This is my second post in a series about the elements and their spirit. My intention was to write about water. A post which I had expected to be about climate change, and the impact of drought. But instead, with the Black Lives Matter protests happening everywhere, I find myself needing to write about tears.
There’s a collective grief that needs to be addressed here. For racism is a problem everywhere. And it is everybody’s problem, for like we are being forced to learn with Covid, the same holds true here: as long as part of the people in our community suffer, we all suffer, indirectly. For a society that is built on inequality can never be a healthy one.
And so, since this is still a post about water, let us consider the role of tears in this process…
This is the spirit of your tears
Your tears are the waves on the ocean that is your soul. They are how the tides of your emotions are allowed to express themselves. An ocean cannot be dammed, and yet so many of you seem to insist on doing just that.
Tears can heal, on the condition that you allow them to flow freely, when they want to and for as long as they want to. And on the condition that your body does not have to fight for the very right to shed them.
These are not easy times. The times of being forced to reflect on our life circumstances have made many people uneasy, and has brought about a raw sensitivity, and a realization that the world cannot be moulded into a place where our troubles no longer exist. A realization, more than ever, that we are all connected, and that that is not only true on an economical or ecological level, but on the emotional level as well.
The tears shed by individual people are part of the world soul of humanity. They are very rarely the property of just a single person. And that has important consequences for what needs to happen to heal. For that soul cannot heal as long as the entire body does not join in the process. You cannot heal a broken leg if your head keeps sending out commands to run errands with that leg. You can try to cushion the shock somewhat, but you can never get permanent healing, at best you will end up with bones that have grown back together at a wrong angle, where the phantom pain never really goes away anymore.
What can tears mean in the mourning of the world soul? They are mirrors that we use to remind ourselves and those around us of what is too important for us to function normally as long as the issue is not dealt with. That means that often, tears are meant to be seen by others, as a signal of what is going on, and that you really need them to mourn with you.
It is equally a signal to parts of your own soul, a request to be given permission to let go, to become whole again, to end the drought within. To wash away the blood so that a new start can be made.
What is happening in the world today is an expression of that. A trauma needs to be shed. It needs to be shed collectively. Those weeping needs to be held close by the rest of you, need to be told that they can reach a point of safety now, and that they will be assisted in their healing process.
This is always a moment of great fragility. The person weeping is baring their soul to the world. To be disappointed or deceived at such a time has great risks of cracking the soul even more than it already has.
And so I would urge all those of you who stand in the role of supporter at this time, to be aware of your importance. Be more than a bandaid. Right now you need to be a crutch. And you need to continue to be that until the ocean has emptied itself. And it can only ever empty if no new pain is added to the reservoir.
Right now the whole world is asked to stand in truth. Help bring healing, either by crying or by holding those who never needed you so badly as they need you now.
anima monday 