Dear friend,
It occurred to me recently that I’ve been preparing a rather cushy bed from
which to carry out my life, padding it with comforts that make it a difficult place
to leave. And it’s okay, I tell myself, because I’m not causing harm to anyone
fromhere,I’mbeingconsciousofmyimpact,I’mworkingandcontributing—
I’mdoing good. I’ve got my values in check and so I’m going to stay in my
cushy bed because it’s frankly very nice and, most importantly, it’s safe.
But over time, safety and comfort bring a kind of stagnancy and familiarity
that dulls the human spirit. We enter a humdrum state where we’re no longer
hearing (let alone responding to) the impulses that emerge from within—
impulses that might invite us to try something new, challenge assumptions
or look at things differently. In the humdrum state, the world becomes
smaller, more insular and disconnected. Fear is pervasive, and many will
fight in order to uphold what they have come to believe is their world.
I’ve been missing the rush of aliveness that comes from acting on these impulses
or yearnings of the heart. For the storytellers in this issue, that rush comes
from actively defying the systems we live in and creating new ones. It comes
from speaking out to social and environmental injustices; from responding to
something hateful with compassion; from resisting normalised behaviours that
feel destructive and de-humanising. It comes, ultimately, from some kind of
shift or transformation—be it in the broader culture or the individual psyche.
I’ve loved hearing the myriad ways in which people are called to be
courageous in their lives. The call depends, of course, on one’s unique set
of qualities and circumstances, but all the responses are important. It is our
collective courageous responses, or lack thereof, that make the world.
Someone said to me recently that courage might actually be the reward for going
into the unknown, rather than the thing we need to act. I think it’s both. I think that
emboldening feeling we get after doing something challenging is the same quality
we need to turn these impulses of the heart into action. Courageous responses
create courageous responses—in us and also in those who bear witness.
It’s time to get uncomfortable.
Love,
Nathan