Part of me has always wanted to become a monk, to live away from the world, a reclusive life that would allow my mind to soar to great heights. But I know, I just know that we are here to learn to uncover our inner light and share it with the world, not as a saint but as just another human being.
"Make of yourself a light." (said Gautama Buddha just before his death)
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (said Jesus. Matthew 5:16)
Awakening is not about tuning away from the world, shutting it out; it’s about tuning into the world recognising that you are part of it, biologically, psychologically, and spiritually. Cutting yourself off from the world is shutting off part of your own being.
Yet that is exactly what most people do, trying to ignore problems right under our nose, to numb ourselves from our own pain and pain of others.
We don't allow ourselves to see or feel the pain of the world because it terrifies us, and we feel helpless before it.
But as long as we close our eyes and our hearts, we will never heal. The world cannot heal, and it will not change. The forms of misery might change over time, but the sickness, the suffering will remain.
How, then, do we live and grow in a world whose societies perpetuate human suffering, societies run by handfuls of powerful and wealthy who benefit from the misery of the millions and human despair?
First. Do what aeons of sages, prophets and masters have told us: Look within. Know Thyself. Recognise the pain, trauma and denial on which you have built your own psychological patterns and perception of the world. Give yourself the acceptance and love that your heart needs to open up and feel.
Then bit by bit, consciously (and as slowly as it requires), acknowledge the suffering of others, and allow your heart to respond with compassion and love.
Your heart aches when you hear of refugees drowning in wild seas. Don’t pretend it doesn’t.
You are horrified by pictures of starving or bombed children on your television. Don’t be ashamed of your pain.
You suppress the wave of compassion that arises when you pass by a homeless person. Don't. Allow yourself to feel that compassion, and to act on it.
We are not asked to bear the pain of the world, to suffer with it, or feel guilty. No one is asked to be a martyr. But we are asked to witness what is, both within and without. For only then can we feel the heart's urge to comfort, to be kind, to give what comfort we can, to help heal this world.
Learn and practice daily to treat others respectfully, truthfully but without moral judgement, regardless of your emotional reaction to their words or action.
Don’t give up on yourself. Don't give up on the world.
Transformation begins in you. In me. In your neighbour. In millions of people refusing to be numb and blind to the unacceptable costs of their social order, in those millions and millions of kindnesses that people show to each other and to other living things.
(Image from The Little Prince Movie — http://www.TheLittlePrinceMovie.com )