How Can We Make The World A Better Place?

What do you think??? :)

 

I Had A Dream...

I had a really vividly profound dream the other night that I was Martin Luther King Jr. and that I was giving my first speech ever in a small night club that had an open mic for poets and musicians. The club was strictly for those of color and the MC who introduced me enthusiastically was a black woman who had no idea who I was or what I was about to say. I was planning to speak out about all of the inequality that I had seen in the world and about the ignorance and prejudice out there and the lack of rights that we had as individuals with dark skin. I knew how taboo that this was at that time and I could feel the deep fear of what I was about to do before I went up on stage.

Once on stage, I meditated to myself for a moment in silence and then began to speak out fervently from the depths of my heart. As I did this, I began to feel more and more deeply how truly important that speaking about this was. I could feel the burning passion that I had inside for spreading this message of love and equality for all beings on Earth and, as I continued to speak, I looked out and saw the woman who had introduced me. For a moment, I could see the fear that she had in her eyes of the potential consequences of allowing me to continue speaking in this manner and I could tell that part of her wanted to take me off stage. I understood this fear deeply, but I was driven to keep speaking anyway. After another few minutes, I could sense that she had begun to understand, as I had, the crucial nature of this message, as she sat down to listen. Slowly, I felt the hearts of everyone else there as well begin to embrace a sense of unity with one another as they began to acknowledge themselves as the beautiful human beings that they were who had just as much right to live and breathe and love and be free as any other beings had on this planet. As I saw the sheer beauty and intensity of this incredible, pivotal, moment unfolding before me, it brought tears to my eyes.

The next morning, when I awoke, I was completely awestruck and felt indescribably privileged to have had such a dream and to have been able to feel like I had been there to witness a be a part of such a beautiful and defining moment for humanity. I know that it was just a dream, but it was so deep and meaningful that I can't help but feel that to have experienced it was, perhaps, one of the single greatest and most beautiful sensations of my life...

There Are No "Acceptable Losses"!

I made this image today. Any thoughts on this? :)

Three Things That Could Change The World

The road of life is long, so we have to know that it's ok to not always know where we are on it. However, if every person on Earth, simultaneously,  tried to give more to others, to let go of fear and to learn to forgive themselves for their shortcomings, then this world that we live in would discover peace for the first time and the lives of every man, woman & child would find fulfillment in their existence.

Thoughts About Compassion

I've been pondering this question about love for some time now. Not just any love, but the kind of love that drives people to have compassion for complete strangers. I think as children we start out this way, but life can often throw us for a curve. The sheer experience of the environment that we're born into, what we're told and the paths that we choose, often shape us in ways that we couldn't have prepared ourselves for and we forget about that love that seemed to come so naturally to us in the beginning.

I spent many years myself living in what I thought of as hostile environments and situations. I went to these places with a real heart for others, along with, a beautiful sense of humor and all the excitement and fervor of a child. What I quite often found there though, were many angry, defensive, broken people who, more often than not, seemed to want to raise their fists or voices at others in anger, rather than extend their arms for a handshake or a hug. This, ultimately, caused me to find myself in a great struggle to hold on to that innocence and beauty of youth that I felt I had once carried inside, as I became worn down by my surroundings and my own personal trauma seemed to allow me to take in more and more of that negativity, with each passing year .

During those years, however, in the midst of much misery, I discovered that I possessed a very powerful gift. I found that I had an unusual propensity for subconsciously observing my environment, down to the most minute of details often times, and that through extreme empathy, I had been absorbing incredible amounts of energy from even the most subtle behaviors and emotions from people in my environment. I would walk into a room and see immediately that a person in the corner was sad, that another person was anxious, that another wanted to talk to someone, but was too shy or that someone was angry, whether I wanted to or not. I eventually began to realize that this incredible sensitivity had, in part, made my life quite difficult in the past and that, as with many gifts, this had the potential to create pure bliss and harmony in my world or complete chaos and destruction.

I would always feel quite saddened, disappointed or even upset by what I saw in these moments, as it always felt so powerful. Many times I would become so filled with another persons emotions, that I found myself unexpectedly mirroring those feelings, which frequently caused me to become so overwhelmed to the point of not being able to share anything with the world for days at a time. More recently in my life, however, I began thinking more deeply about this concept of true compassion in those moments and a love for all beings, which often reminds me of those bright souls who have found the way to make this happen in their lives. People like Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Jesus, The Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Joseph Campbell, Manly P. Hall, Desmond Tutu and countless others have chosen to bring that light to the world throughout history and the world is most certainly a better place for it. The Dalai Lama once said, "I have been confronted with many difficulties throughout the course of my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I laugh often, and my laughter is contagious. When people ask me how I find the strength to laugh now, I reply that I am a professional laugher."

So, why should we reach out to people in this way, we might wonder? What has the world done for me? Why should we want to spread the light of compassion in a world that often seems unkind and, at times, saturated in darkness? Well, I think the answer lies therein. The greatest gift the world can give you is to reciprocate to you the love that you once planted within it as a seed. Without this, love can not grow in one's life. In this way, I think it's truly important that we try to show kindness to others. Even if we don't always particularly agree with other people's ideas and philosophies, I think the trick is learning that that's what makes us all unique. It's also what makes the world more interesting, whereas struggling against the world and the people in it only creates chaos in one's life. Compassion is the key. It's something that we can always use a little more of. Compassion breaks down all those obstacles that we have in life by first showing us that we only have obstacles because we have built up walls within. 

 This life can be quite short, especially when seen in light of the billions and billions of years of the existence of the universe. The billions of organisms within a single clump of moss are as much a part of that environment as billions of humans are a part of the planet earth, as much as billions of planets are part of a solar system, billions of solar systems are part of the galaxy and that billions of galaxies are part of the universe. So, what do we do with that mere snippet of time that we have here if we're not looking to make the most of it, if we haven't tried to accept people for who they are or if we haven't understood that we are all in this together? It seems to me, that instead of spending even one moment struggling against one another, that we might instead do better to try and make this life better for everyone and understand that we and everything in this vast universe are now...and have always been...one in the same thing.

The Hero's Journey

I've been thinking back recently to a trip I took last year to see the Mayan ruins of Mexico and Guatemala. I've always been fascinated with the magic of the region and with Mayan culture, beliefs, architecture, creation myth, etc. This has been particularly true as we near the end of the Mayan long count calendar; an intricate system of time keeping which spans the 5,125 years from August 11, 3114 BC to the winter solstice on December 21, 2012 AD.

Many translations say that the Mayans predicted the end date of the calendar to be the end of a great world age. In fact, it seems the Mayans thought that at the end of this 5,125 year cycle we would enter what they called "The Time of No Time"; a period which would bring with it phenomenal changes and transformation on the earth. These changes, they believed, would propel us into a great evolutionary period on this planet, which would carry our world into a time of new beginnings and deep spiritual growth.

When thinking to myself about all the mind blowing structures that I was privileged enough to experience at each of the ancient sites, I was reminded of just how much of a feeling of awe and reverence, as well as a deep reflection upon one's own spiritual nature, that each of these spectacular monuments seemed to command. This was a defining experience which planted the seed within me to find more peace and harmony within myself, as well as letting go of fear, that I might one day come to understand more the true nature of existence and reality. Many of these concepts, I feel, have lead me to a place of comprehending, that the road to enlightenment is more than just a quest for personal knowledge. It's about learning compassion and coming back with all that you've learned, with a burning desire to share with other's what following that call within your heart has taught you.

This burning call to action, that all of us experience at one time or another in our lives, got me thinking about the book, "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell. In the book he introduces the concept that all the great journeys in our lives that make epic stories, help us achieve difficult goals and even perhaps lead us down the path of ultimately becoming better people, unwaveringly follow the same progression of events, which he called "The Hero's Journey". Fascinated with this concept, I started researching more about the hero's path, as it no doubt mirrors the path of one whose goal is to seek true inner peace and enlightenment. This can be seen here in this short clip from the fascinating documentary, "Return To The Source: Philosophy And The Matrix", where they briefly discuss Joseph Campbell and "The Hero's Journey", through Neo's path to enlightenment, in "The Matrix" movie.

Now, looking more closely at these steps as a process of spiritual illumination, I began seeing instant parallels with the enlightened figures of the past, such as Jesus or The Buddha, for instance. In both cases, their lives seem to almost precisely mirror this process in perfect sequence. Particularly, the story of The Buddha's life, I think. I've been looking pretty deeply into Buddhism lately and have been completely fascinated with the life of The Buddha, as it is such an inspiring story of giving up everything that feeds "the self" in order to attain a completely pure state of love and compassion for all that is, as well as the obstacles that one must face along the way.

As far as my own "Hero's Journey" is concerned, I have most certainly experienced "The Ordinary World" & I have many times heard "The Call To Adventure", of which I have many times followed. Regarding, the particular call towards deepening my own level of enlightenment, however, I have definitely experienced "Refusal of the Call" more times than I think anyone would care to admit. Perhaps, that phase of the journey though, is by nature, designed to ensnare most any one of us, if only for awhile. I'm not sure I have specifically had my "Meeting With The Mentor" yet, although I have become quite inspired the last few years by the writings, documentaries, talks and teachings of many different spiritual masters and intellectuals advocating the exploration and development of consciousness, compassion and love, as well as refining our ability to perceive who and what we are beyond the veil of the physical world. I've hardly "Crossed the First Threshold" by making some minor changes recently towards helping myself refocus my energy in the direction of this goal. Though, it seems those "minor changes" have already presented me with some rather major "Tests, Allies & Enemies" to be regarded.

So, I am pretty far from my goals in this endeavor. I suppose though, enlightenment, is probably the most trying goal a person can set for themselves in this life, but, then again, I do like to make life difficult. Nonetheless, after many years of deliberation & "refusal", I have embarked on this journey; not quite a "hero" yet, but it's a start and I imagine every hero's story begins somewhere.

What's your "hero's journey"?