💬 CROWDSOURCING: How will you love after the election?

No politics here. Just kind people seeking a peace beyond all understanding, and offering wisdom about how to show up with love to this cultural moment.

“I have no idea how to show up to these conversations!”

It’s the last week of October, and I’m walking in the woods during my monthly spiritual direction. The maples are mostly bare, their leaves now part of the crunching, crackling carpet beneath my feet. The oaks are a red-rusty color I’ve never seen before, like God got an idea for a new crayon. I’m ensconced in nature’s great reassurance:

Letting go is not bad but beautiful.

When my spiritual director asked about the state of my soul, I told him of several conversations people had started with me about politics and the presidential election. In every case, I’d found myself flabbergasted by the “facts” that were brought to the conversation, or the disinterest in data altogether.

How do two people have a conversation about the orange sitting on the table between them, when one of them keeps saying the orange is an apple?

So I tell my spiritual director I’m flummoxed about how to show up to these interactions. He’s a wise man, and I’m hoping for some sage advice—a spiritual hack that will put my soul at ease.

Instead, he says, “Good. You know you don’t know. That’s often what it feels like to be on the spiritual path.”

It reminds me of the pastor who began his keynote at a recent conference by saying, “All growth begins with three words.” He paused for effect before delivering them. “I…don’t…know.”

My spiritual director then challenges me to simply be with my not knowing, and to notice what I find within it. We get quiet. Crunch and crackle goes the autumnal carpet beneath me. Seconds pass. Then minutes. Gradually, confusion gives way to a sense of urgency, gives way to a deep despair, gives way to…two words.

“Unnecessary suffering,” I say finally, choking on emotion. “There’s so much unnecessary suffering in the world right now. I desperately want to see humanity united around the common cause of caring for one another, but instead of coming together we are being driven further apart.”

“Good,” he says again, very gently, “in this moment you are at one with Love.”

“You are grieving with God,” he continues. “The shortest verse in the Bible is, ‘Jesus wept.’ And so are you, therefore you are with Jesus. And there is no better place to be when the world gets dark.”

As he’s speaking, I notice my insides have become uncommonly peaceful. I’m experiencing what most of our faith traditions have been saying for thousands of years and what the stages of grief have been telling us for more than fifty years: we don’t find peace by solving our sorrow, but by feeling our sorrow.

Sorrow and peace aren’t two rivers, they flow as one.

The hour ends, and I know how I’m going to show up. I will feel the sorrow of this divided moment. I will feel the sorrow of an online world that is making it impossible to share our offline world. I will feel the sorrow of our preference for violence over vulnerability. I will feel the sorrow wrought by blind egos and buried souls. I will feel the sorrow, because it brings peace, and in the presence of Peace you can handle anything.

Including the most complicated conversations.

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On the first Wednesday of every other month here at Humaning, we have a Crowdsourcing post, which brings the wisdom of this community to bear on one particular topic. Our tagline is, “kind people navigating the complexities of human connection,” and you are just the right people to tackle this topic today without making politics a part of it.

How will you love after the election?

This is how Crowdsourcing posts work:

1. In the comments, in all caps write WHAT YOU WILL DO, then share some details about how and/or why you’re going to do this. (If you have more than one intention, leave two or more comments rather than putting them all in one.)

2. Choose one other commenter whose wisdom resonates with you and let them know by responding to their comment.

To get us started, I’ll go first in the comments and share one simple, but not easy, intention I’m going to set.

Looking forward to hearing from you. We all need your wisdom right now.