A Future Worth Living Into
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world—we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.” —Joanna Macy
This week, I’ve been in San Francisco with a group of people from around the world—scholars, artists, elders, venture capitalists, spiritual guides, non-profit leaders and organizers—each carrying deep questions about the state of our world. Together, we’ve been sitting in inquiry: How did we arrive at this moment of unraveling—political, ecological, spiritual? What could we offer, truthfully and tenderly, that might make a difference?
We don’t have “answers.” But one truth has emerged with clarity: If there is to be a future worth living into, we must shift from Me to We. It’s not just as a slogan or a marketing tagline, but as a spiritual and cultural turning.
In a “Me” paradigm, we are taught that the self is separate. Meaning comes from personal success, security, or control. The goal of life is to protect what’s mine, achieve what I can, and maybe offer charity if I have anything left over. This story of separateness has shaped our institutions, our economy, and even our faith traditions. And it’s killing us.
The “We” paradigm tells a different story. It says that we are not isolated individuals—we are participants in a living web of relationship. Our well-being is bound up with the well-being of others. We belong not only to families and communities, but to watersheds, to ancestors, to the soil beneath our feet and the stars above our heads. In this view, there is no such thing as a private salvation. There is only mutual thriving—or collective collapse.
This shift from Me to We isn’t theoretical. It is a rite of passage. Like all rites of passage, it asks something of us. It invites us to undergo a transformation that is spiritual, emotional, relational. It’s not an ascent into certainty, but a descent into deeper truth. It’s not a transcendence, but a re-rooting. This is what we began to call en-life-ment—the process of waking up not out of the world, but into it, becoming more alive by becoming more connected, more attuned, more responsible to the whole.
For many, the journey begins in disillusionment. A relationship ends. A system fails. A faith fractures. We see something we cannot unsee. The story we were handed doesn’t hold anymore. It hurts, but it’s also the beginning of clarity.
But clarity isn’t enough. Something deeper is required—a marking of the threshold, a ritual initiation into a new way of seeing/being. When we cross that threshold consciously, we begin to shed the armor of self-protection and step into a different kind of responsibility (response-ability). We emerge not as heroes, but as kin. Not alone, but together.
As we step into this “We” consciousness, we begin to feel the truth in our bodies (embodied interdependence): we are not separate. Our breath belongs to the trees. Our grief echoes across generations. Our joy is multiplied in community. This is not just spiritual language. It is biological, ecological, ancestral.
But knowing this isn’t enough. We need structures that support it. We need shared practices, covenants, systems rooted not in domination but in dignity. We need communities of practice where we live out these new patterns of relating. Without structure, love fades. With the right structure, love becomes a sustaining force.
Eventually, we begin to live from a new story, one where identity is not about achievement or dominance, but about interconnection and belonging. We see ourselves not as consumers or brands, but as part of a great unfolding—stewards of life, not owners of it.
From that place, a culture of reverence begins to take shape. Reverence for land. For language. For limits. For one another. When reverence returns, extractive logic unravels. When awe becomes ordinary again, care becomes inevitable.
This is the shift that could give us a future worth living into.
It won’t happen all at once. But it is already underway—in sanctuaries and gardens, in community meals and protest lines, in quiet moments of surrender and unexpected acts of courage.
We are not here to transcend life. We are here to be transformed by it, not as isolated individuals trying to escape the fire, but as a people—learning again how to walk each other home.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in your life have you felt the pull from Me to We?
What old stories or identities might be unraveling in you right now?
What helps you remember your belonging—to others, to the Earth, to the Sacred?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Remembering Our Belonging
Sacred Presence, Root us in belonging so deep we cannot fall alone. Strip away the illusion of separateness. Re-teach us reverence. Awaken in us a sense of kinship so wide it undoes every wall. Where our culture has made us consumers, make us caretakers. Where our grief has made us numb, make us tender. And where despair whispers that nothing can change, remind us that the great turning always begins in the heart. May we move from Me to We—not as a slogan, but as a sacred return to who we really are. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Moving from Me to We
Today, choose to slow down. Take time to feel the subtle ways the “Me” story tries to assert itself—when you feel the need to protect, to prove, to perform. Instead of judging it, pause. Place a hand on your heart or belly. Breathe.
Then ask yourself: What would the “We” story do here?
Let the answer guide your next move. Maybe you reach out to someone you’ve avoided. Maybe you listen more than speak. Maybe you offer care—quietly, without needing credit.
Before the day ends, go outside. Stand or sit near something living—a tree, a garden, even the sky. Let it remind you that you are part of something larger. Your breath belongs to a whole. The sacred is not an idea but a relationship.
Close the practice by whispering,
I am not alone. I am not separate. We belong to each other.
Let it be a remembering, not just in words—but in how you move, how you notice, how you love.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
SOLD OUT!!! July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more in case you want to come next year!
REGISTRATION OPEN! August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Register here!
September 4, 4:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
All of these things are embedded in Indigenous world view. Check out the "Thanksgiving Address: of the Haudenosaunee. All there. We need to look, listen, learn.....
We are just beginning to be transformed. We are sensing something happening, but many haven’t understood, or see the reality of it yet. It will take time and much more unraveling before it becomes clear to most where we are going. It is an exciting time, but a very scary one. Those of us who see must become the light for the others, for the journey forward will be very rough.