As we enter this last week of April, I am hoping for a smoother ride. Whether we are following oil prices, airline availability, war escalation or de-escalation, upcoming election predictions, or neighborhood news reports, this month continues the 2025, into 2026 theme of disruption. It's a word that is popular in all sorts of political strategies and commentary. Large scale disruption of any social/political events collectively affects us to some degree, even if we personally are not actively identified with the sudden shifts. Those events are often designed to de-stabilize a sense of security and predictability in the play of power and social control. But there are other ways we experience disruption and this week, I invite your to consider personal disruption from a spiritual perspective.
Consider the times when Life is moving you along in a smooth ride--a metaphoric, open 4 lane freeway. You elegantly, take each curve and then, through absolutely no fault of your own, you are suddenly ensnared in non-moving traffic. What was planned as an enjoyable 30 minute drive, becomes a 5 hour non-moving nightmare. True, you are sharing that experience with everyone else sitting in stalled traffic, but this spiritual reflection is about your interpretation of disruption. The smooth sailing flow of freedom is blocked. Or, as I experienced this week, sudden engine trouble led me to drop off my car at the auto mechanic in a long busy day. I eventually returned home, carless, in the dark. I headed to the kitchen to figure out dinner, only to discover the water was turned off. It took a few texts to learn that an ongoing remodeling project next door had led to a plumbing issue and would shut down water flow for 3 or 4 days! (The construction contractor: "Oh, we forgot to warn you. Sorry.") No car, no water. Disruption.
As I write this (in a hotel room), the Zen tale of the nun Chiyono comes to mind. Chiyono studied Zen for many years without attaining enlightenment. Then one night, under a full moon, she carried water in an old pail made with bamboo. The bamboo broke; the bottom fell out of the pail, and Chiyono was set free. Her poem on the experience is one of my favorites: "In this way and that I tried to save the old pail/ Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break/ Until at last the bottom fell out/ No more water in the pail!/ No more moon in the water!"
Is it possible that what the mind and emotions label disruption of your plans and intentions, is actually its own form of Grace? A re-direct. A deepening. A time to give way to change. This is the spiritual practice of intuitive guidance. Intuitive guidance is not just inner receptivity to guidance that gently confirms our positive expectations. Sometimes guidance comes through road blocks, sometimes through disarray. Sometimes it comes in a whispered, "not yet." Where is it leading you? (Susan Nettleton)
For poetry: https://www.livingwellnessmag.com/poems/disruption https://pvcann.com/2023/10/15/such-a-gentle-disruption-a-poem-by-paul-vincent-cannon/ https://allpoetry.com/poem/16411688-Disruption-by-Matthew-Gregor