Holding Truth, Imagination, & Love in Complicated Times

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty...”

~ John Keats

Let’s be real: truth is complicated in the times we are navigating. We are being invited to hold more right now—to resist seeing truth and falsehood as simple binaries. So how might we hold both complexity and care in order to find our way forward in love?

As Bell Hooks said, “Any time we do the work of love…We end the work of domination.” This is what I am standing up for in the world.

If we are tuned into the noise of the mind, we will inevitably filter through the noise of the world. And the chaos and noise of the world are only getting louder—intentionally so—pulling us out of our center and into fear about our future.

Anything new has to begin with imagination. But when we are stressed and our cortisol is high, our imagination becomes most vulnerable. The administration wants to control us—to steal our imagination and, by extension, our future. As Rob Hopkins said, we are living in the “Trump dis-imagination machine,” where our future is being cancelled and colonized.

Like anything in life, imagination is a muscle that must be exercised. It allows us to see beyond chaos and division. Imagination is the “ability to see things as if they could be different.” So what if you took time each day away from doom-scrolling to imagine a different future—and to notice the places around the world where that future is already being lived? You might begin asking yourself, what if this is possible or what else is possible?

For me, I imagine a future where I live in conscious, intentional community — sharing meals, singing, holding ceremony, stewarding the land together, sourcing most of our food from coops, & educating others on how to return their land to native plants and grow their own food.

To strengthen the web of community, we must cultivate two capacities: imagination and a longing for the future beyond what we can yet imagine. I will continue to tend community spaces that help each wildflower feel rooted, centered, and empowered, so we may rise together.

I’d be honored to hear: what are you imagining for our future? Please share in the comments.