This is a universal (cosmically lawful?) contraction of sorts; as opposed to an expansion or period of release witnessed in other eras or periods of time. As was said, we are seeing this on all scales; from government, world politics to corporate institutions to even our friends and neighbor's conduction of personal affairs. It's a proliferative, invasive and a toxic reaction to fear of being nothing. It is a manifestation of a world bereft of a spiritual compass or conscience. There is a resistance to this seen by other public power brokers. Through humor, mobilizing masses of people or throwing money at the contraction through media or otherwise, there is an attempt to bring a transparency to the inequitablility. From my perspective, this is the other side of this deeply troubled coin (even though I am entertained and often grateful for the latter's exposure attempts). They are polarized to the other side of the coin, and also are unwilling to be insignificant, invisible and without their own wieldy (heady) power.
I am everybody and every time, I always call myself by your name. --Pablo Neruda
And then we have, on the other hand, the legions of unsung hero(ines). Those people who are off that power grid, living their life through a deeper guidance, a conscience that manifests in small, often invisible and insignificant ways to the world at large. The family members who have put their own personal, well planned trajectory on hold to mindfully care for an incapacitated other, be it a family elder or physically/mentally challenged child, young adult. What is inconsequential to many is significant to them. Personally insuring the quality of life for a loved one who may never be a person of power in the world (pay back). And this is usually done at great financial expense and an abdication of massive chunks of personal time (never to be recovered). There is no fanfare and rarely an acknowledgment of this noble endeavor. It is an often silent, private, hellish (on some levels) navigation, touched by unspoken suffering, without remuneration and always at an exorbitant financial cost (in one way or another). Prompted by a sense of deep obligation and almost always love, of the agape sort. These are people who are both well prepared (financially and internally) and unprepared for such a commitment. But they all take it on regardless because of their innate sense of integrity, justice and conscience. It's a breathtaking choice of selflessness to make.
Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.-- Wm. Shakespeare
Is this not a perplexing and unusual juxtaposition of universal energies? Granted, it is probably not a new juxtaposition. I think of India, the famous historical power plays/brokers of the past juxtaposed with Mother Theresa's work with lepers, the terminally ill and other outcasts, done mostly under the radar of public notice, the first few decades at least. There are countless vocationists who have dedicated their existence to educating and caring for underserved, unnoticed populations all over the world, for little to no pay. And the unconscionable power mongering has indeed always gone on, as these other more conscience-centered activities, have too gone on.
Does the world require these two different cosmic energies to co-exist in the world? The constant friction of these energies may be necessary to keep the planet turning? Or maybe its not the polar forces themselves, but the friction that is created as they inevitably dual while in co-existence. There is a tremendous energy generated there. Enough energy to catapult nations into revolution and/or war. On a micro scale, it's enough for individuals to make a cataclysmic shift in themselves; stop drinking/drugging, take a serious life inventory that prompts a leap into another way of being. Or is it merely, we are at the mercy of these inevitable paradoxes? They cosmically do their contraction/expansion thing on cue, and we similarly on cue, do our response/reaction to these big lawful forces?
In a way the inner struggle to cultivate a conscience through a lifetime is related to the universal duality these forces manifest.
“This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
I've seen this in training new nurses in regards to having them learn to open their energy field, creating a more spacious sense of awareness and sensitizing themselves to what is in the moment. They do this and then often become prey to the hostile or negative because although they've practiced grounding and centering before, they've not practiced both at the same time. They lose one or the other in trying to strengthen one or the other. And so it is with us. We are so in the habit of forming belief, attaching to something, anything to identify ourselves, we forget our feet on the floor, the sense of breath moving through our bodies. In particular in the "knowing" professions like medicine, it is supremely uncomfortable to entertain the unknown; we're indoctrinated to know (or pretend we know) lest there be any errors. Most ER, critical care nurses hate this relaxation, sensitizing I do with them. They feel they can't "be on their game" if they're all relaxed. And they are (partially) right, they can't if they don't value the (sometimes appearing opposite) sense of being grounded, which isn't in their automatic reactions (valuable in their own right) but present in the discriminating (more present) self who is practicing letting go of tensions while centering energies in the body. They often, without knowing it while in the ER capacity, have attached to the high they get from the hormones released from the sympathetic nervous system (adrenalin primarily) and the subsequent sense of being almost omnipotent. It can be hard to give that up and hard not to believe the cascade of self-importance felt and one's elevated capacity.
Lack and Unknown are not of the ego's world (unless the ego has been trained to live there). Most of us need to get trained to co-exist with them, as our human upbringing in culture hasn't provided that. Someone in us needs to "believe", to value this other reality. Otherwise, all our beliefs are entrenched in something ego feeds off of, creating attitudes, habits, addictions most of me will gladly tolerate, narrowing my world exponentially. I have to want a different reality