Transformation (abridged)

Keynote Presentation by ,O to Pacific Yearly Meeting;

July 20, 2024; Whittier College, Whittier, California

The following text was abridged from a transcript of this presentation, published online at: https://westernfriend.org/library/transformation-transcript/. An audiorecording of this talk is online at: https://westernfriend.org/library/wf-podcast-37-transformation/ .

Transformation is all around us. And not only is transformation all around us, but we are transformational agents. That’s who we are.

The old paradigm taught us that we were separate and disconnected and superior and inferior and just a mess. But many of us are awakening to the real reality that we are a part of.

There are three specific keys to transformation that I want you to notice today. I am aware that there are eighteen million keys. We’re just focusing on three of them today.

The first key to transformation is breathing. You’ll see later in the presentation why I’m such an advocate of breath. And I’m going to invite each of us to bring in a breath right now. Breathe all the way up your lungs, bring it all the way up, all the way up to the crown of your head, and then let go any stress that does not belong to you.

The second key to transformation is the practice of clear communication. We are living in a world filled with lies and deception and trickery and all manner of caca. So, I would like to suggest that we practice, practice, practice, practice clear communication. And part of the practice of clear communication is deep listening. I am sad to say, I am actually heartbroken to say, how often I walk down the street and I see moms and dads with babies in their strollers, and they’re on their cell phones; they’re not even listening; their children are attempting to get their attention, and the parents are so distracted by so many things that they’re not even listening to the preciousness of each other’s voices.

And the third key – which may feel a little esoteric, but I’m going to introduce it because I believe we are transformational agents – the third key is to practice inseparable oneness.

Now, what’s amazing is that’s the same as ubuntu [which is the theme of this year’s Friends World Conference in South Africa]. Ubuntu, or the practice of inseparable oneness, means that whatever we do, we are doing that to and with each other. We are inseparable. When we abuse the trees, we are actually abusing ourselves. When we abuse the waterways, the airways, we are abusing ourselves. And family, I need you to hear this – when we abuse ourselves, we are abusing the earth, we are abusing each other. This is ubuntu. But here’s the positive – when we practice the art of loving the self, loving the trees, loving water, loving air, we are becoming the healers we were designed to be, the transformational agents.

So, here we go. I don’t know if you know this or not, but the distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 94 million miles. And the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 239,000 miles. So, these large bodies, the Sun and the Moon, which are actually our siblings, they have the ability to touch every single man, woman, and child on this planet. Even though they are far away, they have the ability to exert a gravitational pull that affects water. It affects our oceans; it creates high tides and low tides. And guess what? We are also made up of water. We’re anywhere from 60% to 65% water. These large bodies are in relationship with us. Even at such a distance, they are affecting us.

Here’s another thing – your heart. When you were being developed in the womb of your mother a long time ago, it was your heart that was the first functioning organ in your body. It wasn’t your brain; it was your heart. And so, your heart is the elder among all of your body parts. Whatever your heart is up to, it’s coming through your hands. Whatever you touch – the food you cook, the letters you write. How powerful we are! If the sun and the moon have the ability to affect us from thousands and millions of miles away, imagine the way we are affecting each other, heart to heart.

Family, we are energy. We are spirit. We are breath. And just like the Sun, just like the Moon, we are power, we are energy. We have the capacity to be transformational agents. I invite you to breathe.

In King James, it says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Family, this is why I invite you to breathe. I’m going to invite you to breathe now, and this is why. We have these things called bodies; we have these bodies, they’re made of dust, they’re made of dirt. And this life force, this life energy, breathes into the nostrils. There’s power in breathing. Breath – we take it for granted, but I don’t. Because all too often, I have heard how black and brown children and even our white children cry out, “I can’t breathe; I can’t breathe.” And so please, don’t ever take your breath for granted. The more we breathe, and the more we have a practice in breathing, it brings us into our power to be transformational agents, which is our birthright.

I’m not excited about the word “Lord,” and so, I went into prayer, and I asked Spirit to assist me with this “Lord” thing, and I found that instead of the word “Lord,” I feel more comfortable with the word “law,” because laws make sense to me. “And the law of God formed life of the dust of the Earth, of the ground, and breathed into life’s nostrils the breath of life, and life became a living soil.”

I would like to suggest that within the seed are some of the laws that we may be familiar with – the law of cause and effect, the law of rhythm, the law gestation, the law of polarity, the law of relativity, the laws of attraction, thermodynamics, gravity, etcetera. Inside the mustard seed, every single one of these laws is being played out.

So, Jesus says in Matthew 22, “Look, there’s really only one law. Well, two – to love God, and to love your neighbor.” I would like to suggest that all the laws that I just named – thermodynamics, attraction, all the laws that are in the seed – within those laws is the law of love. Because those laws allow the seed to become all that it’s capable of being. And that is what love does. Love provides the necessary resources so that we can become all we are capable of being, based on God’s design.

And so, this is an invitation; it cannot be a demand. God cannot demand from us; God can only invite us. We were not born to be puppets. We were born to choose. I believe God has invited us to become the alchemists and the transformational agents of love. We are invited to let our light shine, to let our light out, to let us be the ambassadors and the channels and the conduits of God’s love. Because today, more so today probably than any other time, today today today today today today today, we have to figure out how to love each other. We just have to figure it out.

I’m inviting us to remember that we are miracles, that we are blessings, that we come here as a blessing, we do not come as a curse. We come as a blessing to bring our gifts and talents to each other for liberation.

And my hope and my prayer are that we have the capacity to interrupt the competitiveness. How competitive we have become with each other! We have created a whole culture of competition and working against each other. My hope and my prayer are that we can transform that, we can shift that. But it’s going to be only through invitation. It cannot be through demand. My hope is that we can choose to transform a competitive culture, where we are working against each other, into a culture of love, where we practice the art of working with each other.

We are part of the ecosystem; we are not separate. We are part of it, and we are being invited to cooperate, to co-labor, that we may rebuild our community.

And so, family, our next steps: Clear communication, deep listening, practicing the art of inseparable oneness. Whatever I do, give, or be, I am always doing, giving, and being to myself.

Let the light of your heart shine. Let the heart, your elder, let the elder of your members shine with love. For the world is desperately in need of love. And our faith calls us to transformation. Remember at one point in time, you were even smaller than a mustard seed. And so, I invite you to hold that seed as we enter into silent worship. ~~~

,O (pictured here) is s a health and wholeness visionary and member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.