During the first full week of December in the year 2022, scientists achieved a Kitty Hawk moment … the first production of net fusion energy produced outside of a nuclear-weapons test … “replicating certain conditions found only in the stars and the sun.”
This event was greeted with a lot of hope while acknowledging that there’s still lots more work to be done to make this a viable energy source that resolves our ecological challenges.
Still, it’s a symbolic achievement—and symbols, too, should be celebrated.
~Charles Seife, Author of Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking
Fusion is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
It seems serendipitous that this transformational event occurred during Advent … a season when we celebrate another breakthrough moment … the birth of a child heralding the coming of light into the darkness of a world that had lost its way.
It was a bright star that guided wise ones to a lowly stable and manger that cradled this child … destined to replicate wholeness and oneness and proclaim that these certain conditions found in the stars and the sun are our destiny as well … if only we embrace this messianic promise.
Celebrating a New Yet Old Wholeness
Recently, I was drawn to revisit Riane Eisler’s The Chalice & the Blade, a book I originally read in the 1990s. As I scanned my highlights, words representing fusion and wholeness jumped out at me. I made a list:
- Unity Communal Joint Cooperation Fusion
- Linking Complementary Balance Mutuality Peace
- Support Nurturing Sensitive Empowered Actualized
- Harmony Pleasure-bond Grace Well-being Joy
- Equitable Common Good Sharing Responsibility Egalitarian
- Generative Creative Life-giving Enhanced Aesthetic
Eisler’s research traces back to an ancient culture organized around wholeness ~~ a partnership model. Archeological excavations provide evidence that such a culture existed.
Her book was greeted with much enthusiasm when it was published in 1987. Her pen gave hope that we might return to an embrace of these LIFE-affirming values.
The strident polarization we experience in 2022 gives testament to our missing the mark. We still have not embraced Jesus’ message that an experience for one is an experience for all … we are One with the Divine … made of stardust … a spark of the Divine carried within each of us.
There’s still lots more consciousness-raising work to be done for us to replicate our true star power as beloved partners with the Divine … each and every one.
The excitement generated by “the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole” may be symbolic of more than a step in the direction of a climate-preserving energy source.
Could this be signaling a shift in a direction toward LIFE-giving wholeness … and away from death and destruction? Many spiritually-attuned people think so.
I’m sure Jesus would be relieved to find us finally understanding his message … finally embracing that abundant life is about wholeness … that our star power is in replicating our oneness and wholeness!
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Jesus of Nazareth in John 10:10
Robbed of Abundance
In the week following the breakthrough with fusion, I heard three prominent men express concern about the resurgence of the dominator model represented by such words as:
- Division Ranking Property Superiority
- Fortifications Violence Weapons Warfare
- Destruction Breakdown Power Over Chaos
This model robbed our ancestors of a partnership LIFE-giving culture. As a result, we were robbed and the dominator model is digging in deeper today.
Admiral John Aquilino reported witnessing the largest military buildup of both conventional and nuclear weapons … something he hasn’t seen in his 38 years of service. (Aquilino oversees the US Indo-Pacific Command … China, North Korea, all the way to the border with India.) He’s more worried than ever.
And, CIA Director, Bill Burns, expressed similar concerns. “We see the rise of major power competition with China and with Russia, and then continuing challenges of terrorism and other kinds of problems around the world too.” (Burns has been a pillar of the State Department for many years)
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his Solstice address to Congress pointed out that the money we allocate to help his people is not charity. “It is an investment in global security and democracy in the face of Russian aggression.”
Is it possible that these forces of death and destruction are themselves in their death-throes? Many spiritually-attuned people think so.
Attunement
Marianne Williamson is one such spiritually-attuned woman. Upon hearing how fusion works, she wrote in her newsletter her recognition of “a spiritual description of how energy operates … many individuals coming together to override the magnetism of the artificially created atomization of our society … compelled to do so through the power of light = love, community, understanding, justice, compassion … the breakthrough we need now!”
Our separation from each other is the ground out of which our greatest dangers spew. As long as we remain divided, we will be vulnerable to hatred and bigotry and authoritarianism and manipulation of all kinds. We need to create the energy to override that. It’s in rising up from our separatist tendencies, personally as well as collectively, that we will form a united front that blasts away all those things.
~Marianne Williamson
A Vision for 2023
As the new year dawns, may our minds and hearts awaken to the deeper significance of FUSION! May the values of partnership rise up in prominence.
May we at last embrace the Spirit of the LIFE-affirming message Jesus was born to bring to one and all. May 2023 be a new beginning for an old yet very new wholeness struggling to be born again.
thank you my dear; much to consider here
Would love to hear your considerations! Wondering if Riane Eisler and Helen Luke resonate with each other and, if so, how … and if not, how do they differ in their perspective? Would be a rich conversation!
This is excellent! .After reading this blog post, I looked up wikipedia’s information on “The Chalice & the Blade” — very interesting. Thanks for this thought-provoking piece. It is very appropriate for our times.
Carol, you are ever the researcher! Glad you found the piece thought-provoking and recognizing it’s relevance for our times. Why I wrote it. Was hard to miss when I reviewed my highlights of her book. Wish it were not so. Longing for a cultural shift beyond the dominator!
Wow! I join you in this powerful intention for 2023!!! This is a very powerful piece that is inspiring me to think about and feel into wholeness in a more hopeful way. Happy 2023!!!
Would also love to hear how this is inspiring you to feel into wholeness in a more hopeful way. Would be a continuation, I think, of our conversation regarding systems. Always makes me happy when what I write is helpful to others!
A “…very new wholeness struggling to be born”. What a powerful statement! Somewhere in the Christian bible it speaks of the earth groaning with birthing pains. This universe is ALWAYS pushing for a new wholeness to emerge. How interesting it is that wholeness is never complete! This new wholeness, this new ‘fusion’, is a paradox that includes our individuality, our separateness. We are like small children, observing, falling, getting up each time with more experience, more insight more information that is in formation!!!! We are not lost, dissolved, undone in this new wholeness. We are only more…. Thank you Linda for reminding us…….
A powerful experience for me this year occurred at a retreat at your house … following a remark by your grandson. I experienced my oneness with one who ascribes to dominator values, something I detest. It was a powerful experience to witness the duality within myself … to face my inner dominator. I can certainly relate to being like a little child observing, falling, and getting up. And I have to say, that process is what makes life meaningful for me. Thank you as always, Diana, for your thoughtful response.
Thank you Linda for the wonderful “fusion” you created in this powerful newsletter, bringing together Riane Eisler, Jesus and the Kitty Hawk moment. Brilliant. I also appreciated your lists of words to describe wholeness and separation. I am printing out this newsletter to keep referring to.