There is wisdom in all things and all around us.
"In almost every bad situation," Buddhist monk, Nyanaponika Thera says "there is the possibility of a transformation by which the undesirable may be changed into the desirable."
Paulo Coelho once wrote "Each thing has to transform itself into something better, and acquire a new destiny."
I’d like to humbly suggest, standing on the shoulders of all my ancestors, that all of humanity stands at a precipice with at least two distinct options for it’s future.
One is to continue on with the current infinite “economic” greed, imperialistic expansion, war, disparity, inequity, and cultural genocide – backing away in stunned denial of the crumbling foundations upon which we stand. Global ecological and social collapse, tangible realities on this path.
The other is as a species, we take the plunge and open ourselves up to redefining what it means to be a human being on this planet. Transforming our relations, to each other, to the earth and to ourselves - (re)imagining together a new destiny.
Ray Kurzweil, a futurist, predicted that the onset of the 21st century would usher humanity into the most transforming and thrilling period in human history. “It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged.”
Indeed, enriched with the colliding of languages, cultures, creativity, innovations, philosophies, economies and perspectives of billions the world over. For the first time ever, our once isolated (and at times persecuted) histories/herstories are reaching out and grasping at new horizons like curious finger-tips. What will be created by this meeting of minds from all directions – even the most hairy of visionaries can only scarcely scratch at the surface of what is to come.
We are all challenged in the sense that where once we were met with the might, constraints and power of the cycles of life on earth – we humans are now our biggest threat to our own survival. If we cannot sustain meaningful transformation of our relationship to our home, communities and selves. It may be humans alone that are responsible for ending our (relatively short) collective stint on this earth. (Image caption: The devastation of one species devastates others.)
I believe our survival as a species depends on our ability to pull off this transformation. Restoring balance within ourselves and among all other life on earth.
What might this opening up look like? What will this transformation require of us?
The following is merely a poetic guess from an inquisitive mind:
Fearlessness.
Dedication.
Commitment.
Communication and mountains of healing.
Over-coming the fears that paralyse us...
the fears that separated us...
the fears that keep us silenced...
and the fears that keep our tongues formulating words of hatred, rather than annunciating curiousity, invoking love, and inspiring warmth.
Dedication according to the dictionary means the
act of binding oneself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action. By dedication I mean seeking understanding, seeking healing for each other, to support life, to strive for balance, to making peace, to seeking reconciliation, to resolving conflict harmoniously.
By commitment I mean, to each other’s well being, to learning what we have to transform our relations, to our own healing, to facing change fearlessly.
By communication, I mean by all means necessary.
What would it take to embrace all experience as part of a transformative path?
A friend asked once, “What if there was nothing and no one to blame just work to be done?” What if instead of viewing, disturbance, turmoil, and destruction as burdens, sites of conflict or distraction, we viewed such circumstances as sites where we need be mindful? Conflicts being places where we focus keen attention? Places where we apply the depths our empathy and search for the bridges and common ground upon which we all stand.
“In that way,” Nyanaponika writes, “ enemies are turned into friends, because all these disturbances and antagonistic forces have become our teachers.”
What if all problems where to become opportunities to learn from rather than threats to avoid?
Buddhist Psychology holds one of the more refreshingly positive perspectives on human thought, emotion and action. Problems are seen as temporary and superficial. Western psychology in contrast tends to focuse on “what’s wrong” with us. Buddhist psychology as Tara Bennett-Goleman writes, “acknowledges our disturbing emotions but sees them as covering over our essential goodness like clouds covering the sun.” In our cloudier moments, even our most upsetting feelings are opportunities for uncovering our natural wisdom, if and only if, we choose to use them that way.
Just as the warmth of sunlight dissolves the moisture of clouds, the warm fires of mindfulness melt the emotional clouds, icy interactions and frozenness covering ourselves and relations.
What if all life was met and greeted with dignity and respect? What then would happen to our freeways and office towers? Would there be any use for schools and prisons? Would we perhaps ask more questions or listen more?
