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Feb 04
2011
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Transformation and TimePosted by Alan Seale in transformation , presence , greater good |
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We can easily get caught in the belief that transformation in large systems will take a long time. And often it does. But what is happening in the Middle East right now is showing us that things can also transform over night. In Egypt, the situation has literally transformed every day for the last week or so when the revolution began. It is transforming so fast that it is challenging to keep up. Each day brings a new set of circumstances there.
It is not lost on me that the people of Egypt also have a very different sense of time than we do here in the western world. Cairo is a city that bridges the ancient world with the modern, the east with the west, the first-world and the third-world characteristics and qualities of thinking, being, and acting. While in Cairo there is a mix of all kinds of relationship to time, in my experience, once you leave this east-meets-west city, you are in an entirely different realm of time.
I've been lucky to visit Egypt twice and to spend time with the people in the Western Desert and in Luxor. My time there was not that of the typical tourist. The Egyptian people taught me a lot about living in this moment, for this moment. Making a plan for tomorrow is very difficult for them. Perhaps this approach to time is serving them well now as they transform their country moment by moment.
It's an exciting time for Egypt and for other countries in that part of the world. It's also a scary time and a sad time. It's everything. And life there will never be the same again. The days, weeks, and months ahead will be challenging at best. They've gone quickly from living under strict authoritarian and even totalitarian control to having no structure or order in any form. After decades of tight control and very little autonomy for the people, potential whose time has come is leading the way. Now we must hold the space for the best leaders to emerge who can listen to that potential and follow it towards creating a country that truly works for all its people.
The events of Egypt in the last week and the ripple effect throughout that part of the world are showing us that when the time for transformation has come, it can't be stopped. Indeed, this is true for any movement or emerging potential--when it's time has truly come, it will happen whether we are ready or not.
May we hold the people of Egypt in our hearts and hold intention that they find their way to a government structure that truly serves all of the people. And that nothing gets in the way of the transformation that is now ready to happen.







