Collective Heartbreak: Losing Identity

"It may be that we live in a time of collective heartbreak,
where for the first time in history we are being asked to witness
the disappearance and reappearance on a global scale
of what it means to be fully human..."

David Whyte: The Poetic Narrative Of Our Times

Poet, David Whyte, describes our plight quite well "...in a time of collective heartbreak...", he implores us to face our fear by fully embracing the Unknown, not only as the future unfolds, but at each and every moment. "At the center of our lives, in the midst of the busyness and the forgetting, is a story that makes sense when everything extraneous has been taken away." he suggests, hinting that deep within us, we already have what we need in order to cope with unfolding events. But how do we access this 'story' at the center of our lives?

David asserts that to discover our essential 'story' requires a conscious intimacy with Life's paradox: "...We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming; as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due..." In this article David gives us a 'survival manual' that describes the inner and outer territory, which awaits us. He suggests that the very cycles of loss/change, which provoke such fear, resistance and concern, actually show us the way forward if only we could stand back a bit farther, and see them from a broader perspective.

The ultimate trust might be to follow the lead already underway (on a global scale at this moment in time) and consciously agree to "...give away our identity and see how it is returned to us through a sincere participation in the trials and necessities of the coming years."

I find solace and relief in such outrageous suggestions. To 'give away our very identity itself' as David puts it, may be the missing link right in front of us. This resonates with what I am noticing in my own life: the more I stop struggling with loss/change, and fully embrace whatever arises within me (in response to whatever occurs), the more that facade of a restrictive 'me-persona' begins to crack, unhinge and dissolve.

Guarding the fabric of our (given) identity itself is what keeps us prisoner to the conditioning of lifetimes (the legacy of our genetic 'luck-of-the-draw' throughout time). Yet we cling without question to this very identity as if our survival depends upon it. But does it really? Have we ever actually questioned this assumption? Or experimented with it?

Perhaps, instead, the willing release of 'our identity' might point us toward a much more comprehensive, compassionate and available SURVIVAL on a level we simply cannot imagine from our more familiar 'me-persona' level of consciousness. What might it be like to see our greater collective survival as the precise thing, which matters most? Not to see this with our intellect alone, but to grok it in the cells of our shared Beingness itself?

Link to the entire article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-whyte/the-poetic-narrative-of-o_b_378536.html

Opinion: David's long article is a 'difficult read' and can be hard to follow. Requires full, undivided attention, but is truly worth the trouble. Pearls of wisdom not dumbed-down for a quick, appealing read.