take the wisdom of having learned what not to do... and make this planet safe for all.  Wow, it's beautiful or at least exciting to foresee being some of the first to write on that clean slate, to use what we've learned and to re-create our world. Safety. Security. Peace with enough for all.  Is it such a stretch?

Well, yes.  It is a stretch. One that may well start with reconciling the "Us and Them" with the "Spiritual Cooperation" camps. It starts now, in the planning and dreaming of community. OK....my beloved and irritating friend would be a big help with the garden.  If we combine our resources, we could buy more seeds.  She is a nutritionist. Hmmm...  And there are those times when she reins in my gushy, love everybody positions. And times I get her to open her heart. Or is it the other way around?  And my husband's hard head is good for a lot more than butting. He is ingenious.  And he is strong, I don't have to do it all alone; if I'm willing to climb down out of my tower built for one. So much for hearth and home, I can see it from here, cooperation and community.  Now that it is possible, protect it!  Walls, guns, somebody do something about the 'others'!

I've learned, without fail, the second thing I automatically feel after fear is anger.  Me and the rest of humanity. Think about it.  Remember the last time that someone scared you from behind; once you realized you weren't threatened you wanted to punch them.  So not only are we and everyone else going to be afraid at times, people are going to be pissed. Yummy.  If you haven't been already experiencing this joyous amusement park ride, check your pulse.  And I doubt that we're going to all suddenly lose these instinctual patterns overnight.  That's a possibility our children, the indigo and crystal, children have in their tool-belt.  Ours is to make sure they get a world in which to live and explore the new creation of Peace.  Why did we sign on for this life?

One of the Muses - and as archetypes the Muses of the Goddess do hold keys to change as well as creativity  - is Polyhemnia.  (Oh no, she's going all spiritual, airy fairy on us) - bear with me, there is a point.  Polyhemnia is the muse of many voices, the muse of choir music; she's a keeper in these times of change.  Her energy of change  and creativity already knows how to blend many voices, ranges, beats and songs into something larger, something that is sized to fit a global paradigm shift.  There is a template. She has it down.  We're really not leaping into the abyss. OK, if you're not here for spiritual growth or mumbo-jumbo, you're here to survive.  And I posit, that survival ultimately will only work in the long term if we do change - at least the ways that no longer serve us.  Earth changes, social decay on steroids, crumbling systems of exchange; here's your sign.  Change we must. 

So, we're going to be afraid, we're going to be angry, in our fear and anger we're going to fall back on old patterns.  And we see where these old ways got us.  Here. Where the  'light' path hasn't worked any better than the 'dark'.  No one has found lasting, safe, empowerment in this world.  We've either been naive, weak and unprepared or we've been unwilling to put down the guns and go talk to the militia - who really know about guns and while we're not in a perfect world yet, we can see it from here.  Yes, my husband is going to do that - talk to the local militia.  Because we need each other.  We'll ask Polyhemnia to guide us into a harmonious reconnection with our many voices and  talk to the militia about how we can help each other.  We'll put down the 'them'.

God speed to us all; with our grain, with our naiveté, with our courage, with our wisdom, with our fears and rage and most of all with our hearts.

After all, its Just Us and that's enough.