The Anathema of Transformation

Transformation is, seemingly, a religious experience for many people. The concept of being rearranged by an experience with the Divine is likely repeated in every truly spiritual text you can find from ancient religions. Yet the process of transformation is, apparently, one we feel deeply opposed to.

When I was part of the church, I found myself regularly frustrated by how uninterested people seemed to be in actual transformation. People would attend bible study, arguably meant as a trans-formative occupation, and steadfastly refuse the idea that they should enter into the process of transformation. Mind you, they'd never state it so plainly, but the defenses were there, if you had eyes to see them. Their focus was, instead, on how they already knew what was necessary for change, had engaged in that process and had come cleanly out the other side.

Richard Rohr brings the resistance to light when he says "......true liminal space is always a threat to the status quo. It is subversive to all forms of Churchianity and repetitive ceremony." (The Mendicant, Spring/Summer 2020)

People often prefer to engage in something that 'looks' like transformation on the outside but allows them to continue exactly as they are on the inside.

We know that transformation is a good thing. We know that we all have growth that is needed. In fact, we are quite comfortable talking about the need for other people to change. But when we arrive at the reality that WE need to change......well, them's fightin' words!

We are at such a time now.

• The entire world is being confronted with the need to change the way we live our daily lives due to Covid-19 and many seem unwilling to embrace this. 
• We are faced with the stark reality of not just systemic racism, which is a horror perhaps even more insidious than overt acts of racism, but now we are seeing the overt acts come to the forefront as well. Yet many are STILL unwilling to acknowledge that there is a problem with racism. 
• We are faced with a very clear breakdown in the Earths soundness as forests around the world burn, coral reefs die, glaciers plunge into the ocean, species become extinct, yet many are still unwilling to acknowledge this global crisis. 
• More and more, psychological science is demonstrating that mental health is a HUGE factor in physical health, yet many people are still unwilling to engage in even the least invasive methods of addressing this, such as mindfulness practice.

Why?

Because acknowledging these things means we are confronted with the need to be transformed.

We are then faced with the fact that the way we've been operating is insufficient and we need to learn a new way. We have to sacrifice something we've become accustomed to having in order to make the needed changes. We have to admit that we might have been wrong in some way and need to change directions to pursue what is good and right for ourselves, for humanity and for all of Nature.

But what happens most commonly? Our selfishness overcomes our recognition of the needed change. We put it out of our mind like the highly privileged Scarlet O'Hara and say "I'll think about that tomorrow," which we all know means we aren't going to think about it at all.

I want to say.....TOMORROW HAS ARRIVED!!!!

We need YOU to be willing to do trans-formative work. We need you to stop thinking that you are not part of the problem. We need you to take up the work to bring the change. YOU. Not that other person over there whom you think is better equipped, YOU! YOU! YOU!!!!!!

In one of my relationships, the rub has been 'You are asking me to CHANGE.' I tried to sidestep that question, but here I am now saying that YES, I am asking you to CHANGE and I won't apologize for that. You need it. I need it. We need it.

We need YOU.

Please get engaged. Please stop being silent. Please be willing to be transformed. Please be willing to be wrong and allow yourself to learn something you didn't know before. You are a valuable human being and your value has zero to do with what you 'know', or how right you are, or how moral you are, or that you 'aren't a racist', or that you pick up your trash, or whatever else has caused you to exempt yourself from the need to transform and think that the way you are now living is just fine.

Are you perfect? No? Then change is needed, period.

Continued growth is always needed.

This isn't an evaluation of what you have done, it's putting before you, the next thing on the 'to do' list. Unless you are dead, you need to engage in this process.

PLEASE be willing to embrace Transformation. The whole world needs it. I need it, you need it, we need it.

Every year, we watch a transformation happen through the seasons. Every year we watch fire ravage forests, every year we watch rivers erode their banks. It's painful, but it's part of nature. It's how we move forward. It's how we grow.