The World is on Fire. Who will Carry Water?

The world is on fire metaphorically, and in some places literally. Another truth is that Wisdom rises at times of crisis. It’s a natural pattern that has been seen and documented throughout history. Wisdom always rises in response to the personal and social crises of human kind. When the social order is functioning well enough and is in a more-or-less healthy state, the wisdom keepers of the community are known and recognised. At times of personal and social upheaval and turmoil, people instinctively turn to them for guidance and insight. There are two complementary pathways for humans to receive and access wisdom. These are through Nature and Spirit, each a version of the other. The wise ones receive wisdom according to their particular gift, which may be through dreams, visions or locutions, through divine inspiration, prophecy, through communion with Nature, mystical experience, and other types of altered states of consciousness.

However, those people naturally endowed with an ability to bring wisdom to us from the Sacred realm of Nature and Spirit are no longer invited to contribute to the functioning of society. Society no longer seeks wisdom from Nature or Spirit to ensure healthy functioning of the whole. In fact, society no longer seeks wisdom at all. It relies instead on facts and figures to manage the delicate business of being human and living a human life. The governing authorities of society no longer care about our relationship with Nature and the Sacred, and too many of the individuals who make up society no longer care about wisdom either.   

Throughout history, the wisdom keepers and carriers have been the mystics and the prophets, the seers and the wise elders, the medicine women and men, the oracles, the sibyl, the poets, the storytellers and those versed in leading initiation and ceremonies that honour all of life. They are the ones who can see beyond the veil and understand the deeper patterns of the whole of Life. Wisdom is a higher good that transcends human life, and the wisdom keepers have traditionally mediated our relationship with that higher good. They generously share their insights with those who seek them out. Wisdom is naturally a feminine quality, called Sophia, or in Irish, An Bean Feasa, so we’ll be calling her ‘she’ in this piece.

Nature is naturally a wise elder to humanity and some wise people have a natural ability to communicate with Nature. They receive wisdom through being in deep and sacred relationship with the four elements: earth, wind, fire, or water, and with the plants and animal kingdoms. Trees, in particular, are wisdom carriers for humanity. There are also those whose gifts are to be in deep and profound relationship with the Sacred realm. The wise ones always bring wisdom back for the sake of the whole community. By its very nature, wisdom is something to be shared. She is always in service to others, to the wider human community, and to all of life. Wisdom has a clear social function that serves the needs of the community, especially at times of crisis.

In our time of profound global crisis we are in desperate need of wisdom but the traditional channels for accessing or receiving necessary wisdom lie mostly broken, abandoned, ignored, devalued, or dried up through lack of use and understanding. Nature, a primary source of wisdom, is herself under attack from humanity. The trees, as channels of wisdom, are being destroyed, cut down, desecrated. The natural relationship between humanity and the realm of the Sacred has likewise been destroyed, ignored, and abandoned in favour of a de-spiritualised way of being and living. Human community and life has been in a process of de-sacralisation for nearly two thousand years.  

Yet, even when the wisdom keepers are no longer valued or heard, and when the culture no longer even values wisdom, wisdom continues to offer herself in whatever way she can because it’s a natural law that wisdom rises in response to a crisis. This means that, those of us who at other more stable times of history might not be called upon to contribute, at this time of crisis, are being asked to step up and do what we can to help. In a crisis such as ours, wisdom will use anybody she can get her hands, anyone she can get to listen to her. Wisdom needs human channels, human mediators, and human messengers to carry her wisdom to the community. So, what’s needed now is for each of us to respond to wisdom’s call for helpers. Not to let false modesty or fear get in the way of sharing whatever wisdom we carry to help resolve the crises of our time. We wouldn’t fear to carry water to a neighbour’s house that’s on fire. We're all neighbours to each other in our humanity, and our world is on fire.

You are being called.

There are millions of people around the world at this exact time spontaneously and unexpectedly being called by wisdom to serve humanity in whatever way we can. It’s called, spontaneous awakening. If you are somebody who has been given something to carry, you’ve got to do it. This is no time for modesty, false or otherwise. It's not a time for inappropriate humility, for saying, ‘I can't do that.’ or,  ‘Who am I to do that?’ or, ‘Who am I to think I have something to contribute to the human community?’  A better way to think of it may be akin to being asked to carry a pail of water when your neighbour’s house is on fire. You're not going to say to the fire department, ‘Oh, I'm sorry, I can’t help. I’m not a trained firefighter, I can't carry the water.’ It's an emergency. We've got to create a human chain, passing buckets of water and wisdom along. Some will be trained firefighters or wisdom keepers, some of us are neighbours, relatives, friends, volunteers, but we all belong to the one human family that is in dire need.

At this time of monumental social breakdown and destruction of Nature, there is an urgent need for more people to carry the water of wisdom. Each person’s wisdom is the unique gift or medicine that we carry in our soul and that is designed help humanity and Nature at this exact time. Our personal wisdom is likely something unusual and difficult to accept about ourselves. It’s also likely the gift that lies on the other side of our wounds, that is accessed through deep inner work and healing. Our wisdom is our gold – unexpected, maybe unusual, but life critical for humanity at this time. Wisdom is looking for anybody who will help.

Whatever wisdom you have to contribute is needed. Think of yourself as a water carrier. We need wisdom for life as much as an out of control fire needs water to quench it. We all need to become water carriers for the fires that we can tend in our part of the world, in our part of life. Big or small, just carry the bucket of water and pass it along the chain. In an emergency such as ours, wisdom will call on anybody who has a vaguely open ear, a vaguely open heart, or a vaguely open mind. Wisdom always rises at times of crisis but she needs human carriers. The world is on fire. Will you carry water?