- Do you believe in rainbows?
At the end of each year and the beginning of a new one, I like to look back and do a year-end review to remind myself of the path I’ve traveled and set my intentions for the year to come. When I was reviewing my journals from this past year, I came across a dream I had last New Year’s Eve that I want to share with you.
I’m in a large gathering of people engaged in a group ritual. Each person is holding a candle, and I and the other adults are looking into the eyes of young people and singing to them. The intent of the ritual is to encourage the younger generation as they face the global challenges before them.
Then something unexpected takes place that wasn’t part of the planned ritual: the younger people reciprocate. Looking into our eyes, they sing for us, letting us know that they recognize that we too inherited warfare and other challenging problems from the past and we have worked with them as best we could. Their kindness and generosity moves me to tears.
Later, I am outside. It is night and the sky is dark. I am standing in a location that feels like the site of old ruins. Then, suddenly and improbably, a rainbow appears across the night sky. It is an incredible sight, and I weep, overcome with gratitude.
We happen to be living in an age in which old structures, systems and beliefs are crumbling into ruins. The world around us can seem dark and foreboding, and we may wonder how those who will come after us will be able to make their way through the world they are inheriting.
Yet, as the dream conveyed, this struggle of ours is surrounded and held in love and understanding. It is the passing of the torch as humankind continues on its journey of transcending our egoic belief in separateness and assuming our role as co-creators of our future.
I feel in the deepest core of my being that Earth’s future is brimming with more astonishing possibilities than we can even imagine; there is a rainbow on our horizon.
If you look around with an eye to seeing the possible, you will begin to see the foreshadowing of a promising future. A few weeks ago, for instance, I received an inspiring mailing from Michael Nagler, founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence in California.
Michael wrote a terrific book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future, and I had the privilege of meeting him many years ago when he was visiting Philadelphia. His and the Metta Center’s dedication to helping bring forth a nonviolent future is an inspiration, and I encourage you to visit their website and learn about the work they are doing.
What will come to pass is up to us, and none of us are bystanders. As I wrote in a previous post, What You See Is What You Get, I believe that in each moment, by our thoughts and our actions we are bringing forth a future, for ourselves and for our planet. Our energies mingle, and the consciousness we entertain shapes the reality we forge.
When we place our attention on the vision of a promising future — rather than an apocalyptic one — and when we support those who are working to bring such a future forth, the rainbow on the horizon grows bright even when we cannot yet see the dawn.
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