| Dear One, One can feel very powerless today in front of the many signs of unrest around us in the world. From neighborhood to nations, from individuals to micro cultures, opinions and judgements, discriminations, ostracism and criticism, hate and division seem to contaminate every level of our humane existence on this planet. It’s a rampant calamity. Yet many of us wish for peace and connection. Most of us pray for ending all wars. Everyone aspires for a better world. What to do? At an individual level, and no matter how minuscule one may feel in the social fabric, we’ve got significant personal power and we tend to not see how crucial it is and how influential it is. That power is inherent to our being here, alive, in the world. And it is so simple that we often miss it completely. We have the power to BE at peace, and to generate peace, every day, in every situation and circumstance we are finding ourselves in. If we take the global energy of the world, it is the sum of all energies accumulated at any given time. Very simply, it offers a spectrum of energetic frequencies from murderous chaos to harmonious peace, with everything in between. Where I choose to be on that spectrum, to think from, to speak from, to interact from, to take action from, is going to be my participation to the whole. Either I will add to chaos, division, unrest and fight or I will add to compassion, harmony, connection and peace. Too simple? Yet… when I am cultivating inner peace and equanimity, when I look for a place to relate despite our differences, when I choose to give a chance to brotherhood rather than judging opposite views, I actually propagate the kind of energy and the kind of attitude that will give a chance to more peace. Because when I choose to put my opinion, my judgement, my sense of what’s right, my beliefs, above my desire for a more peaceful world, I am on a slippery slope. When is it OK to hate? When am I entitled to emanate spite, critic, condemnation and rejection? And if I do find a “good” reason, a rationale of sorts, to despise, to hate or to condemn… how is my hatred, my despise, my acrimony, different from those I am condemning? Is my hatred cleaner? Is my hostility honorable? When I enter a fight against someone, something, some power or organisation that I resent as “Bad”, what am becoming in the process? What happens to my energy? What am I adding to the mix? Ah! But one can say: “what about Nazism?”, “What about rapists?”, “ What about bad presidents?”, “What about terrorists?” … liars, thieves, assassins, evils of all kinds? Is it not normal and appropriate to fight them, to hate them, to condemn them? It’s human, I guess. It’s tempting, for sure. And as much a pacifist as I want to be, I suppose something could happen and push me over the edge and have me be terribly violent. I’m aware of that. After all I have a strong self-conservation instinct. But unless I am fighting for my life right in that moment, chances are I use rejection and division in my mind, in my thoughts, and possibly in my words and attitude, for much less than saving my or someone’s life! What happens to me when I dwell in that realm? My energy becomes the energy of division and brutality. Does it make evil better?Nope, it adds to the energy of evil. Makes nothing better. My own energy, my very own… when I feel entitled to hate, becomes tainted and low, and dark. Ever thought of that? So, if I really have a strong desire for more peace in the world… the world outside of me, the world at large, the world on TV… I can make good on my claim and cultivate peace, INSIDE. I can take responsibility for my tiny world, where I live, where I speak to people, where I comment on social media, where I meet family and neighbors, and everything that I interact with, day in and day out. That I can do. I can choose to judge and condemn a lot less, I can choose to offer equanimity and compassion EVEN where my first tendency would be to react and reject. I can choose to place my desire for peace and harmony well ABOVE my opinion and my views of the world. I can choose to be kind to my neighbor simply because she is my neighbor rather than ignoring her because belongs to the wrong party… I can choose to not argue when someone is trying to get my goat… I can choose to observe and offer global compassion and envision positive evolution when the affairs of the world are going crazy.I can offer a blessing instead of a critic. I can place harmony above all in my world if I choose to. That means I will fuel togetherness, and use curiosity rather than disdain. I will offer kindness first and if I have to take action to protect myself or someone else, I will try and do that without hatred. That means I will cultivate wellbeing nurture myself and take care of my own mind, my own thoughts, my own energy to stay grounded. Which is a great benefit for my own health! I will remind myself every day who I really want to BE and make that my compass. Will I be perfect at it? Of course not. I am human and as such, I stumble, I scramble, I mess up, as does most everyone else. But I’ll just keep practicing I can place my peace and my harmony above my need to be right. When I do that, I use my power. I am in my power. I can change the world. I can be a vector of Peace. You can too. Love, light and blessings Emmeline Art by Buddha Doodles. Priceless. |
