Patricia Pearce

Helping You Be the Change

A Pandemic’s Good Friday

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Without the benefit of hindsight, could anyone deem it “good”?

Today is Good Friday, and in my journaling this morning I was contemplating how strange and subversive the name given this day is:

Good Friday.

It’s hard to see how a cruel, torturous execution at the hands of imperial forces could be called “good.”

It’s easier, of course, with the benefit of resurrection hindsight. But without that, without the advantage of remembering this day from the other side of the tomb, could anyone ever have deemed it “good”?

I know all about the historic interpretations that Jesus’ crucifixion was the atoning sacrifice that reconciled humanity with our divine Source. But I don’t buy it. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is one of the greatest misconceptions ever told.

Why? Because Love is indivisible. Love is all there is. Humanity could never be alienated from our divine Source (aka Love) except in our own minds and fantasies. Nothing was ever broken, and no sacrifice was ever needed.Continue Reading

An Open Letter to Future Generations

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All is interconnected. One Life. Indra’s Web.

Dear Future Human Inhabitants of Earth,

I am writing to you from the early 21st century guessing you may be looking back on our time and wondering how we could have made such a mess of our world. I’d like to try to give you some insight into that question.

One of the huge breakthroughs in our recent understanding has been to recognize that everything we see, touch, experience—and even things that we cannot—is woven into a single system. All is interconnected. Interwoven. One Life. Indra’s Web.

I understand this is not news to you. It is obvious. But for us, for a very long time, it was far from obvious.

You see, the mind state most of us lived in was very different from yours. This will seem alien to you, but I’m going to try to explain.Continue Reading

Eudomy: The Land Where Truth Reigns

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tree at sunset
In Eudomy there is no judgment.

I once had a dream where I am transported into the future. I look around and I see a thriving Earth and a world at peace. And I think, elatedly, we did it! We humans did it! We made the transformation into the new consciousness!

As I walk around, I see a woman with the most interesting garb. It has a traditional feel, colorful, and somehow it conveys wholeness and wisdom.

Around her on the ground are seated several children and I realize she is their teacher.

The students are reading passages that they have written and one of them reads something that refers to or implies judgment.

The teacher gently explains to the child that in Eudomy, which is the name of the land where they live, there isn’t any judgment. I understand that she doesn’t mean we don’t do judgment because it’s bad. She means in Eudomy judgment simply doesn’t exist. It has no reality.Continue Reading

Hate Crimes and Humanity’s Metamorphosis

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"Metamorphogenesis" painting by Sara Steele.
Metamorphogenesis Nacimiento, c. 2016 by Sara Steele, All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

[This article has also been published on the Huffington Post.]

As fear and turmoil engulf our nation, there is a metaphor that has been on my mind which I would like to share with you. It is the story of what happens to a caterpillar when it undergoes its metamorphosis into a butterfly.

I am indebted to David Korten, who, in his excellent book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, spoke about the work of evolution biologist Elisabet Sahtouris who has studied this mysterious and miraculous transformation.

Before its transformation, the earthbound caterpillar is focused on consuming. It engorges itself, devouring as much as it can, until it is so bloated it can do nothing but hang upside down and give itself over to its destiny. It forms around itself a chrysalis where it undergoes a metamorphosis that, if you had never known of it, would seem completely implausible.

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Election 2016 and Our Evolutionary Task

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election 2016 evolutionary task

[This article has also been published on the Huffington Post.]

Many of us are heaving a sigh of relief that this presidential election 2016 is drawing to a close, yet we also know that the hostilities that have been playing out in our nation these last many months are not simply going to evaporate after the last poll has closed and the last vote tallied.

We are going to be left with some important work to do — and we are going to need to be clear about what we are dealing with.

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Three Ways to Be a Peacemaker in a Time of Hatred

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flag and dove

[This article has also been published on the Huffington Post.]

In the face of escalating hatred and violence that is tearing at the seams of our country, many of us are left wondering how to be a peacemaker. How can we counteract the alarming anger and violence without engaging in further attack? How do we unleash the power of peace?

The fundamental misunderstanding about reality beneath all the xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, racism and sexism we are witnessing is that something called separateness exists.

The question is, how do we respond to this erroneous idea without engaging in the same posture of attack that such an idea engenders? I am going to suggest three ways, based on the principles of nonviolence.Continue Reading

Are You Making Your Best Contribution to the World?

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be your pixel 1
Are you being your pixel?

I’ve been thinking a lot about pixels lately. It might seem like a strange thing to think about, but it will make sense once I tell you the backstory.

I’ve been taking a couple of online classes to help me build a more robust author platform in preparation for some book launches down the road. One of the classes talks about finding your niche and positioning yourself against the competition.

Needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of translating—trying to straddle the worlds of marketing and spirituality.

They emerge out of two very different worldviews. Conventional marketing focuses on competition and setting yourself apart. Spirituality, where my interest lies, is rooted in the realization of our oneness.

The way I see it, each of us is like a pixel in a larger picture. We each have our own authentic, unique attributes which the big picture needs. This is why I don’t need to think of my compatriot pixels (those who are offering similar teachings) as competitors, because we’re all doing our part to bring forth the big, beautiful picture. After all, an image of a dahlia needs more than one yellow pixel.

I was talking to a friend about all of this recently and she reminded me of that old Hassidic tale of the rabbi Zusya who died and went to stand before the judgment seat of God. As he waited for God to appear, he grew nervous thinking about his life and how little he had done.

He began to imagine that God was going to ask him, “Why weren’t you Moses?” or “Why weren’t you Solomon?” or “Why weren’t you David?”

But when God appeared, God simply asked, “Why weren’t you Zusya?”

We’re each here to be our authentic, unique pixel. Nothing else.

Despite what you may have been taught, it isn’t self-centered or arrogant to simply to be who you are and offer the world what you have to offer. In fact, if enough of us withhold our true hue and try to shine as a different sort of pixel, the big picture becomes nothing but a chaotic, indecipherable jumble.

So here’s my bumper sticker advice: Be your pixel. Go down deep into your essence, beneath all the beliefs that you’re supposed to be like somebody else or act like somebody else. Search for your authentic Self and let it shine—because the world needs you.

 

When Uncanny Coincidences Challenge Our Worldview

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A couple weeks ago I posted a blog about overhearing an 80-year-old woman talking in my dentist’s office about her plans to do the next thing on her bucket list the following day: go skydiving.

This week I’d like to share a delightful coincidence that occurred while I was writing that post.

I’d gotten my first draft done Monday morning and then stopped for lunch, and after I ate I stepped outside to get the mail. There, tucked between the bills and the fund-raising appeals, was a handwritten envelop, a rarity I always welcome.

I recognized the handwriting as my friend Susan’s, who was away on vacation, and when I opened the envelop and pulled out the card I laughed out loud. On the front of it was a picture of a well-dressed, dignified older woman posing for her mugshot.

I figured the reason Susan had sent me this card was that I was arrested once (well, okay, more than once) for doing nonviolent civil disobedience, and after one of those arrests Susan came to visit me while I was doing a week in jail.

But when I opened the card I laughed even harder. Inside it read: “Here’s to another check on the bucket list!”Continue Reading