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...

What Are We Doing?

What are we doing???...This is probably the first question that often comes to mind when someone begins to see the bigger picture of what humanity has done so far with the unfathomably profound gift of consciousness that we've all inherited through billions and billions of years of evolution in this universe. We've traveled across light years of space and were seeded on this planet by the stars to do one thing, to answer the question that's been burning in the mind of the universe itself and the very reason for the existence of everything we could ever know since the beginning of time. I think that this question that the universe has really been trying to solve through all of its infinite expressions of existence is, "What am I?"

I don't even think the universe knows the answer to this question any more than we know what we are, otherwise there would be no purpose for our existence here. It seems to be trying to figure out, through every random occurence it can allow us and everything out there to have, in this existence and every possible parallel one, what it is to exist and how it came to be.

To do this it would have needed to empty out it's conscious awareness of itself completely, the same way that one does when they meditate or when they ingest a psychoactive substance. In order to learn from that which is outside of all known reality and that which only seems to be completely unknowable in our current state of mind, requires that the old state of mind be entirely cleared out of everything it has previously known and experienced so that it can allow those inner parts of itself, of which we are a part, the freedom and universal power to explore and create anything that we can deem possible in our conscious minds. Only then might the source of all things that birthed the universe discover every aspect of what it truly is. In the same way we can connect with our own inner universe by quieting our minds and allowing those deep inner parts of ourselves the freedom to explore and be something new and different and unique, that we might receive a kind of knowledge from beyond the veil that transcends all of space and time.

So, what are we doing with this consciousness we have to wonder? Where are we taking ourselves on this fantastical adventure we call life?  In the past we've established systems of disharmony and separation, world governments and divisive borders and cultures that push us away from each other and strip us of our human link with one another, but overall our lives seem to be perhaps moving towards a greater interconnectedness, as we've painstakingly been learning from our mistakes since the dawn of time.

Here is a video by Terence McKenna that might paint a deeper picture of this process of evolution that we've all been going through...



Would You Kill Hitler?

If you had a time machine, would you go back in time to kill Hitler? I've been thinking about this age old question recently and have come to some interesting conclusions.

At first glance the answer seems perhaps quite obvious to many of us. After all, killing Hitler would perhaps have prevented the 11-14 million some people from being murdered in the holocaust & would have perhaps prevented a good majority of the 70 million some deaths of World War II. So, it would seem that to trade one life for the lives of millions is easy enough math for any of us to do. The fact that it's still murder by the mind(s) that pass the judgement, the mouth(s) that agree to give the order, the hand(s) that deal the punishment and the heart(s) of those who raise their fists to the sky to rejoice that justice has been done, shouldn't deter us right?

In Western culture it seems that many of us would most likely concur that the act be done. After all, we've been breast fed by Western religion and Judeo-Christian values for hundreds, if not more than two thousand, years; ethics which have brought us such visionary concepts as: "an eye for an eye" must be taken, capital punishment must be upheld, penance must be made to atone for one's sins. Toss him to the lions that he might be judged by God for all eternity! (Our brand of)"Justice" MUST be done.

Conversely, many Eastern philosophies and religions, however, might venture to say quite the opposite. That life is a personal journey of one's own consciousness. That one faces the ultimate judgement for their transgressions in life and beyond from one's own self. That the karmic consequences for our actions and our own revelatory realizations of which...and of our connection to all things in the universe...and of the degree to which we loved those things, might be more severe for the soul of the individual than any punishment that could ever be delivered by man.

Western thinking, on the other hand, seems to teach us to strive for one's own, to right the wrongs of others, to intervene in the destinies of those around us in accordance with our own notions of what should be and how this life should be lived. What if it's not our place however, to make such decisions? Did not even Jesus say, "Let him who has not sin cast the first stone"? Was he not saying that no one among us has the right to pass judgement on another? That it is neither our responsibility or our right to punish the wrongful acts of our fellow men and women? If God created man in his own image and we are all children of God, isn't ending the life of another not much different than ending our own?

It is not my intent to discuss religion here exactly, rather more to present the idea that religion has shaped the beliefs and ideals of the entire world since the dawn of time. It's true that there have been many great teachers and enlightened individuals in the past who have taught us a message love, of peace and unity with all mankind, but religion itself has caused great destruction in the world despite those teachings. It has created a great chasm between the hearts of men that has led us into thousands of wars and to millions upon millions of deaths throughout history. It has brought division to a world that has not yet the eyes to see that the Earth and everything on it is in fact one and the same thing. The earth is a celestial body and every organism on it is a part of that body. We and the Earth are one. 

So perhaps, personally, if I were to travel in time, I think I would not use that opportunity to exact vengeance on those who have wronged us in the past, but rather, I would head to the future with a sense of wonder and curiosity and I would seek out true wisdom from the universe with a heart filled with love.

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.

Severing Your Technological Umbilical Chord

I had recently taken a couple of camping trips into the wilderness to sort of get away from it all & reconnect with nature. It was refreshing to take in the natural environment & get away from my computer & cell phone for a change. The first thing I noticed was the silence. Not just the silence of being out of the city, but the complete & utter silence from my phone. No more calls. No more texts. No more Facebook updates buzzing my pocket every 5 seconds. It was clear to me immediately how much I didn't really need it.

On my last trip, while gazing at this beautiful river running through the forest, I began to examine my life & just how I'd been spending my time the last few years. I started to realize just how dependent I had allowed myself to become on Facebook in particular. This revelation sort of left a deep pit in my stomach as I thought about all the hours I'd spent uploading, tagging, commenting & writing perhaps somewhat hollow posts, in an effort to avoid the somewhat frequent snickers that often arose from attempting anything philosophical. It seems people aren't generally really looking to hear your ideas on Facebook as much as the social scoop, the goings on.

All at once, I could see just how jacked into the internet "matrix" I had become & how Facebook had been this invisible force that sat on my shoulders day after day, frequently beckoning me to log on, as if whispering in my ear to go and see what was happening in the virtual world. It became clear to me that I was actually really tired of having to do that just to know what was happening with people. I started thinking about what life was like before social networks(Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) and seemed to remember life having more of a natural ebb & flow; an existence not governed by anything but one's own exploratory nature & the natural course of daily experiences. 

Now it seems, not just for myself, but for many of the people that I've had the privilege of knowing, that social platforms are becoming the ultimate medium for planning nearly all of life's daily encounters. I mean, I've rarely known what was going on for some time, except what Facebook seemed to be telling me & this phenomenon doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing. Virtually every branch of my family has joined Facebook to date. Even my grandmother seems to have become somewhat obsessed with Facebook games. It seems to be a phenomenon that has become so far-reaching, for millions & millions of people, the world over & much like the matrix of this illusory, quantum, universe we live in...it's all around us...and it's growing.

So, in an effort to get back to the basics & simplify my life; to reconnect with nature & my spiritual side; I shut down my long time running, heavily invested in, Facebook account & let me tell you...it feels good! :)