Better Answers from Better Questions
[voice from the Other Side - Sha'Tara]
Compassion demands we look at our surroundings with clear vision; that we give up living in denial, or as if all that really mattered in the end is how I survive, or make the most of these times. The world with its teeming billions swarming dangerously close to death in megalopolises across the planet demands we entertain a broader vision of social and environmental responsibility than Earthian humans have ever used before.
We are living in abnormal conditions in that such numbers mixed with a terribly volatile technology have never happened to us before. This is new and truthfully, it isn't pretty. Yes we survived the Cold War and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction have not led to Armageddon - but that doesn't mean it won't. The pressure is mounting.
Some major factors that have come to my attention recently: the hole in the ozone layer in the southern regions is the largest ever recorded. A credible scientist declares the oceans' fisheries will be depleted by 2048. Meanwhile it has become obvious that "global warming" is indeed for real.
What then would be a better question that would yield a better answer?
Something that has been troubling my thoughts recently, and that is, how legitimate is it to seek one's personal happiness in a world that has so much trouble, despair and woe? Seems to me that the industrial - commercial complex has taken over the lion's share of this world's economy and resources and in doing so has demonstrated a complete lack of responsibility towards the life within and upon, this world. By and large Earthians, for reasons of survival, greed or complacency have gone along with this new power as if there were no alternatives available to this cancerous evil.
But there is. There always was. To every evil manifestation of power there is a counter-balancing force available. That is so everywhere. Were it not so, creation could not stand.
A good question: what is that force that can stand against the greatest manifestations of power? Self-empowerment, of course. Only the self-empowered can walk through this maze of deceit, conceit and conflict unscathed for only the self-empowered are utterly detached from expectations and quest for results.
Now one could say, "You mean to say the self-empowered are apathetic!" and how much the Powers that be would have all believe that!
But there is nothing apathetic about serving others on one's own terms.
Nothing apathetic about boycotting consumerism at every opportunity.
Nothing apathetic about maintaining one's integrity in a world of lies.
Nothing apathetic about choosing to live in detachment that there be no favorites in one's heart. Nothing apathetic about doing a good job, not because of the pay, be it low or high, nor for praise or other expectation but because it demonstrates a higher level of understanding.
Nothing apathetic about engaging the suffering of others deliberately when other paths are wide open. Nothing apathetic about choosing sorrow over happiness because planetary conditions call for such a response.
Nothing apathetic about being empathic on such a world as Earth.
Joining movements or groups, whether old or new to bring about change is useless, for every grouping must operate under the aegis of the Powers. We all know how little so-called charitable organizations ultimately contribute to alleviating hunger and suffering. It is because they are so ineffective, being riddled with inconsistencies and bureaucratic mis-management that they are allowed to function. For the Powers receive their due in quantities of suffering - be it from humans, animals or other lifeforms. They create the conditions whereby Earthians can exploit and literally "eat" one-another. Then they reward those who create the most suffering from those conditions.
Let it never be forgotten that not so long ago the original Powers, the gods - all of them - demanded human and animal sacrifices on their altars and promised great blessings to those who offered such. That is the history we do not like to walk through anymore. But these Powers have not changed their natures. They've just changed the nature of their altars and the uniforms of their priest-executioners. All wars - and injustice is always the most terrible of wars - are sacrificial offerings to the Powers. They don't care which side you are on, or support - it's all the same to them: sweet food in the form of planetary suffering.
But the day this suffering no longer contains fear for one's survival, or fear of pain, that is the day the food becomes unpalatable to the Powers. So the "avatar" knows to offer to take on this suffering precisely because s/he does not have to. This is the ultimate challenge to the Powers, one for which they have no come-back.
Here's the full text of the Bene Gesserit litany against fear (from Dune, by Frank Herbert).
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Ultimately it is fear the Powers use against us. We can turn this mind-weapon against them. We can detach, even to detaching from our own physical life. The more we become empathic; the more we share the pain of others through legitimate sorrow, the less fear we will entertain in our mind-hearts and the more effective we will be, as individuals, against the lies of the Powers, be they of flesh or spirit.
That is the Golden Path, the Path of the warrior-avatar.
Helen
Once again thanks Regis,
simonb
Love TinkaSweets
Good Write,
God Bless,
Lew
Louisa
Love and Peace~
Kimmy~
ann
We have only one, people, and better moniter closely what is currently destroying it...and its people!
You are certainly delving deep, philosophically speaking, to make us more aware! Thank you for this!
Micke