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I have recently been getting into books that touch on spirituality and the souls within us. I have been searching for something outside of myself to help me cure the addiction and eating disorder that plagues my life. I am also extremely interested in our soul's connection with the earth that we so take for granted each day. Furthermore, I am fascinated by how all of this relates to our daily lives, and more so, to recovery.
New York Times best selling author, Alice Walker, known for her controversial novel The Colour Purple, shares a collection of essays to make up the well-written book titled We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For. This collection of her work ranges from the power and importance of meditation to our connection to our Earth Mother (the spirit of the earth) to the injustices our world so regularly faces like racism, oppression, war and terrorism. A book described by many as “stunningly insightful” offers hope to readers by providing a simple idea for a cure to the world's many illnesses: ourselves.
Alice Walker managed to inspire many with this novel, as she does with her many other works, by teaching us that all change must start from within ourselves. We must first change our insides before we can change the world. And as each of us changes through meditation, awareness and spiritual awakenings, the world so to will begin to change.
Each of the 14 essays end with a beautiful guided meditation which helps us to ponder her brilliant and insightful words. It allows the readers time to reflect on what has been read and to then put it into play in their daily lives. Along with the gorgeous meditations with each chapter, there is also an abundance of joyful, painful and stunning poems. Some of these poems are borrowed from other authors and help portray an image that Walker is trying to depict with words. Others are of her own creation and serve as an extension of her mind and ideas and allows the reader to become immersed in her hopefulness and prescriptions for a better world.
One of my personal favourites, which I believe encompasses the whole idea behind the book is called Remember:
Nothing is ever lost
It is only
Misplaced
If we look
We can find
It
Again
Human
Kindness
This poem tells us that what we have lost can be found within ourselves, that the answer lies within and all we have to do is look. The answer to all our worldly problems is human kindness. Kindness and compassion to others is something we all need to work on, whether it be about people's appearance, weight, class, race, or country of origin. Walker quotes Nhat Hanh, saying “Where there is a mature relationship between people, the is always compassion and forgiveness.” Also, compassion towards the land, nature and wildlife is also another aspect that we so often overlook. She clearly states that our Earth Mother, like so many people across the world, is being exploited everyday. To heal ourselves and our planet, we must act with compassion with every single being.
Alice Walker, to me, not only speaks of ways to heal the world, but also of ways to heal ourselves. To me the most important thing is healing ourselves so that we can be fit to take action in repairing the world as we know it. We must build a strong spiritual foundation to which we can build upon with compassion and kindness for all living things. Reading this book in recovery re-affirmed that it is so important to take care of myself first.
The whole premise of this collection of works is to show the reader that, as titled, we are the ones we have been waiting for. We have the ability to look within and to seek the truth. She states that “The soul wants to know the truth, what is really going on.” And the truth is that we all have work to do within, whether it's recovering from addiction, an eating disorder, or any other mental illness, or simply just needing to be better people in this world. All we need to heal our afflictions is ourselves. With the help of meditation and the spirituality of your choice, we all can work to become the best we can be, therefore, we can create the best world there can be. At the centre of all healing is ourselves, as Alice Walker so beautifully says through her poem on healing within:
When life descends into the pit
I must become my own candle
Willingly burning myself
To light up the darkness
Around me.
Overall, We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for is an incredible book that can help anyone on their way to a better life. To me it helped me see that I am all I need to recover from my many mental illnesses. It taught me that meditation is key to healing, and that as I become a better, more compassionate person, so will the world around me. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for spiritual awakenings or healing of any sort. Even if you just see all the wrong with the world and aren't sure what to do about it, this book can help you take action to creating a better place through looking within yourself.