Some quick thoughts scribbled in a notebook on three different planes yesterday…
What is it that catalyzes the highest potential in a human life? Can rhyme or reason be found in this process? Why do some soar while others land on the struggle bus?
First we have to define for ourselves what the highest potential of a human life is. For some, the potential they cultivate lies primarily in the outer world – family success, or money, or achievements, or finding the perfect partner, for instance. For others, life’s greatest capacity primarily lies in discovering and reaching an inner, we could say spiritual, potential of some kind.
The thing is, these outer and inner focuses are not separate. By pursuing an outer potential a person may stumble upon their inner potential. And vice versa. No one can determine for anyone else whether they are reaching their own potential. It is a deeply private matter we can only know for ourselves. Each of our lives has its own unique trajectory.
When a character like Volodymyr Zelensky moves from a comedic acting career into public service at the highest levels of government, I believe some inner potential is driving an outer expression. If you haven’t watched this hilarious and eerily foreshadowing clip yet, of Zelensky on the show “Servant of the People,” you must – check the comments in the tweet for more reality bending clips:
Zelensky’s path is a particularly visible one. Not all paths are so visible. Many souls bloom far outside the public spotlight. Whether visible to the public or not, the blooming of an inner potential into an outer/ embodied/ compete expression of that unique incarnation’s full outer potential forms the roadbed of an agent of evolution’s path.
Our own blossoming is awakened by the times we find ourselves in, and the everyday events of our lives. When Zelensky, the son of an engineer and a computer science professor, (not from a politically prestigious family,) comes to lead a small, young, underdog country through a courageous defense against the brutal invasion of a global superpower, something extraordinary is taking place – some latent potential, perhaps never before fully brought forward, blooms.
The times call forward a certain depth in our character and our characters either rise to the call, or flounder. Soaring in this rise to our own inner call requires courage. Floundering is usually the result of fear. The call comes subtly at first, and if unheeded, bangs with more insistence on the door of our awareness as time goes on.
Not answering our own inner call is often the result of not enough life energy marshaled in the direction of our own true nature. We often deny ourselves our own true nature out of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of being misunderstood, fear of upsetting the status quo in our relationships, and so on. The stakes are high, and real, so the fear is not entirely unfounded. Acting despite the fear is a choice that requires at least an equal measure of courage. The good news is, the call keeps coming until we heed it – our own potential pursues us relentlessly.
We may have some ideas about what we think our call might entail. At one point Zelensky may have thought his call had something to do with his acting career. But the times called for something else – something far more vital to Zelensky’s own trajectory. And he heeded the call.
That Zelensky’s own path has touched everyone around the globe is a particularly visible example of how we, hearing the call in each of our own lives, bloom to our greatest potential, thereby setting in motion an evolution that touches the entire world.
More on Zelensky:
A Dec. 2019 article in The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/12/zelensky-ukraine-impeachment/602905/
A couple days ago in a New York Times newsletter:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/briefing/volodymyr-zelensky-hero-ukraine.html
I love your assertion that ones true nature relentlessly pursues one until embraced, Marga!
It reminds me of 'the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.'
Very hopeful.
Very much trusting that the universe is ultimately benevolent.
Thank you.