Sharpen Your Weapons
“The next Buddha may be a sangha.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
I recently came across the work of Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, in which she describes the Shambhala warrior prophecy. It’s a Tibetan legend about a time when “all life on Earth is in danger. Barbarian powers have arisen. Although they waste their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable devastation and technologies that lay waste the world.”
According to the prophecy, at this dire moment the Shambhala warriors emerge to dismantle these destructive forces. These warriors don’t wear a uniform or carry guns. It’s not easy to tell they’re warriors just from looking at them. They have two weapons: compassion and insight into the interconnectedness of all things. They use these weapons to dismantle the barbarian forces, which as it turns out, exist within all of us. It’s a beautiful and inspiring story about being a force for good. I highly recommend reading it.
It got me thinking about interconnectedness, not just as an abstract concept but as a practice. What does interconnection really mean in our day to day lives? How do we practice interconnection in our relationships and in the way we live in the world?
When I think of interconnection I think of strengths and weaknesses. Everybody has ways they contribute to the world and areas in which they need help and support. Truly everyone. Someone who seems very high-powered and successful needs entire teams of people to run their life. Conversely, someone who seems like a total failure has beautiful gifts once you get to know them better.
As I see it, interconnection in action is giving what you have to give, and being open to receiving what you need. The first part—offering your gifts—requires courage and vulnerability. This second part—receiving—requires humility and honesty with yourself about your weaknesses.
Interconnection as a practice of giving and receiving is weaving and creative. It’s a practice of healing one another. What is required of us changes depending on the circumstances. One moment calls us to act, to give to another. Another calls us to accept help.
There are millions of ways to take action, millions of ways to receive. But there is always a best way. The best remedy for the moment is always changing because each moment is unique. So we need to honor that with openness, space, and allowing for not knowing and for mystery.
Interconnection cannot be standardized. Just as the Shambhala warriors don’t wear a uniform—i.e. they are not standardized like a product made on an assembly line—the practice of interconnection is never quite the same twice. It’s always flowing, moving, changing.
I practice interconnection in my work with patients. Healthcare as usual wants you to fit into a neat little box so it can ship you off efficiently, lower costs, and increase profit. Standardization is a hallmark of corporate medicine (and of corporate anything). My method is not about standardization. It’s about creating the conditions for compassion and interconnection. Because from there, solutions arise that neither of us could have predicted. From there, the magic happens.
But I got ahead of myself. The prophecy specifically says not interconnection, but insight into the interconnectedness of all things. The insight is the weapon. That is a subtler thing than the actions we take out in the world. Those actions must start with the insight, and be imbued by it. To live that way is truly the way of a warrior.
If you're exhausted by a medical system that treats your body as machine and your symptoms as noise, let’s talk. My practice, Wise Body, is healthcare for women who know we deserve better. Who are ready to trust our bodies again while having the medical support we need. Who refuse to sacrifice our wholeness on the altar of efficiency. The witches are returning. And we're bringing both the ancient wisdom and the modern science.