Thursday, July 10, 2008

What I Can Do

Regarding politics, race, or religion, when we criticize or condemn, we are usually projecting an unconscious part of ourselves onto the person or people condemned. This is the nature of all “isms”. For example, racism is a projection of a disowned part of oneself onto the one perceived as different. What we don’t accept in ourselves, we project out onto others and then reject. This is a clever tactic of the ego to stay in control and remain feeling separate and superior. However, what and how we condemn, we usually become or experience. Politically, one side condemns the other and then in turn becomes the condemned and vice versa.

As the spiritual axiom goes, what we focus on expands and what we give our attention to grows. If we are critical and demonizing of the leaders in office, we will continue to find people to criticize and demonize if that is what we are in the habit of doing. Habits tend to keep showing up. This is not an effective strategy. We certainly can use discrimination and proper judgment, give feedback and protest actions taken by our leaders. However, unless we give conscious, mature feedback and take conscious, mature actions toward solutions we will keep manifesting situations to complain about and continue to be dissatisfied, unconsciously polarized and out of balance.

We as individuals are at different levels of maturity. I believe it is the responsibility of the more mature to help guide the less mature. We must act with conscious maturity to stop injustices or dangerous actions as we would if we were watching a child about to hurt him/herself. Just as we would not let a child run dangerously in the street or play with fire, we must speak out and do what we can to prevent and protect those who are less mature from causing irreparable damage to other humans and our planet as a whole. We must do this with balance, discrimination, and kindness. Just as a mature parent would gently guide with care and compassion rather than harshly criticize and condemn, so we must do to those less mature.

Through our thoughts and actions, we individually make our contribution to the world. The quality of the energy of any thought we cultivate or action we take creates a vibration which we personally radiate out to the world each and every moment. The state of the world is the result of the sum total of the radiance of every person on the planet. The quality of the energy we each individually radiate becomes the quality of our own individual experience and, ultimately, the quality of the energy on the planet. To quote Deepak Chopra, “Every action we take generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. We reap what we sow. When we consciously choose actions that bring peace and happiness to others, the fruit of our karma is happiness and success.”

Contemplating a profound symbol can sometimes aid us in developing deeper understanding. The Tai Chi or more popularly called the yin/yang symbol, reminds us that it is the nature of physical manifestation to be polarized, to see one side or the other. However, the truth is in the totality, the whole circle. We can’t know darkness without the light. We can’t know right without wrong, female without male. Without the immature, we can't know our level of maturity. To be aware of this polarization is to be conscious. Without the awareness that the total picture is the truth, is to be unconsciously polarized.

We are the most conscious beings on the planet, as far as we know. It is up to all of us to look within and ask ourselves, “Am I at war with anyone?” Am I at war with another’s politics? Am I at war with another’s style? If we are condemning, criticizing and complaining, we are at war. When we replace criticism with proper judgment and understanding; condemnation with acceptance and curiosity; complaining with a sincere desire to act from a place of clarity or if appropriate, allow, “what is”, at the moment, to “be” until it is not, we are at peace.

It has become my practice to visualize “light” on myself regarding any situation with which I am dissatisfied. In my mind, this is an attempt to align myself with the truth of the situation. I cannot see the total picture and even the partial view I have is filtered through the lens of my particular conditioning. If we, at least, realize that it’s possible that we aren’t seeing the bigger picture, we are less likely to be caught in the yo-yo world of unconscious polarization. When we admit that we can’t know for sure why anything is the way it is, we open to seeing a bigger truth. Relaxing our position puts out a new kind of energy that loosens the tension between us, and that to which we are opposed. How can we expect the other to loosen their position, if we can’t?

When I envision the “Light of Alignment with Truth” regarding the disturbing circumstances, things either change or I see them from a more expanded viewpoint. It always delivers a greater degree of harmony by bringing me out of my unconscious polarized position and relaxing my mind and body so that any action I take comes from a place of clarity and maturity rather than reactivity. Not only does this feel healthy for me, it also stops me from radiating negative energy out into the world in which I am living.

As within, so without, it’s up to each of us as individuals to look into our own hearts and be honest about what and with whom we are going to war. We must become conscious of the quality of energy we are contributing at any moment. When we change ourselves from within, we change what is reflected back from the outside.

While not abandoning judgment and discrimination, we can radiate to the leaders of our country the “Light of Alignment with Truth”. We cannot know, absolutely, the TRUTH of any situation. We can only know our preferences and our intentions. If we radiate from our minds and hearts, to the minds and hearts of those in the position of leading, our intention that they be aligned with the Highest Purpose, (and we can’t know for certainty that they are not) and ask for our own understanding to expand to see the Highest Purpose for all involved, we are doing our job. We are accomplishing this according to the law of attraction, by creating a different quality of energy for those people and for ourselves. In this way, we radiate a quality of energy which enhances the condition of harmony and well-being, rather than adding to the dysfunction. Complaining and projecting are powerless ways of dealing with situations in which we want to effect change.

When I ask myself what I can do, I realize I can work on becoming more consciously aware of my own projections, radiance and vibration. I can remember that what I reap, I sow, not only for myself in my own life, but also for the entire world. I can visualize the “Light of Alignment with Truth” on myself and on those who need guidance. I can act from that place of conscious response rather than unconscious reactivity.

I feel an empowering paradigm shift, in my life when I take responsibility for my own thoughts, words and actions. It helps remind me that the quality of my thoughts, words and actions return to me in like kind and create my experience in every moment. We can each make a contribution to that paradigm shift and change the world one person at a time by vigilant and conscious awareness of the quality of thoughts we cultivate, the quality of the words we speak, the quality of our intentions and the quality of our actions. As I experience the difference in the quality of my life when I live these principles, I know this difference extends out into the world, one moment at a time.

Right Thinking
Right Speaking
Right Intention
Right Action

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Jarl, thank you so much for your wisdom. Been thinking of you lately and hope to see you soon.
Love, Mo