How to cultivate trust, and The Byrds
Greetings fellow Earthling,
Trust is a small word for an indelibly important aspect of life. In the current global circumstances, we are forming a completely new relationship with this aspect of everyday life. Each day we are making many decisions which rely on our capacity to exercise trust, and each day, it seems, we are at risk of our trust eroding in institutions, individuals, services, and sometimes our own selves. Trust is a key component to healthy relationships, and life is all about relationships.
We exist amidst uncountable numbers of relationships, from the subatomic to the cosmic level, every aspect of existence functions on how things are inter-related. Human beings are no exception - no one is an island. Despite the hyper-individualistic focus of dominant culture, we are constantly navigating ways that we belong together.
Without a solid foundation of trust, our lives do not function properly. If our trust in our self is compromised, we languish in despair, loneliness, indecision, and doubt. If our trust in others degrades, then we cannot rely on anyone or anything to hear our needs, to reflect back to us who we are, and to celebrate our grieve the fleeting moments of life with us. If our trust in institutions wanes, then we withdraw from the social level of life, and reject the ways that our lives rely on each other in order to meet collective and future needs. Without trust we are in danger of sliding from cynicism - the belief that others are inherently selfish and self-interested - into solipsism - the belief that nothing else besides our own sense of self exists, and that other people and forms of life are only objects of our imagination. The danger of these attitudes is that it denies how many ways our lives are woven together, and how much it matters that we pay attention to our interrelatedness.
In order to reclaim, revitalize, and relish in the possibilities and joys that trust will allow us to experience, we must work towards engaging with our spiritual practice in ways that allow us to recognize our own conditioning.
Here are some more thoughts on how to cultivate trust:
Inspired by The Byrds - Everbody's Been Burned Before