From Fear to Presence: What Are We Cultivating?

Hello beloved reader,

I’m sharing this now as I’ve been struggling with heavy feelings about the state of the world. Everywhere I turn, there is challenge and strife—but perhaps most unsettling is the relentless fear-mongering—which I’m grateful to a friend for identifying. Once named, something softened in me. The fear lost its grip.

I also received an Eckhart Tolle email that brought a wave of deep relief. It read, in part:

The world is undergoing a profound transformation...
...Yet, within these challenging times, there also lies the opportunity for a radical shift in consciousness. Adversity is a great awakener.

You may still find yourself slipping back into old patterns—overthinking, worrying, feeling overwhelmed... Then, you awaken again. A moment of clarity. Presence returns, as does inner peace. The alertness is back.

Ecky’s words met me right where I was. As perhaps most of us do, I still have moments of falling back into old unconscious patterns. But how comforting it is to remember: we can come back to equanimity. To presence. To clarity. To inner peace. Again and again.

I cannot overstate how vital this awareness is for me. It keeps me anchored when the collective energy feels turbulent or despairing. And it reminds me that this shift is not just personal—it’s also deeply relational, as is pointed towards by the following.

Another piece of writing that recently moved me was by Michael Santi Keezing, a writer and former Theravādin monk in the Buddhist monastery across the road here in Temple, New Hampshire. In his reflection on Buddhist student leader Mohsen Mahdawi¹, he writes:

Dharma practice deepened his understanding of the interdependence of his inner states of heart and mind with the impact he made on those around him.

For me, this is the essence of Theravāda Buddhism—and, more broadly, the essence of any genuine spiritual path. Our inner states ripple outward. They matter. They shape the field around us.

So I ask: Amid the noise and fear, what are we each cultivating?

What states of heart and mind are we nurturing that will influence our communities, our families, our culture? Fear is contagious—but so is calm. So is compassion.

Michael Santi continues:

He learned to cultivate the wholesome inner states—calm, balance, friendliness—that make this outward impact positive.

In these times of uncertainty, I keep sensing that we are nearing a tipping point—not just geopolitically, but spiritually. Will we remain entranced by division, or will we awaken to the deeper unity that the mystics, saints, and sages of all traditions have always pointed toward?

This, I believe, is the choice before us. Moment by moment. Day by day.

Perhaps the real tipping point is within each of us. In every moment, we can choose: fear or presence, division or compassion, reaction or conscious response. The dharma² reminds us—this choice matters.

What states of heart and mind are we cultivating that will impact those in our communities?

And perhaps most importantly: What am I practicing?

created by me in Midjourney

1. https://tricycle.org/article/mohsen-mahdawi-the-buddhist/

2. In this case, I’m using the word dharma with its Buddhist meaning, not its Hindu meaning as used in the ancient Hindu sacred text, The Bhagavad Gita.