Stuck in the Muck of (Political) Fear

Stuck in the Muck of (Political) Fear

When I wrote Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, I wasn’t writing about politics. Or even thinking about politics. But lately the story has been popping back into my brain and feeling very relevant to the political landscape we find ourselves in today. And not in a partisan way, but in a human experience way. I keep being prodded to write my thoughts down – and to share them. So here’s where I’ll start.

When our protagonist, Alora, finally finds other fallen leaves like her, she’s ecstatic. She has been through an ordeal. Stripped away from the Dreaming Tree, her safe spiritual home, stripped even of any memory of the Dreaming Tree, she has for days been tossed about by a feckless wind. She’s floated helplessly on the surface of a terrifying Deep, feeling lost, confused, and achingly alone.

Until finally, with a little help from her higher self and soul companion, she drifts into the Boggy Marsh where she finds a cohort of others just like her. You’d think all would be well.

We quickly learn all is not well, however, as the leaves here are regularly trampled by marauding beasts that emerge from the brush or whisked away by huge black winged creatures that descend from the sky. The fallen leaves are terrified. They are stuck in the muck of the Boggy Marsh of Fear.

This place literally stinks. Everyone stands around wailing and moaning and wringing their hands as they wait for the next grinding hoof to fall or the next razor-sharp talon to swoop down from the sky. The noxious mud of fear holds everybody down, sucking on their feet and making it hard to take any meaningful action.

Everyone in this Boggy Marsh is caught in a collective dream – or should I say nightmare? They are paralyzed by fear. Tempers flare. Leaves look around frantically for someone or something to blame. It is a hopeless, helpless place.

Sound familiar?

I’ll continue to explore the relevance of the Fallen allegory to our current political milieu in the days and weeks to come. But for now, I’ll stop here and invite you to explore a few Deep Ponderings:

1. Do you feel lost and disconnected from your spiritual source?
2. What are the things you are most afraid of? What do you feel threatened by?
3. Who is your tribe?
4. How does your tribe feed your fears? How does your tribe allay your fears?
5. In what way(s) do you feel stuck? Hopeless? Helpless?
6. What is making you really angry right now? Who do you blame for that?
7. In what way(s) do you feel trampled? What thing(s) do you feel are being ripped away from you?
8. If you could drag your feet up out of the mud and drag your heart up out of the fear, what action(s) can you imagine yourself taking that might make things better?

Want to know more about Alora’s journey of self-discovery and self-empowerment? Order your copy of Fallen today!

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