Andrew Harvey
I had the powerful experience of hearing Andrew Harvey speak live at a Mindful Metropolis event last month and it is still haunting me. My intent was to network and build relationships that could help grow my business. What I got, was an experience that helped grow my soul.
Here was a man, I’d heard of a dozen times and never really explored. And now that I know what he’s all about, perhaps that’s because on some level, I wasn’t ready for what he had to say. His manner was charming, sophisticated, and witty. His message was rooted in the Sheer Power of Divine Love. This is where the lecture began. Within minutes, I was locked in, along with every other being in the room, I think.
But from this nurturing beginning came the hard truths, the reminders not just of the world’s reality, but of our responsibility to contribute our gifts to the world and our complicity in it’s destruction if we do not. Just because Divine Love is unconditional, doesn’t mean it’s not Tough when it needs to be.
Yes, it’s great that we take the time to look within, to question and reflect, to evolve in our understanding of self and other, light and shadow. But if we do not take that step of action, it is all for nothing. Marianne Williamson said it, when she said, “Your playing small doesn’t serve the world” and on this night, taking in the message pouring through Mr. Harvey, it struck me deeper than ever before. Because this time, there was urgency attached.
Just a few more years until our world, our establishments, our economy, our lives as we now know them, are pushed to the brink; no longer asking, but demanding that we Evolve or Die. That really is the question, dear Hamlet. For just “To Be” is passive; more similar to Death than it’s opposite. Evolution. Change. Growth. Those are the real opposites of Death. And so, to float through life “just being” or just doing our own thing, or just keeping to ourselves, we do NOTHING to contribute to the Evolution of the world. In this game, there is no fence to sit on, no sidelines to watch from; we are ALL players, every day.
Is it alarmist to say we’ve only got a few years left? The question for me isn’t to argue over how long we have until the shit hits the fan, but over what statement it will take to spur us, finally, into solid action? Why do we need to wait for that diagnosis and our life expectancy sentence from the doctor to finally see the importance of, not just living more healthfully, but really soaking up the robust experience of life itself?
Perhaps some of us have wished for such a pronouncement because we perceive the shift that can happen through an imposed ‘death deadline.’ Life becomes richer and more meaningful and fear, amazingly, loses its grip. Maybe the thing that keeps us all so stuck in fear and doubt and the status quo, is the act of trying to convince ourselves that our time here isn’t limited. What if, by embracing the immediacy of our mortality, the fragility of all human existence, we could reconnect to what makes life so worth living.
For me, it’s my relationships. It’s making a difference in anyone’s life whether I know them or not. Smiles and laughters shared. Moments of connection and meaning. Anytime I discover that I have more strength and courage in me than I thought I had. Helping others to wake up to the untapped power in themselves to live out loud and make a difference.
Andrew Harvey left us with a statement that has changed everything for me. He said that it isn’t about ‘following your bliss’ but about ‘following your heartbreak.’ Find the thing that breaks your heart about the world and give everything you’ve got to healing that wound in the world.
My heart breaks when I see the epidemic of disease in our world that is crippling and killing our children, our mothers and fathers, our friends and grandparents, and knowing that 90 percent of those diseases are preventable. My heart breaks at the misinformation and manipulation perpetuated by greed and corruption. My heart breaks when I learn that our food system has been Polluted, Poisoned and Pimped all in the name of Profits.
It’s time for Tough Love, y’all. Mother Nature is giving us the cues. This Corporate Colonization of our Planet has got to go. And it ain’t going down without a fight.
with love, kelly