The Unraveling of the Truth

Hello, loves! 

This week, I feel my intention of Radical Love colliding with global politics and news headlines, and it feels like the right moment to dive in. Radical Love transcends any one political ideology, but without a doubt, it is political. 

How can it not be?

Politics, at least the version we have in the U.S., is an extension of our collective psyche, an indication of the values we collectively hold and reject. It’s a reflection of what is happening inside of individuals, at scale. What we care about. What we value. What we prioritize. What we tolerate. What we fear. What we admire.

It’s also a reflection of how individuals are in relationship with each other and the world around us. It reveals how we react and respond to stimuli outside of ourselves.

Many of us learn early on that it is not polite to talk about religion, politics, or money, and the adage has its obvious advantages.

But when we avoid these topics altogether it takes away an important opportunity to build resilience, connection, and respect in the face of differing opinions, reinforcing the illusion that we are separate.

It also allows us to avoid the topic within ourselves, and miss out on the opportunity for our own growth and development in the domains of waking up, growing up, cleaning up, opening up, and showing up. 

This is directly relevant to our practice of Radical Love, which aims to transcend separation, scarcity, and blame by being responsible for where these things live inside of us, and to open more of ourselves up to embody our home state of love. When I am empowered to be in relationship with someone even when their opinions differ from mine, I create access to connection, understanding, and a sense of unity. When I am blocked by my righteousness, judgement, or fear, I maintain and add to the separation I experience in the world. 

I’ve spent a lot of my life exploring the question of what it really takes to get to the other side of separation when I am faced with someone whose worldview appears to be diametrically opposed to mine. Growing up in a liberal family in North Carolina, it was essential to being able to fit in. And then moving to New York right after college, again I felt like I was on the outside as people made assumptions around “people from the South.” 

In some ways, this question is possibly the question of my life’s work.

Radical Love is the closest thing I know to be an answer. Radical Love sets the context that common ground is not just possible, but inevitable, when I lower the walls of my ego. Years of practice, discovery, and getting it wrong has formulated an approach that works for me. Try it on, and if it fits, use it.

My process:

1. Be willing to own my humanity. As a human being, my reality has been shaped only by what I have been able to experience. I am not omnipotent. I do not hold the Truth. I hold my truth. When I remember that I do not have access to the full picture, I can easily surrender my grip to my version of the Truth.
2. Commit to my intention of Radical Love over the need to be right. Once I can put down my belief that my way of perceiving the world is THE way, I open up space for my intention to take the lead. Radical Love invites me into the the certainty that I am connected to another, even when my ego tries to convince me otherwise. My intention guides me into the discovery of how to get there.
3. Step into genuine curiosity about the other person. What drives them, what they value, and where it is the same and where it is new for me. When I show up with sincere curiosity, the other person feels it, and because they are also always moving towards their home state of Radical Love, they pick up on my intention and step into it with me. From there, connection and co-creation become possible.

Through this process, I never surrender what I hold to be true or what I value most. I simply add to what I know to be true, by truly putting down my walls and meeting another in their truth. And that is a definition of expanding conciousness. Our ability to be aware of more, to hold multiplicities simultaneously. Expanding consciousness is like a laddering up of lowercase t truths on the ever-deepening discovery of Truth. And that Truth is something a lot like Radical Love. Unconditional. Always present. Non-negotiable.

We’re gonna talk about the spectrum of consciousness next week during the workshop, empowering you to be with multitudes of truth without compromising your own truth.

Radical Love feels obvious in theory. It’s when we put it into practice that we begin to see the sneaky hand of the ego, convincing us that we are right and they are wrong. So here’s my challenge to you this week. Go out and spark up a conversation with someone you know sees the world differently from you. In ways that make you feel uncomfortable. Let them know that you are practicing Radical Love and that your intention is to understand them. It can be someone in this container or someone outside. Take the risk, get a little out of your comfort zone, and create a connection where there was once separation. Report back what you learn! Your sharing not only gives valuable insight to others, but strengthens the learnings within yourself.

This is Radical Love in action, and it is what is required to see our intention living out in this world.

With love and gratitude,

Sarah