There’s a truism that goes like this: “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle”.
It sounds better in English than in Spanish, where we say “God strangles but doesn’t hang”. (I know, right? Hideous. Told you it was better in English.)
As with most truisms, I’m left wondering whether it’s true or whether it’s something we “wish” were true.
For argument’s sake, let’s say it’s true, but with a twist.
Let’s say “God doesn’t give me more challenging Truths than I can handle”.
For me, only the Truth will do
Ah, yes. The Heaven’s know I’m a smart cookie. Not for me the simplistic “jump and the net will catch you” or “ask and it shall be given”. Nothing but pure, cold, distilled Truth for me. Truth that remains true for all humans at all times, not the platitudes made by privileged people after “God” handed them a cookie. (Or a whole jarful of cookies…)
The way I see it, the world is going through a Big Transition.
Some say that we are being “birthed” into something, a next stage of human development. It’s pretty clear that there’s no going back, that it’s a “life or death” deal for humanity. There’s no return to “business as usual”.
Some of us are aware of this. And some of us aren’t.
Those of us who are aware of this Big Transition are capable of “holding” this awareness in a way those who aren’t can’t.
Some of us can no longer live in the Old Story
The way I see it, I have been given the emotional and possibly spiritual strength to “hold” the awareness that, yes, the world is undergoing a Big Transition. And because of that, my life will never conform to the “Old Business as Usual” mould.
And even though I see people living inside the “Old Business as Usual” story, and even thriving within it, I know I can’t have that life, because it’s not my path.
I am meant to hold a very difficult thing. Which is why I was given the strength to do it.
But someone’s gotta do it, I suppose.
A homeless man, with an MBA in Finance
There’s a man called Steve with an MBA in Finance from Stanford, who has been homeless for 10 months.
You can see it for yourself.
I know he’s speaking the truth. I myself have a degree in Astrophysics, and I work at a cafe.
We are the first casualties from the death of the “Old Story”.
Of course, the “Old Business as Usual” has never served “everyone”.
But now it’s not serving those whom it used to serve: the smart and educated. The people who were raised to believe in “the system”, because that belief would bring in the societal rewards.
Someone asks Steve “How did this happen?”, the implication being “something must have gone very wrong for someone with an MBA from Stanford to end up homeless”.
But the assumption here is that “the system” or the “Old Story of Business as Usual” works, and that something “unusual” must have taken place for Steve to end up homeless.
Yet this is not unusual. The lie is beginning to give.
The “Old Story” is dying before our eyes, and it appears that those who can emotionally withstand its fall are the first to experience the crash… and to survive it, and speak out.
And say “I’ve been homeless for 10 months. And I’ve got an MBA in Finance from Standford”.
Or in my case, say “I’ve been homeless several times, and unemployed for years. Now I work at a cafe. And I have a degree in Astrophysics”.
Uncomfortable facts. Leading to an even more uncomfortable Truth: the “Old Story” is dying, and a Big Transition is taking place.
And while we undergo this transition, some of us will be pushed out of the “Old Story”, and forced to enter a new one, for our own emotional sake, if nothing else.
Perhaps I am now strong enough to hold this story.
And to have compassion for myself and Steve.
And everyone else who no longer lives inside the “Old Story”.
(I would also like to take this opportunity to send as much light as I can to Steve)
