South Elements: Growth, Trust and Love.

By Kristen Duncan

For all living things, there is some aspect of growth inherent in their nature. Growth is human nature. From the moment of conception, through childhood and adolescence to adulthood, there is a natural growth that happens physically. Phases of life I also see as a type of growth. Fetus, child, adolescent, adult, elder……

For growth & transformation to happen, what is needed is some kind of alchemy, some kind of alchemical process. With respect to physical development for example, consider all the alchemy that has to happen within the body in order to make a human grow. Alchemy to me is FIRE. Elements come together, there is ignition and cartelization (fire), and something happens. Something moves, something grows. How much growth happens is also dependent on other factors, like the right combination of elements, or the right environment.

There are aspects of humans that grow naturally, like the physical I spoke of above. When it comes to personal growth, emotional growth, or growing into our potential, I believe the potential for growth is always there. But fire is still necessary to ignite some kind of change. Some people naturally have an internal “fire”. Others may need the fire to come from outside in order to initiate change and growth.

Trust and love are what keeps the growth moving. You have to love something enough to want to keep going. It could be love for the self, an idea, a person, a dream. Then there’s trust. Trust that all the work will take you somewhere. Trust in yourself and your potential. Trust in the greater meaning of it all. Trust in those that guide and walk with you. If you didn’t trust you would get somewhere, or trust in some higher aspect, you might give up or collapse in defeat.

You can have ignition, but without these other elements, nothing would happen. What would be the motivation to work? Trust and love are about something greater, something larger than yourself that keeps you moving and striving TOWARD something.

The world is full of stagnation, but I believe this is because so many people are just trying to survive, or on the opposite end are actually too comfortable and things are “good enough” for people just to stay as they are (I am thinking mostly of the Western world here). The odds are actually against growth. But those who have the desire, and who can find their fire and ignite it - still do. However I do notice in a lot of people, that sh*t has to hit the fan, or their backs have to be against the wall, before they actually act, move, and change. Again, back to fire. But the “ignition” will come in the form of illness, trauma, loss, a lightning bolt strike that brings people to their knees and forces them to tap into their deepest resources and the discipline necessary in order to grow. And even THEN people can still fall back into complacency, defeat and stagnation.

Is it human nature to love, or to war? I think it takes love to bring something into being, to grow, to exist. However, once in existence, depending on certain environmental factors the light or dark can be expressed. On this planet for example, if given the right resources, the right opportunities, would we gravitate toward something more loving, more whole? I know what many of us dream of and would want and yet something more sinister seems to be manifest.  

But it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Ever see a flower peek through the concrete and wonder where on earth it came from? I always smile and think wow, that flower really wanted to come into existence. That to me, is a combination of fire and love. It’s love that would bring that flower into being. Love as a primordial force, love as something that animates all things. And I believe we as humans have the same capacity, the same fire to grow through obstacles.

G told me once that it is love that drives his actions. And to let my love for E be the driving force in our work & our lives together (as opposed to anger, or self-interest). But this is not the illusory hallmark love we are programmed to believe, or the Webster definition which talks about  “attachment” or “an intense feeling of deep affection”. It is so much more than that, and something so difficult to define. It’s something that even in this moment I can feel but can’t articulate. It’s a feeling state grounded in my chest, a vibration almost, that cracks me open if I feel into it. It can be brought to the surface with certain pieces of music, in silence, in grief, in quiet appreciation of my partner, or when I sit by a tree and just listen. For me it’s something woven into the very fabric of our being.

When I look around now, I feel that revolution would be required to change things on this planet. An incredibly bold and significant act of warriorship, and fire. Fire grounded in LOVE, en masse. But honestly, looking through a larger lens, I don’t see enough love, enough warriors, or enough fire on this planet. People are either too comfortable, dead asleep, trying to survive, or trapped in a dark wheel of greed and power and control. Cut off from love. And those who do stand as warriors in love and truth, are generally arrested, attacked, shot down or put in jail. There are smaller revolutions happening, but will it be enough to turn things around?  

The potential for growth however, grounded in love and trust, is always present.

What will you choose? What will we as a species choose?