San Fernando Valley from Fryman Canyon trail, Los Angeles, California
What do I bring to the party?
At times, we choose to react to world events by mirroring the turmoil we see around us. We think that reacting with anger, violence, and vengeance will keep us safe. We tend to feel that such emotions are justified, and in some way, appropriate and helpful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Taking on the angst of the moment, while an all too human and understandable response, helps no one, least of all, ourselves.
The carnage in Paris and elsewhere in the world is an expression of the world view that we can kill our way to peace. This tactic has never worked. Every angry reaction, no matter how justified, has always proven to pour gasoline on the fire of more anger and bloodshed. How can we, as peace-loving citizens, help?
The answer is simple and clear. We need to react out of our own fulfillment. We need to share our inner peace generously with others, not by proselytizing or converting others to our own habits, but by contributing to the collective calm by showing ourselves to be reliably peaceful and stable.
How can we share something we haven't got? We can't. We can only contribute to our own inner peace by meditating, filling ourselves with precious adaptation energy, twice a day for twenty minutes. The dominant culture tells us there is no time for such endeavors, but there is time.
There is this twenty minutes. Starting right now.
The way of the world would have us believe we share nothing in common with our "enemies." Power-brokers and world leaders have always used this concept to divide and conquer. The way of the spirit is very different. Intuition states and experience confirms that our humanity bonds us, bridges divisions, and makes us whole. We serve no one by reacting out of fear, anger, and ignorance.
Locus tree at dusk, Fryman Canyon