The State of the World

Many of us are deeply concerned about the perilous state of our world. But most of us feel overwhelmed by the ugly face of it and know not what to do except maybe throw some money at it, if and when we can, to keep the doom at bay. 

But when we realize how deep and diverse the sources of this ugliness are, we understand this isn't enough by any means. Then if we look to our "leaders'' for answers and solutions, they all too often fail us and actually add to the problems by utterly ignoring the deeper sources; by taking absolutely the wrong approach to solve them; or by actually inflaming situations for their selfish political purposes.

We're left bereft, confused, and conflicted, frustrated, guilt-ridden, and deeply saddened - sometimes to the point that we cannot help but look away. It's just too much for us to bear - how much suffering, misery, poverty, abuse, devastation, and exploitation can we really stand to witness?

There are a few remarkable people who don't turn away but actually dive right into the midst of turmoil, doing what they can to relieve others' misery. They also do what they can in the moment to relieve the most immediate and the most desperate suffering. But in their hearts they also know this won't be the end of it - it will happen again, either in the same place, nearby, or on another side of the world. But this is what they can do, so they do it. And the great relief in people's eyes, at least temporarily, lifts and releases the enormous weight which presses on the hearts of all present. So it's infinitely better than nothing!

But what about the rest of us - those who cannot participate directly for various reasons, those who make donation after donation to cause after cause with the hope that some of it will actually get to those in need? What about those whose own lives are so challenged as to not allow much concern for "strangers'' in strange lands?

It's also the path of least resistance to hear and see the news, feel shocked and appalled, maybe even angry for a few moments, hours or days, but then turn our attention elsewhere, as life goes on. We're assisted greatly in this "escape" by the attention deficit disorder exemplified by the media's affinity for sound-bites, attention-grabbing headlines, and dependency on advertising which also greases the skids on which we slip away. 

But in this turning away we run the risk of eventually joining the ranks of those who actually do not care. I fear that as the population of the world grows, so will this number, and as this number grows, so will the exploitation and misery.

Something profound and dramatic must shift in order to prevent further devastation. For we are dangerously deluded if we think all this can go on indefinitely, without catastrophic results. The warning signs abound and take many forms, but they are interconnected.
For instance, the events preceding, during, and following 9/11 didn't happen in a vacuum. Many fossil fuel sources lie deep under the sands of countries which spawned the jihadists who flew those planes. They had watched us alternately assist, exploit, then abandon their (often times corrupt) regimes, due to our need for their fuel, as well as an insistence on having a "strategic presence" to protect our political and economic interests. Some jihadists become martyrs - human bombs who walk, drive, sail, or fly into crowds, buses, ships, markets, and skyscrapers to make a desperate point.
Adding to this mess are the global droughts, floods, fires, and other extreme weather events resulting from the climate change caused, in good part, by global dependence on fossil fuel !

So what is my point? Well, my point is that this is all interrelated - we are all interrelated and we must begin to seriously acknowledge how everything and everyone on this planet are inextricably bound together! What must be done? A re-visioning must occur, a re-examination, a re-forming of the way we all see ourselves, others, the world. And how might this begin to be accomplished? A few ideas:

- To start we all need to take a step back, breathe deeply, allow our minds to clear, and give up our obsessions for a minute.

- Then we have to realize that much of what we're doing is wreaking havoc on ourselves and on others; a lot of what we're doing is unnecessary and counter-productive, if not downright destructive for everyone and the world. What's done in one place effects something elsewhere, just like the vibrations on a spider's web.

- It would then be good to consider that there actually are alternative, non-habitual, ways to approach things, and consider the possibility that taking our personal views, beliefs, and agendas so seriously (and as the only valid ones) may well be catastrophic in the end for everyone.

- The next and potentially most important thing to do, is being fully present in the moment: allowing sounds, sights, physical sensations, and thoughts to pass through our awareness - not clinging to or judging them, not analyzing or interpreting them, but just letting them come and go, come and go. If practicing this once or twice a day doesn't help make us humble and enormously appreciative of everything and everyone, I don't know what will. We just need to remember to do it despite the endless distractions and preoccupations we get caught up in.

After a while most people who engage in this practice also become aware of how rich and amazing every moment is, how full of life, energy and change. And by expanding this awareness to envision and sense the flow and energy that exists throughout our world, we can awaken to the wonder that any of this exists at all, and that we are part of it! We're all perched on this tiny blue, green, brown planet spinning around a tiny sun in the center of one spinning solar system that's part of one swirling galaxy among billions of galaxies in an incomprehensibly vast universe. What are the chances??

So how does this translate into creating a saner world? Well, in light of rediscovering the mind-boggling nature of our existence, we might not continue to beat up on each other, allow people to starve and suffer needlessly, kill each other over some disputed speck of land (or religion or whatever), degrade, exploit, or pollute this finely-tuned and balanced environment that's our only means of support and survival.

And afterward, if we did continue these reckless behaviors, we'd be way worse than damn fools. We would deserve to vanish. Yeah, that’s right, I said it - vanish. It would be the only way to save this small blue world!