Sometimes, participating in evolution means letting go into the mystery. These days, the world seems poised at a turning point, a moment of potential transformation (or collapse). The fruits of our own ignorance and error seem to ripen, along with a flourishing of innovation, awakening and moral strength. All over, we are waking up and growing up.
For many of us this awakening is deeply personal. You might experience this as a gnawing sense or a clear knowing that your life is meant to be part of a larger story of human transformation. No matter where you are in your unfolding, this sense might be urging you forward. When people ask me what kind of leaders attend GTC, I am always called to say – You. "Leadership" is almost an old-fashioned term now, but at its essence always had the action towards a potential, a better future. For us this term points to the innate intelligence that we each have of our higher future together, the willingness to represent that future, and act from our knowledge of it.
The world needs your wisdom, love, passion, and action. And you do, too. As we awaken to our collective potential and universal care, we each have a part to play. You might sense that deeply in your own heart. We see this as a call to evolution and service, and are inspired to deepen our service in the world.
Or, you might just feel tired. Maybe you have been serving or engaged in your own growth for years and your path seems to have run its course. Something wants to emerge but it is clear that this will not happen at the hands of your own will. You can no longer push yourself. You are poised at a time of letting go. That letting go, too, has great potential.
Perhaps assumptions you have held and ways of being you’ve inhabited aren’t so useful anymore. You may have an intuition that to become your real Self, you have to let go of who you seem to be. The grace of this time is an opening to forces larger than the self, allowing the universe to come alive and receiving the mystery of its workings. It’s a time to trust.
While the doorway to this trust is often to lay down our struggle, it is a mistake to think of this time of receptivity as inherently passive. It’s a time to honor the limits of one’s personal will and bow to the greater movement that animates life. But neither activity or passivity is inherently willful. This is what can be so confusing about the movement to let go and trust, especially in our modern society which so values heroic action and conquering our obstacles through the force of will.
These rhythms of receptivity and expression are part of a larger process of change, through which we each move, over and over in life, as we discover the path we are given. Seen in this way, leadership, development, and change arise out of our vulnerable participation in this mystery, in its complexity and cycles, true to who we really are in this moment.
This deeper truth lies beyond the dichotomies that captivate us. In receiving, we receive the gift of everything we have ever had, every love, every lesson, even our very self. And, as the self you are given, you live in this time, in this moment of history and context, with your personal history, your gifts and limitations. With this self you are called, for it is in the nature of the self to connect, to express and to love.
Wherever you are in this process, consider joining a GTC cohort this year. These cohorts bring together a diverse group of individuals who join for a deep collaborative exploration of what it means to engage in the transformative process, in our selves and as the world. GTC is research-proven to deeply support the development of individual and collective leadership capacities, based on leading-edge understandings of human growth and awakening.