This Week’s Quotation:
Cliff Barry, the founder of Shadow Work® seminars, says that the elders in the circle have to disbelieve. In other words, if a group is to thrive, there have to be leaders who choose not to buy into any negative thought pattern that would sabotage the group. They have to disbelieve that the beast has any power other than the power you give it.
The creative field we share as human beings is a field for transformation because there are elders here; elders who hold this field and create a context where other people can awaken to who they are.
~ Becoming a Sun p. 190
Elders in the Circle Have to Disbelieve
Author, Becoming a Sun
In the culture of today, youth is celebrated, and eldership is often seen as just growing old and feeble. Having reached 70 this year, I am protesting this attitude on behalf of old people everywhere. (Not really.)
If a person plays their cards right, age can contribute to a person’s elderhood. But not necessarily. Sometimes, people just get old—not wiser.
The truth is we all have the opportunity to act with wisdom and hold the circle of community. It could be a family, a business, or any group of people. Whatever community it is, eldership is about faith—faith in the community and the people of it, faith in the creative process we call life, and faith in oneself. That faith brings a disbelief in the suspicion, doubt, gossip, and fear that can undermine a community if people let it.
I am here to bring faith. I am here to be an elder in my community. How about you?
What does it mean to become a sun?
Every human being is already a sun on the inside—a being of intense love and light. The difference is that some people have the vision and courage to become a sun on the outside. This difference is our human destiny.
4 Responses
YES! YES! I had never heard it described in this way until I read BECOMING A SUN (you learn something new every day!) but I am with you and Cliff in DISBELIEF of anything that might bring us down collectively. Totally with you in reinforcing the Divine, the positive, the possible, and the efforts of spiritual colleagues. Love is the answer. WITH YOU/FOR YOU. Love, Tom C.
Thank you for this message today.
Moving through physical difficulties can dishearten a person who is older…. AND it can be a great opportunity to move forward in victory! Older people can also tend to feel and act as if they “know best.” I must say that I have received a lot of wisdom from both of my sons…and others younger than me!
I choose to have faith and provide a blessing in my world in every way I can–no matter what… I love the reference to “disbelieving.” And I love BECOMING A SUN! Thank you!
Love this David – thank you…
When someone chooses to be harmful and hurtful – this can be surprising and shocking – but this advice is so wonderful for all!!!
Elders – “They have to disbelieve that the beast has any power other than the power you give it.”
Being in my 82nd year, I hope I haven’t just gotten old without acquiring any wisdom. I’m certainly aware that “the beast” doesn’t have any power in my life except what I might give it. And I’m aware that even though I’ve been training my body, mind and heart for decades to reveal the truth of who I am, there is always more to learn and more to reveal.