Out Beyond Rightdoing and Wrongdoing

Hope Dispatch
Out Beyond Rightdoing and Wrongdoing

There is a field, Rumi says.
I’ll meet you there.

Lately, I’ve been sitting with the grief of what feels like the collapse of dignified conversation. The space to learn from each other — with humility, curiosity, and respect — is shrinking. And in its place: outrage, rightness, and the scorched earth of moral certainty.

But here's the thing. Righteous anger is seductive — I’ve definitely been there. I’ve stood on that high ground, certain and sharp. But the deeper work — the spiritual test, if you like — is not in choosing the “right side,” but in tending the space between us.

We don't really talk much about how friendship, intimacy, and connection are spiritual tests. That heartbreak or breakdowns aren’t always just about loss — sometimes they are a portal. A teacher. A fire that forges us into someone with more depth.

Just like a nervous system in distress, our social body is struggling right now — flooded with stress hormones, reactiveness, and grief. 

That’s why we need to zoom out. So we can lift each other up to see the bigger opportunity and learning that we are being called to respond to.
To do this, we need to meet in the field.

The field beyond binaries.
Beyond “us and them.”
Beyond tidy narratives and quick judgments.

A place where justice is delivered not in the form of punishment, but healing.
Where learning is more important than winning. Where we make room — even for those who’ve caused harm — because we believe in repair.

I know we’ll lose people along the way.
Some will find their way back later.
But let’s keep standing up for the field between and beyond.

Let’s keep fighting — not for who’s right — but for who we’re becoming.

Let’s rise to these spiritual exams by making room in our hearts for nuance, complexity, and even contradiction.  We can become so good at kindness that one day, even those we cannot fathom loving — can find shelter in the shade of our humanity.

What if, in this potent moment, we’re not being called to choose a side—
but to hold the tension with a fierce grace, until something wiser can emerge?

See you in the field.

With love,
Megan x

P.S. The Hope Dispatch has officially crossed 100 subscribers—woohoo! So I figured it’s time for a wee check-in. What keeps your hope fire burning? What kind of Dispatch makes you want to fling your arms open to the world (or at least forward it to a friend)?I’ve cooked up a quick 5-question survey to help make this thing even better.
More useful, more joyful, more in service of you.
Go on—spill the beans. I’m all ears.

P.P.S if you wish to explore the space between us, these are the standout  Spiritual-Political Bridge Builders of our time - people who actively hold both the political and spiritual in their work:

Valarie Kaur
Lawyer, filmmaker, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Kaur brings deep Sikh wisdom to her advocacy, calling us to “see no stranger” — even in our opponents. Her work is a modern manual in tending the space between grief and action, justice and mercy. "Revolutionary love is the choice to enter into labor for others, for our opponents, and for ourselves."

Rev. angel Kyodo williams
Zen priest, author, and activist. Rev. angel weaves racial justice and spiritual awakening into one cloth, urging a “radical dharma” that doesn’t separate personal liberation from collective liberation. “Love and justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change.”

adrienne maree brown
Author of Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism, she brings sci-fi visioning, embodied practice, and radical politics into one joyful mix. A leader in decentralised, love-based movement work. "What we practice at the small scale sets the pattern for the whole system."

John Paul Lederach
Peacebuilder, scholar, and Mennonite spiritual elder. Lederach works in deep conflict zones and writes beautifully about the “moral imagination” required for reconciliation. “The wellspring of peacebuilding is the capacity to imagine.”

Rabbi Sharon Brous  
A progressive Jewish leader known for calling people into sacred discomfort. She speaks with spiritual depth on justice, grief, and solidarity. "This is not a time to be quiet. This is a time to love out loud."