Why Bother At All...
"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother."
~Kahlil Gibran
The Path is challenged
God is the first thing in my mind when I awake and the last thing in my mind before I sleep. I want to know God, but not just know God, I want to know God in myself.
I have significant challenges in my life right now and because I read many of the articles here on Hubpages, I know I am not alone. I look to God for the answers, but I am troubled because there is so much suffering among us. How can we know God in ourselves in a way that will actually improve our lives? Each day we must make choices just to continue forward, but the choices we make are being filtered through a lifetime of circumstances. Some of these events were great, others held much in the way of challenges. Each time we get beyond a life lesson, we have decided something about life. It is this decision that becomes the forewarning of the events to follow.
We may look around ourselves and see those who appear to be gliding easily through life and we may feel put upon because our lives are not this way. I don't know who has the worst life of all today on this planet we call home, but I can say with total certainty that you can think of at least one person in the world whose life is harder than yours.
What Perspective Will We Bring To This?
I know that the only control I have in my life is over how I see what is occuring around me. I certainly do not have control over the happenings throughout the world and I have to say, I don't understand much of what goes on. It appears that we have all gone mad at times and the things we make most important to ourselves are baffling to say the least. The power brokers of the world have decided that love, kindness, generosity and peace are not worth the effort and that creating fear throughout the masses is their best way of staying in control.
Those with great amounts of wealth have decided that having more is more important to them than making sure children are fed. They have turned their backs on the millions who are barely surviving, all because they cannot be satisfied with the enormous sums of money and material wealth they have accumulated. When asked to pay a share more to help those less fortunate, they petition their congressmen to give them tax cuts.
It is not surprising that suffering is at an all time high in the world. It is not surprising that young men would choose to kill innocent people participating in an event like the Boston marathon. It is the way those in power have planned the world. They have taught us that self indulgence is the tune of the hour and fear is the way of control.
It takes a very small mind not to recognize that what affects one of us will eventually affect all of us. It takes a tremendous lack of foresight to ignore the danger that is realized in allowing such a huge segment of the population to get so near the border of losing the game of survival. If everyone does not have the possibility of well-being it places us all in harms way.
So... why bother at all?
The reason we must gain control over our perspective is because what we do matters. It may not seem like it at times and I hear the cries for help everywhere, but the only thing that will eventually bring sanity to a world gone mad is our willingness and ability to hone our perspective. Until we can see the world as a healthy, joyous place where we all help each other, those who have mastered the art of power through fear will continue to wreak havock on the world and this will be the number one influence on our young. If we do not take control of what we are willing to spend our time on, like raising our children instead of placing them in the hands of violent video games, we will have more and more violence to deal with ourselves. If we do not take control of the people we elect we will bring more and more violence to our own door and it will not be safe for us to leave our homes. If we do not stop promoting violence throughout the world so that the military industrial complex can make billions more on death and destruction then eventually our own survival will be in the mix.
If you are thinking that what I am saying has no validity, then remember that just weeks ago the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il was ready to launch nuclear weapons because his level of fear is paramount. What do you think causes his fear to be so high? Maybe it is the actions that the 'free' world has taken to gain power over the masses. Maybe it is the constant threatening retoric that the leaders of this group promote. We have proven that we and our allies will invade a sovereign nation on the basis of lies told to us all. Remember the invasion of Iraq justified by the lies told by then President George W. Bush? It was never about weapons of mass destruction. It was about the oil.
Regardless of your political or philosophical bent those in power will do everything they can to stay in power and the way they will do it is through fear.
What we are adding is toxic to us all.
In a passage from the book, "Super Brain", by Deepak Chopra it speaks of the importance of our filtering devices. It says, "Well-being is created at the subtle level. Therefore, as raw data stream into your brain through the five senses, what turns them into something nourishing or something toxic depends on the quality, flavor, and emotional mood that you add."
So...
We can let someone else be responsible and this is what it looks like when we do. Or, and this is a big OR, we can take responsibility for our lives and the lives of those we bring into the world. If you cannot make a lifetime commitment to your children, don't have them. If you cannot make a commitment to educate yourself about those who would be elected, then don't vote. If you cannot make the time to get your own life in order, then at least stay out of the way of those who are trying to make the world a better place.
Why Bother At All? ... because it starts with you.
Love,
Lela
"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And, if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."
~Dalai Lama