The problem with "loving thy neighbour as thyself" * is that there are millions of very selfish messed up people out there....and they are not that easy to like....never mind love.
*Or in laymans terms..."treat other people the way you want to be treated".
I find it very challenging to read the words of many self help and new age gurus that pound home this message and don't really live in the trenches with "these people" on a daily basis. I do understand that "tolerance and patience" are the key, it's just hard to do it..Hard for me, and I practice being tolerant.
Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer are not riding the subway systems of the world dealing with aggressive, disenfranchised, self-involved, myopic humans on a daily basis. Hey but I am ...Apparently we are supposed to cherish these types of opportunities...
They... are sitting back in their Beverly Hills mansions with servants and masseuses.
No envy there, just the truth. The only time they really get a taste of the real urban culture is when they put on a seminar in New York or in Chicago. This isn't quite the same reality actually.
The people that come to see Deepak and Wayne live are already trying to be better people and are looking to change and to take notice of their flaws. The guys in the subway, couldn't give a flying xxxx about world consciousness and laughing yoga etc, they only care about themselves and anything that can bolster their ego and their anger and their daily fix of ...me...mine....and more.
Its my personal challenge on a daily basis and many others as well. I could tell you stories about people muttering to themselves incoherently, or sitting
directly beside me and proceeding to directly apply a sandwich to their entire face and hair.
Men degrading woman in packs (this disgusting event has been going on forever)or girls systematically and hysterically screaming about some pathetic party at the top of their lungs.
Senior Citizens not being given a seat by some selfish young guy with his headphones on. I have had to personally intervene in a couple of these situations(dangerously)which was a royal pain, but had to be done.
People are constantly pushing and shoving the weaker and older out of the way, just for a perceived "better seat" on the bus to nowhere. It really is too much. Dig the metaphor here.
Where I am leading here is: People have to change on an individual level or we are finished on the Global scale. You may say..."I don't see the link"...but it plainly is right there...
The bigger issue isn't so much about shifting global consciousness today. We sadly may be milleniums away from that. (If we make it and it is not looking good)
In my opinion...there has to be a simple bit of self awareness, restraint and good old fashioned love injected back into the world.
Somehow, we have got to get this across to people....... and I think in this monumentally selfish society, the only way to do that is to get people to change their actions based on the bigger idea that it will somehow "benefit" them in the long run. Sad, but how?
I don't want to come across as "Mr spiritual" either, because the moment I portray myself as that person, that is another personal trap for me that is lingering out there in egoistic hell.
I am simply a person that is very concerned on a base level about what is going on out in the steets. (It's chaos, anger and depression run rampant) Any groundbreaking ideas out there?
We can all see what is transpiring in the world as a whole with the environmental collapse, starvation, disease and middle eastern tensions. It's awful, that's obvious to everyone, it has to be changed somehow. But I get the feeling that only about 1 percent of the population really care deep down. (I am not talking about the odd passing thought, I am talking about the need to take some kind of action to help change it)
Some kind of a movement needs to be born.
The honest truth is that I don't think that great movements like Buddhism will ever be totally accepted by the masses because for one it is too Eastern, and more specifically.... the average person would have to consider relinquishing their need to have "more things" and in this age of egoism and consumerism as God, I don't see that happening.
Kabbalah is also a fantastic spiritual technology with many answers. It is based on proven ideas about energy and mathematics and cause and effect and bringing down the curtains of ego with transformative sharing and restriction..The problem is that it will never be accepted by the masses either. It is too Jewish....and that stigma unfortunately is not even close to being overlooked.
I don't want to head down this road too much further when talking about solutions. Obviously the mainstream religions have made some massive failures with their violence and persecution of woman etc.... and are now irrelevant on many levels and really more about tradition and culture, than inclusion. (The actual teachings themselves I am not saying are irrelevant at all)
The Hippie movement(smile) had some real good ideas, and it was quite beautiful actually. If they could have dropped the mind expanding drugs(although I liked them when I tried them) and learned how to achieve that state of openness and unity in a natural state, they might not have all ended up as drug addicts, alcoholics or stockbrokers.. Slight joke.
There has to be a solution and it must start on an individual basis.
If you have to pick and choose ideas and doctrines that make sense to you, it's a little like choosing Chinese take out. It's difficult to sift through, though in the end at least you are a thinking being making some actual informed decision.
How exactly we move forward to change the millions of selfish, egoistical consumerists before we blow ourselves up, sounds like a monolithic challenge. Something has to give though. Taking some responsibility on a personal level might be a good start.
Another area to take a look at would be how to get through to people that notoriously have a very short attention span with this "multitasking" mentality out there now. People have a tough time 'finishing what they start' as well.
Eckhart Tolle has some powerful and very useful ideas. "The Power Of Now" and "The New Earth" are both very important books.....(although some of the philosophical purists despise his "borrowing" ideas from many different sources approach)
The issue with Eckhart is that I am not sure there is a world changing movement there that is not just academic in nature...but easy and palatable for the average joe to be able to make sense of in his life with his family. That is the key I think..It has to be able to be practiced daily with tangible results by the average guy in British Columbia or Kansas.
Maybe some of Eckharts ideas can be borrowed for the sake of some more coherent movement. Sorry Eckhart. (Can that face be the face of a worldwide movement? Oh my, lets not go there)
In the meantime, what I am really saying is that I am am just a normal frustrated guy with some strong concerns as the world falls apart around me. On a personal level though, I have never felt more tuned in and whole and semi-together. The problem is that I am now picking up the frequency of global chaos and individual arrogance and decadence on a hourly basis.
Then there is good old Bob Marley. I have always liked this song. "So much trouble in the world". Seems appropriate tonight. Something to lift me up. Music is great. Words are great, but Music is often much deeper and faster)
Here are the lyrics.
So Much Trouble In The World lyrics
So much trouble in the world
So much trouble in the world
Bless my eyes this morning
Jah sun is on the rise once again
The way earthly thin's are goin'
Anything can happen.
You see men sailing on their ego trip,
Blast off on their spaceship,
Million miles from reality:
No care for you, no care for me.
So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
All you got to do: give a little (give a little),
Give a little (give a little), give a little (give a little)!
One more time, ye-ah! (give a little) Ye-ah! (give a little)
Ye-ah! (give a little) Yeah!
So you think you've found the solution,
But it's just another illusion!
(So before you check out this tide),
Don't leave another cornerstone
Standing there behind, eh-eh-eh-eh!
We've got to face the day;
( From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/bob-marley-lyrics/so-much-trouble-in-the-world-lyrics.html )
(Ooh) Ooh-wee, come what may:
We the street people talkin',
Yeah, we the people strugglin'.
Now they sitting on a time bomb; (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Now I know the time has come: (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
What goes on up is coming on down, (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Goes around and comes around. (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
There is so much trouble (so much trouble in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble (so much in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble in the world (so much trouble in the world);
There is (so much in the world);
(So much trouble in the world)
Back in real time, my days of riding the subway are coming to an abrupt end. That might not really scream of ...solution.....but can I say......... Thank the lord.
Rick
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