I've realized, over a recent period of self-directed disconnection from most of the stimulus happening in our world that so many people matter whose names we will never know and and so many solutions to problems in our world exist that will never be brought to light. These inspired ideas and peaceful solutions won't even be brought to a level of consciousness other than that of the mind that thought it.
I've realized that our thinking, hurting, angry, over-communicative, over-stimulated and frustrated minds are so full that the quiet space needed for the gentle souls among us and peaceful solutions contained within them have nearly no place in our world right now... but it is precisely those souls and those ideas that are so needed.
The news bombards us. The talking heads talk. The angry politicians act without thought and fight without concern. The egos are bigger than ever. Acting on impulse, from anger and without thought - it's everywhere. The injustice is ripe and rotting in our own front lawns but we can't seem to clean it up. We can't seem to even call attention to it anymore because it is everywhere. In fact, the stories that seem to capture and hold our attention are those rare stories of change and hope in the world - those are the ones that stand out from the rest. Those are the stories we are truly seeking, but our pre-programmed and muddled minds always seek more and more stimulation and ultimately they forget the story of hope. They turn back to the terror, the fear, the desolate reality of a world gone wrong. We swim in it. We are desperate for change and peace but we can't find it. Too much gets in the way five minutes later. The hope which seemed so palatable is once again gone and we are left seeking, knowing it is somewhere in the chaos of the rotten injustice.
The hope must be held on to.
Those of us with the hope, the ideas, the solutions, the programs, the generous hearts... we must dig deep and find all the courage we can possibly find to speak aloud those truths which we know can change the tides in our world. It's hard, doing such a thing, because it requires strength and courage that come from a place which requires a loving fuel to keep us going... but such loving, hopeful energy is so hard to find right now. Yet still we must try.
And keep trying because that's why we are here.
Just remember that when all of the noise and chaos around us becomes deafening, it is in that space that we can be heard. We carry the story of hope so many are seeking - and the courage to do the work. There will be times when we - when you - will need to be your own fuel. When attentions wander and people forget that your ideas, your courage, your work of change are indeed valuable and are indeed changing the world, you must become your own fuel. It was in the very same space of great pain and injustice in the world that the quiet and humble teachers throughout human history - Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha - walked quietly through the hells that surrounded them to tell their stories of Love, Peace and Hope. Those teachers became leaders, those leaders became prophets and those prophets became spirits who guide us still today. Call on them in your time of great need, but remember that you too contain the same courage they had. You have the same kind of thoughts, the same space for hope, the same earthly body and the same calling to "be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi)
You may be one of us, you may be that peaceful teacher and I tell you now that I hear you... and you are not alone. For it is in the time of great imbalance that true balance can be found. It is in our destitution that we can so clearly see what hope looks like. And it is in a world that appears devoid of love for our fellow human that we can recognize instantly what love looks like. While many may become distracted and forget that they've seen the love, somewhere deep inside them their soul remembers what it looks like and they will keep seeking it. Stand firm in the love and peace you bring to the world and those seeking it will find you. God's plan is greater than any of ours and he has sent us to remind the world of that.
Be strong. Be faithful. Be courage itself. Be what you were meant to be.
I'm back from my hiatus and the first and most prominent thing on my mind is the state of peace and humanity in the world. I am feeling a sense of sadness and disappointment amidst the celebration of Osama Bin Laden's death - and a deep level of concern for where we humans, in 2011, place our hearts on the grand scale of human compassion. Is it really okay to celebrate the death of another human being?
Celebrating the death of Bin Laden - once I heard the news of both his killing and the wave of American response - struck me instantly as just a wrong thing to do. Why would we metaphorically dance on someone's grave? Spit on it, sure, I get that. It's an expression of anger. But can celebration be an expression of anger? Celebration comes from feelings of joy and happiness and love. This is just not something that computes for me - and whats worse, it feels wrong and lacking in some sort of alignment to what is truly divine within each of us.
I've learned with time and much spiritual work that my initial non- ego-created response to something always contains a level of truth that comes from something far greater than my own mind. I - and I think many others - tend to "revise" our positions after we have our initial response to a situation (and I am referring to our initial solar plexus-located intuitive-level response). That revision is done in consideration of social norms, learned beliefs and opinions which are all external creations. Once our egoistic minds become engaged in the process of categorizing, judging and assigning labels to a situation - often to a degree that the response is no longer that inner truth that we can rely on - I believe that we become misguided and get off track. And it just so happens that I think that is what has happened in this situation.
It turns out that my initial intuitive response to the news of Bin Laden's killing is precisely in line with my very conscious belief in peace for human kind. As we have had a couple of days to live with this new information about Bin Laden's death, I have found myself feeling a great sense of concern for humanity. It makes me sad that there is so much pain, fear, death and destruction in the world - and amidst all that, I'm also sad that humans are capable of celebrating the death of another human being. To be relieved, satisfied, or even glad about the "loss" of a human being - one most humans have every reason to despise - is one thing, but this act of celebration and how that is tied to a kind of patriotism is rather upsetting to me.
Celebrating death, in my heart, feels sad, lonely and misguided. Death is not something to be celebrated. In this case, this death will not be mourned by most people, but joyous singing and dancing in the streets in celebration? It just seems wrong. What does that say about us? Bin Laden killed so many people -- that he is gone should give us pause to honor the lives of all who have died and suffered because of this man. We should pay little regard at all to him and focus all of our consciousness and emotion on the love that still surrounds the innocent lives lost both here in the US and around the world. (Americans are not Bin Laden's only victims.) I think, instead, we should bond together in our commitment to end the violence and bring more love and peace to the world. Let's honor the souls lost to senseless violence rather than celebrating the death of one man.
The way we respond to ANY situation in life is a reflection on us - not the person or situation we are responding to. It's kind of entry-level spiritual work I'm talking about. Forgiveness is not for the person being forgiven but for the person that forgives. The way I react to someone who treats me badly says something about me, not about the person mistreating me. And the way I respond to the news of death - especially of someone connected to so much violence and hatred and destruction - speaks to who I am at the core.
I'm simply uncomfortable with bringing happiness to this situation. Rather, I'm left feeling a deep desire to heal the world, to give more love to others and to have reverence for the entire course of human action. Many, many people died at the hands of this Bin Laden and his followers. What, exactly, in this situation is there to be happy about? Bin Laden is gone but he is just one person - there is an entire army of misguided human beings who have obeyed and tortured and died for him. Do we really think that will change now that he is dead? Is anyone really breathing a sigh of relief? Does anyone really feel safer now? What, exactly then is being celebrated?
The spiritual teachers from whom I seek guidance - Jesus, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, MLK, Mother Theresa - would never celebrate the death of another human being. Nor will I.
This is Part 2 of a two-party entry I began this morning. There was much, much more to say.
My belief (click to read the previous post) is this: War is never the answer... Peace is. I have countless reasons why I believe this but only a few thoughts were shared in my previous post. The reality of saying things out loud (or writing them out loud, as the case may be) opens me to other's opinions. I love that about humanity. I also love that I live in a free society where I am free to believe in Peace. Specifically, as it turns out, the freedom of Peace.
Peace does not cost anything - and even someone living without freedom can embrace, embody and spread Peace. Consider what Nelson Mandela has achieved through Peace, as a prisoner for 27 years of his life.
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
- Nelson Mandela
Peace is made of love and when love is given, it multiplies, it heals and it is returned ten fold. Peace is harmonious with our most basic emotional needs and the way we would treat a newborn baby or a child. Peace is the only way to end suffering in the world even if you see the issue as a simple matter of physics. Yes, physics. While I am a very spiritual person, science supports what I am about to explain about Peace.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (Einstein - another Peacemaker speaking of a "universal truth", if you will) and matter will not change on its own unless external conditions such as temperature, or internal conditions such as chemical content, are changed. And a tiny, simple, almost imperceptible change can completely alter something from one form to another, like combining 2 Hydrogen atoms (H2) with one oxygen atom (O2) makes an entirely different compound every human needs for survival: H20, or water.
We also need oxygen but, like hydrogen, when it is combined with other elements, entirely different and often deadly substances are created that are nothing at all like water. So, now that I have used almost all of my high school chemistry on you, you can begin to see why I will argue that bringing more Peace to the world has the potential to change things significantly simply by introducing it somewhere where it does not currently exist, if you only look at it from a scientific perspective.
If we go one step further and consider that quantum mechanics has shown us that things happen beyond our scientific method's ability to measure, then we can be even more open to the unknown impact of Peace on a world full of suffering. And consider, for a moment, a mind-blowing discovery within quantum mechanics called Young's Double Slit experimentthat illustrates how the act of observing a thing changes it (this fascinating discovery is also called Relational Quantum Mechanics). If even passive observation can change the behavior of particles then I implore you to consider how prayer and intention for Peace by millions and millions of people can, indeed, change the world.
"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding"
- Albert Einstein
Here's a video illustrating Thomas Young's Double Slit experiment - worth the watch. But stick with me on this Peace business...
So, since I am not a scientist (though I did love my high school physics class!), and because I do believe in the great power of the mystical and metaphysical, I will implore you further to consider just how powerful Peace has been on this planet and will continue to be.
The most famous peacemakers in history are household names - Jesus, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Yes, the greatest terrorists and murders in history are also household names but it is because of the pain and suffering they have caused, not the love they brought to the world. When you hear the name Hitler, you instantly feel the impact of that name. The fear, the violence, the unconscionable destruction of human life on a massive scale. You heart sinks. You sigh. Your shoulders drop or your muscles may tighten. You would prefer not to have heard or read the name at all. It is a name with a low, sinking, painful feeling.
But go back to the list of names I wrote in blue and read those again. Pause on each one. You gaze may rise, your face may relax, you may take a cleansing breath, you feel stronger, more hopeful, you might smile. You might even nod or breathe audibly at the recognition of a powerfully loving, giving, compassionate human being. You may see pictures of each in your mind - Mother Theresa holding a dying child, Jesus healing the sick. You may hear "I have a dream" in Martin Luther King's own voice in your head. You may feel the sacrifice Gandhi made of his own body. And all of these names together, emit Peace. A strong and sturdy Peace that each has left here on Earth for us in moments like this.
I was challenged by a friend today on my statement that war is never the answer. My friend challenged me not on the issue of Peace but on my insistence of "Never." My friend argued that had we not gone to war against Hitler, he and the Third Reich would have succeeded with the extermination of the Jews. As Gadhafi is now killing his own people, is war not a possible solution to allow his people to be free? My friend doesn't like war either but argued that opting for peace and hoping for the best outcome, while desirable, is not preferable to war when there are instances that seem to have no other solution. I understand this, but I still take a different view.
I respect my friend for making this statement as it planted the seed of what you are reading right now. What I said in response was this: Stopping Hitler was one thing, the world war that surmounted was something else. I believe that we are advanced enough as a human race to learn from thousands of years of war and death and destruction that war is never the answer. I think that something could have stopped Hitler years and years before he grew a following. Turning a blind eye was as much of the fertilizer for the Third Reich as Hitler himself was. And I still think that we are at a point in human history where we risk greater damage to the world and humanity than ever before if we do not find ways beyond war to address all of these issues that are arising and will continue to arise around the planet. My belief is that every Hitler, every Gadhafi, rises to power as a challenge to all of humanity to find a New Way to combat hatred. In order to find that new way, we must look outside the war "box" and see what else we have in us to employ. If we just keep turning to war, we'll never find that something else. Nothing changes if we keep doing the same thing over and over. So in order to turn hate to love, we must employ more love, more peace - and it is going to take ALL of us to do this.
Suffering around the planet is our opportunity to engage in the act of Ending Suffering. After thousands and thousands of years, we have evolved as a human race to a global community with responsibility to each other just as we are responsible to our family, our neighbors and our nation. There are no borders, there are no lines. There is no difference between you and me and someone we've never met 7,000 miles away. Our task as a human race is not to wage war, not to have more [money/food/possessions/power] than others, not to pretend it doesn't matter because it's happening to someone else born somewhere else. You could have just as easily been born into the body of a suffering orphan in Africa. And so could I. Because we are now all connected, we must feel empathy. And once you do, even for just a moment, you will also feel the innate need to replace the feeling of suffering (Hitler) with compassion (Mother Theresa). Hatred with love. War with Peace.
We were not born with a single cell in our tiny bodies that knew of hatred or violence or war. These are man-made things. We were born only with cells knowing of the need for food, human touch and love. Think of the number of times a day a baby smiles or giggles. The number of times a child laughs in a given day in comparison to an adult. It is not until we achieve adulthood that we begin to incorporate fear, pain, suffering, abuse, trauma, neglect into the psyches of others. And yes, we do it to others, just as others did it to us. That baby was not born knowing these things - the world in which he grows up exposes him to it. And therein lies the problem: The cycle of suffering from one generation to the next by being born into a world that solves problems with fear, not love.
We must now solve the problems we face with love in order to end the cycle. The time has come and we each have everything within us we need to become ambassadors for Peace on this planet. And if you can begin to live your own Peace and then send it out to the rest of the world, imagine the power it might contain. I won't try to convince you that I know it to be true (and I do), but the power of Peace, when spoken, when shared, when employed as a habit in your daily life, feels just as loving and powerful as the names of Ghandi, of Jesus, of the Dalai Lama, when they are spoken. Those humans are not in the same room with you, nor are some even some even alive on this planet, but the mere mention or thought of their names can be uplifting. That is the very same universal positive power that exists in prayers of Peace, conversations about Peace, and Peaceful action in your daily life.
And, just like love, when given, Peace comes back to you tenfold. So bring Peace to your life today and see what happens. Choose to not engage in road rage tomorrow even if you are late for work and someone cuts you off (while it is not about what you get in return, pay attention to what begins happening around you - you might find that someone else lets you cut in front of them in traffic - or a parking spot opens up just as you need it). Look for an opportunity to give something small to someone else - let someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery store, or give a dollar to a beggar and look him in the eye and smile while you do.
Perhaps, just like the electron in the video above which acted differently once it was aware it was being watched, we too can affect different behavior all over the world by becoming aware that everyone is watching us. You're watching what I'm doing right now, who is watching you and how might knowing that someone is watching you change your behavior? If you think about it for a moment, you'll find yet one more reason to act in Peace because whether you think you are being watched or not, the universal laws that govern our world will bring us more of that which we give. So give Peace. Today and every day.
“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself.
You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself...
Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
