Values are forgotten or thrown to the wind. Or perhaps I should say values allow themselves to be compromised in giving the selfish ego its supremacy. We watch government leaders and their blatant moves of thinking only of themselves, regardless of the general good, of the office they are responsible for. And so we see separation, conflict, hostility, power grabbing coming from the gut-need to always be on top, at all costs. We are experiencing collective karma of our country, as a people, of our planet, our environment, even global choices in a scale unprecedented.
Then we see our own lives, lived within the time and space of these energies. We are driven to anger, to rage – and yet feeling powerless to do anything. We are up against a system that has grown bigger, stronger, more corrupt and more negative than ever before. We feel powerless – if we stay in that level. But this is where the secret of the great Universal Plan of God comes in. We are in a period of transition (some call it a period of cleansing).
It is not surprising that the energies of the present times are also calling in natural calamities coming in full force, with more severity and frequency. Tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis and wilder weather changes. Let’s not even begin to talk about global warming! The negative energies created by man are affecting the energies all around nature. And so nature, too, becomes violent. And no, it’s not an angry God just spurting venom out.
We look around us feeling almost powerless at the waves of such dramatic changes, as well as such crazy mindless egoist actions of people in power, and whose power affects the majority. Many of us shrug and close in – by this, I mean, minding our own lives. But can we really mind our own lives? Can we really think that we are not connected to everything happening around us?
We are passing through a present transition where we are given a choice, with our free will. We can stay in that level; allow all the hatred, anger and rage to explore. Or we can choose another path. We can consciously be part of the transformative power of change. We can AWAKEN.
Wasn’t it Ghandi, the great leader of peace, who said that for change to happen, we must be the change. Or the Zen saying that goes "start at the place where your own feet stand." We cannot transform ourselves or assume the transformative role unless we are awakened from the deep sleep of non-awareness. This state of non-awareness, this almost zombie-like state, keeps all thought processes and consciousness within the material and physical body. This zombie state is not aware that there is the presence of our spiritual, more soulful side. This sleeping state is where the ego reigns supreme, where Spirit is shoo-shooed away as something unreal.
Now more than ever, we must cultivate the practice (must actually become a habit) of going into ourselves and reflecting. Interior work allows us to check our inner emotional, mental and spiritual states. True change and self transformation can only begin in silence, looking inward. We must try to discipline our emotions, and really face our shadow sides where negative emotions abound. We must discipline the stimulus that enters our minds from the outside world. Check trash information from knowledge. Check noise pollution from that which is necessary for your healthy state. Practices such as reflection, prayer, meditation allows us to face the truth about ourselves, and brings us closer to our true nature – not of the personality, but that of our core, our souls.
When the interior becomes steadier, our center becomes grounded in gifts of the Spirit such as peace and love. Then something magical happens – we act towards the outside world, not react – but act positively, consciously and purposefully. Suddenly, we are AWAKE. Suddenly, we are in the Light, with the Light, and we become lighter. Further fruits of the Spirit will be expressed – generosity, integrity and compassion. When we touch another person’s life with these, they, too, will be moved to change. When all of us strive and aspire towards this, a deeper revolution happens and true transformation begins: in our communities, in our government and country and with Mother Earth, too. We are, after all, totally connected as ONE.