Dumbo Feather – February 2019

OhmyGod.I findthatexquisitelybeautiful,poeticandamazing.Butmy
soullongstobea babyboomer.LikeI totallywanttobea babyboomer!
Iwassayingtoa friendtheotherday,“Howamazingwouldit havebeento
bebornjustafterWorldWarII andthenyoucouldlivea fabulouslifeand
plundertheplanethappilyinconsumerism.”I wasactuallylongingforit
[laughs]if I’mtotallyhonest!“I wanttojustdrinkallthewine,eatallthemeat,
wearfashionandthrowit out!”It wassuchanawesomegenerationthat
didn’t havetoworryaboutplanetaryboundaries!So,youknow.If I’mhonest,
my baseselfislongingforpastgenerationvibes.Notreally,butyouknow.

Yeahbutwhowantstobewhereweare?Like,mygenerationisnothavingchildren.Women

intheUSthatI metrecentlywhoaresmart,brilliant,beautifulhumanbeingsarenothaving

childrenbecauseofthistime.Becauseoftheinsecurityandtheuncertainty.Andwhatyou

said,I heardyou.It hasalwaysbeenuncertain.It hasalwaysbeeninsecure.Therewasa false

senseofsecuritythatthebabyboomersimposedontheworldgloriously,arrogantly...

Naïvely!AndI’mkindoflovingthemsilly.LikewhenI’maround

mymumit’sa reallylovelyspacetoinhabit,notbeingworried

aboutalltheseramifications.I mean,notthatsheisn’t.Butthe

waytheylivedandthewaytheyframedtheworld.Sothatnow

in ourgenerationpeoplearenothavingchildrenbecauseofthe

shockoftheawarenessofourtimeanda confusionaroundhow

to respond.Afearful,confusing,grief-strickenunknowingofhow

to be.I understandthatinthisconversationyou’recallingforward

howwemightbe.AndI hearyou.Andanotherpartofmeisjust

like a tantrumingchildwhodoesn’twanttohavetoworkthathard.

Atthe end of a long day I do really just want to watch Netflix.

a powerful resource for us. So my recognition, and what I expressed in the book, is that

our minds are being stretched. We can’t meet the challenge, our collective challenge, as we

have been. We have to become a new stage of human being. We have to become mature in

a way that we never have been before. That takes deep profound inner work. We do have to

transform our consciousness. We also have to transform our relationships. Our way of being

with each other can be better.

And that can transform the structures that contain us. We are invited by circumstances to

meet these sets of challenges. It isn’t as if I wish I lived in a past era when these crises weren’t

so acute. My soul and your soul have said “yes” somehow to being here now.

I want to challenge you on

that. I mean yeah, the fact that

you would feel that, I’m with

you one thousand percent.

That’s natural. But if you

really examine it, longing to be

elsewhere is a way of not really

being where you are.

Naïvely!

But that’s okay. How can we be self-

compassionate and humorous and

loose and in a very light-hearted way

even as we are capable of this profound

seriousness and sobriety? And facing

horrific realities? That’s what we’re called

to: all of those things at once. So that

means I have to grow. And for you to

notice that you could do better and that

in some ways you’re having a tantrum,

yeah. Thanks for being so honest about

it. But you’ll outgrow the tantrum. You

won’t stay stuck in that pattern. You’re going to have some insights about that and your

feelings are going to evolve. And they’re being informed by a lot of wisdom because that’s

what you’re really magnetised to. So something better is coming about for you. You’re rapidly

growing. So are all of us. This is a collective phenomenon. We are rapidly growing. It’s like

getting the best seat at the sporting event. We are where the action is. If your soul was saying

We can be better friends, we can be more

co-operative in different ways. We don’t have to

settle for the old ways of being with each other.

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TRANSFORMING

CONVERSATIONS