The Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Truckers and Human Theatre

DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS

One way I like to describe the machinations of our species is to call it human theatre. Whatever our spiritual beliefs, if we can sense, feel or allow that there is meaning beyond survival, that we are more than our physical bodies, then we have the capacity to stand back, far back from the drama of our daily lives and witness the theatre of it all. 

When we attend live theatre, we sit in the audience and join in with a “willing suspension of disbelief”. We know the actors on the stage are playing a role, but we collectively agree to forget this in order to have the immersive experience of watching them act out the story. We watch for entertainment but also to learn, to feel, to understand ourselves more deeply by participating in the art of life.

In truth, all of our lives are theatre. We are children playing dress up, we are souls who have chosen our personalities, our bodies, our parents, our limitations, our gifts and our wounds. We said yes to this path. We asked for it, because meaning is only found where there is willingness, the freedom of the will to choose. 

This principle may seem harsh when we witness stark suffering, and at the same time profoundly liberating when we recognize there is no one to blame, and that we are, moment to moment, aligning our will with Divine will. It helps to acknowledge that we have all suffered, we have all lived many lives of deep learning, we have all participated in this grand theatre of metaphysical exploration. We have all been the victim and the persecutor.  We have all tried to be the saviour, we have all been angry and unkind; we have all been blinded by the forgetting of our higher natures. If we can accept this principle, there can be no exceptions. It is the way of things. It is a universal paradigm we may only comprehend to a modest degree through the lens of our human, material ways. 

If we can also accept the idea that each one of us holds purpose within our personal sufferings, then we must know that we also live within a profound, collective direction. And as literal fractals, aspects of Creation, this infinite creative energy, we flow in and out of one another’s awareness with never a mistake, and never a meaningless moment. We are kaleidoscopic in our being. However we tumble, wherever we fall, we are beautiful.  

The experiences we have in our human theatre can only exist within a dualistic realm. We must know the heat of a summer day to value a drink of cool water. We must know loss and separation to taste the joy of a loved one’s returning embrace. We must die so that we may be born, and reborn, to live out the eternal expressions of our being.

Duality is no mistake, it is the visible, materialization of our expanding consciousness. In order to exhale, we must inhale. In order to return to what is sacred, we must have forgotten who we really are. 

Human consciousness is not separate from all the facets of consciousness, the four-leggeds, the rivers and trees, the stones and soil, and the infinitesimal life forms which swim everywhere, throughout the biomes of our bodies, and of the living soul of the Great Mother.  

But we humans play a special role, in this, our vast theatre. We hold the capacity to witness ourselves, and in this way traverse realms and dimensions. We have the ability to redefine the Self by witnessing the self, and this gift is the primary reason we have incarnated at all. 

And how do we achieve this witnessing?  Through relationships with others who will bring us reflections of ourselves. The ones who love us, and the ones who loath us. The ones we think we cannot live without, and the ones we wish would go away. In perfect synchronization, we dance together, rich with purpose, until the light of alchemy fills our cells and integration moves toward completion.  We suffer in our separation, until we are ready to recognize we are not separate at all. 

For centuries, we humans have generated systems, to assuage our fear of the chaotic void. We created spiritual religions to tell us what to believe about our gods, medical religions to tell us what to do with our bodies, educational prisons to generate conformity in our youth, political hierarchies and national identities to define and control our masses. Through the industries and technologies of consumption, war and finance, we created ways to play with our fear of survival, to walk the long walk away from our true selves and hearts, and the heart of our Earth. 

Yet even this, all of this, must fall within the paradigm of Creator witnessing Creation. And the deconstruction of systems and forms which once made us feel safe, is as natural as the rotting of autumn leaves, to nourish the soil for seeds in the months ahead, when the life force of Nature is once again reborn.

It is in this global rebirth, we who are now alive, have agreed to participate. We chose this. We said yes. We wanted to be a part of this, knowing how momentous such an unravelling would be. And now here we are, the sands of our collective awareness shifting daily under our feet, our constructs swaying as if to collapse in any moment.  For they must, and they will. 

Within the context of this essential polarization, the theatre of our planetary experience unfolds in perfection. The global rising of our fear of death, expressed through an irrational terror of contagion is in perfect alignment. The initiatives and responses of those in power, filtered through their political and medical ideologies, act like a magnifying glass to our collective karmic journey. And when the sun shines through that glass, we burn and squirm where we stand, so afraid are we to reclaim the autonomy of spirit which has never been, and can never be lost. 

As our systems fall, chaos must and will return. But this is a natural chaos, a gorgeous chaos, as our attempts to control one another scatter in the wind. The more we hold on to our fear, the more painful the letting go will be. 

We will be so tempted to cling to definitions of old; the left versus the right, the liberators versus the terrorists, the spiritual versus the material, and yet the more the energetic tornados of these days pick up force, the more we will be inevitably confronted by the truth that all aspects live within all of us. Whether we like it or not, fundamentally we are all children of Source. No exceptions. No blame. 

This is exactly why, as this huge wave of rebellion and reclamation rises around the world, we will discover that the good guys hold hidden darkness which must be revealed, and the bad guys may just turn out to have hearts of gold. Assumptions will get us nowhere because, like it or not, we are One. 

It is true that this is not an easy time for anyone. But if we can dare to turn our attention to the frequency within our hearts and bellies, we will find something that will guide us through. We can see that there is no power greater than a collective desire to return to the sacred power of choice. To say, as an incarnating soul, I can choose the role I play on this stage. I can choose the dialogue I speak; I can shape, I can create and recreate my own story, and the story I share with my loved ones, my enemies and my world. 

The theatre of the truckers is ripe and juicy with these possibilities. The cowboys on wheels have long played the role of those who live in a distinct, chosen world, and in their finer moments, love to care, to help and to serve. 

Is it possible that the many, the very many who cry out for freedom have differing views about what this freedom means? Absolutely. Does each one walk with a different wound, a different fear? Yes, for this is divine order. Is it possible that the underlying, growing river of hope and possibility may transform each one of us, wherever we stand or walk, left or right, fierce or compliant, wherever we have chosen to be upon this stage? Without question. And the sooner we let our assumptions drop, the more we hone in on the delight of reconnection, of appreciation, of generosity, the sooner will we all be set free. 

We are asked to think less and feel more, but feel from the very roots of the soul. To feel what is real. Forget what we thought we knew, and instead prepare to intuit a new self, a new way, every day. The flow which has begun will not be undone, but will push our universal rebirth to new heights. 

I am honoured to be with you for the ride.