What Can I Learn From the Grand Canyon?
As a culture we are obsessed with not acknowledging or allowing perceived weakness, mistakes, and imperfections within ourselves. When faced with these we tend to quickly jump to covering up, excusing, ignoring, and/or blaming.
“If I find just the right makeup that will cover the wrinkles and make me look 20 years younger, I will not have to face my own fear that I am no longer relevant to a culture that idolizes youth.”
“If I provide the right excuse for forgetting your birthday, I do not have to acknowledge that my busy life has become a barrier to those relationships I care about, missing moments of intimacy.”
“I adamantly argued my position as correct, to the point of diminishing you. When confronted with the truth of the matter, realizing my argument was incorrect, I would rather ignore the truth than expose myself to the vulnerability of acknowledging my stubborn ignorance and repairing the damage I caused in our relationship.”
Any of these positions protect me from the effort of change; from the raw vulnerability that results from exposure; from the awareness of my own imperfection; from the illusion of weakness or strength.
When I think of the forces at work that formed and continue to transform the Grand Canyon, I acknowledge the impact of destructive erosive elements. Wind and water have battered the surface of the Grand Canyon for centuries, ripping away all remnants of how it previously appeared. The rock’s sandstone surface has been vulnerable to the gradual erosion of the wind and water and the sudden onslaught of high waters ripping chunks of rock from the canyon wall.
That vulnerability allowed the reshaping of the canyon, the creation of dimension, and the revelation of layers of strata that were otherwise unseen. The rock surrenders to the sculptor’s chisel, trusting that the universe is designed to bring beauty out of chaos.
In the same way, if I give myself permission to be vulnerable, I allow the erosion of mistakes, imperfections, weakness, and even wrinkles to soften the edges of my defensiveness and shatter my illusions and protections. I allow the creation of new dimension within myself. New layers of self are revealed, exposing even more color and texture.
A cultural change of perspective is needed to allow the universe room to create beauty out of chaos in each of us.