Archive for the oneness Category
I do not normally just offer links to other information sources, but this is so important I want everyone to read it and try to understand it. The world cannot continue in this fashion, we cannot allow our brothers and sisters, no matter if they live in another hemisphere, country, state or neighborhood, to die while we pay our farmers to destroy crops.
“If the government cannot lower the cost of living it simply has to leave. If the police and UN troops want to shoot at us, that’s OK, because in the end, if we are not killed by bullets, we’ll die of hunger.”
– A demonstrator in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
In the past few years I have opened my eyes to how this world operates, who operates and how 99.9% of us sit back while a very select few gain more at our expense. Make no mistake, they are people who revel in our suffering. Only by helping those around you can you attain happiness, not by collecting more money, or homes, or cars or whatever… Only by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked can we find an end to suffering.
Another piece of information in this article that should make you pay attention is this:
In addition, for several decades the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have refused to advance loans to poor countries unless they agree to “Structural Adjustment Programs” (SAP) that require the loan recipients to devalue their currencies, cut taxes, privatize utilities, and reduce or eliminate support programs for farmers.
So that explains it fairly bluntly: wealthy nations force those who are in need to subjugate themselves for the help they are receiving. Clearly, it is not the intent of the World Bank to lift the poorer nations out of poverty, but rather to enslave them.
Anyone remember this quote?
“Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)
For a nation that calls itself Christian, America is doing a woeful job. We are truly one people. There is no real distinction between you, me and the starving child in Haiti. None.
Food Crisis And The Failure Of The Capitalist Model is the article at CounterCulture.org.
I welcome your comments.
I have rarely experienced the “now”. I am usually thinking about the past and all too often fantasizing about the future; both of which are without merit. I vividly remember a few times in my the life when the world around me seemed to move in hours instead of seconds. People moved past me as if they were in slow-motion, sounds had a Doppler effect and all the time I felt that I was moving normally. I have also had the opposite experience, with the world on fast-forward while I watched it all flash by in an instant. Both of these occurrences lasted mere ticks on the clock, I know, but they had a lasting mark on my soul. I think in those moments I was really finding the suchness of my life.
I have not lived my life seeking to duplicate those moments, though maybe I should have. Instead I live my life as most of us do; from home to work and back home again with various errands in between. I spend little time, if any at all, meditating and centering myself. There are occasions when I recognize that I am breathing, I am able to feel the universe for a short time; connected to everything, everywhere, in meetings or my drive time, even staring at the wall at the urinal. In fact a few weeks ago I was looking at the gray wall as I stood at the urinal (maybe not the scene you would like to picture, but I am the writer not the director) when I realized that there was not really a wall there at all. In my minds eye I could see past this wall, past the building and out into the blue Oklahoma skies. Once my mind was in those skies it was a small journey to the space all around the Earth and then into the limitless universe.
Taking in those moments in your day, finding the suchness of things and then not holding on to them, not trying to capture them, there is power there. Suchness, a strange thought to Western minds, is really simple. Suchness is easy to demonstrate: seeing a flower as a flower, suchness is there. Knowing the suchness of money is only seeing it as money, it is a merely a tool, it does not equate to wealth; there is power there as well. Realizing that status does not equate to happiness, you can find a calming suchness there too.
All of this lead me to ponder the suchness of now, and to the wonder and happiness when it dawned on me that now is simply now. It is not a magic moment with the universe singing to me with choirs of angels, but rather the now is powerful unto itself. Now is the moment of this breath, it is this heartbeat, which you can actually feel if you are quiet and you listen to yourself.
Those strange seconds when the world slowed or sped up, they were pure now, pure suchness. They were something for me to cherish, and though I cannot just close my eyes and experience that peace and calm, I have tasted it before and so I know it is attainable still. I am no Buddha, I am not Awake yet, but I am slumbering no more.
Matt
I was talking to a friend about something I want last night. It is a large expense and one I would not normally lavish upon myself when I can so easily think of other things I need to spend my money on first. A fence for the backyard, a new car for my mother-in-law, an iMac for the family, things the kids need and so on and so forth… But I really want a MacBook Pro.
There, I said it: I want a MacBook Pro.
How would I use this laptop? Umm, I would blog on it, I would be the bestest photo guy, always updating my Picasa, I would write my books that would make millions and then I would do homework with the kids on it in their rooms.
I am pretty sure the laptop would help me become enlightened too… I really think so. I could learn all about the Buddha and his teachings, I would study and then even write some sites devoted to offering those same teachings to others.
I know, I know; this all sounds very precocious and trite: but let’s look at some other items that would be great while we are on this subject. I could handle an iPhone, and iPodTouch. (I don’t think I really need the iPod if I get the iPhone, but might as well put it out there right?) I have a great little pocket camera already, but I need a sweet DSLR to get some action pics of my kids and their sports…
I know I will feel guilty about this as soon as I post it; but there it is.
