How to heal the world

Anyone who is paying attention or isn't living under a rock for the past decade or so, knows we are living in a world in turmoil. Wars, famine, natural disasters abound, I suppose as they always have. But now as a "global village" we are more aware of them, and since there are so many more of us everywhere in this shrinking world, a sense of despair and urgency permeates our society. Even with all these bad things happening, something has gone amiss, something is different, and we know it but somehow many of us cant put our fingers on it.

People go through their day to day lives in a rush, stressed, working too long or not working at all, and we are seemingly moving through life without living. THe task of surviving for too many people has become the overriding issue of their lives, taking so much of our focus that we are less and less able to just stop and take a breath and remember to try to enjoy our life while we have it.

And to a degree because of this, we have become more cold towards our fellow human beings. We are so loaded down with concerns that human interaction takes a second seat. We start to avoid contact with others, in conversation, in interaction, because we are so overwhelmed by the rigors of modern life that we are afraid to interact with others, less they dump some of their "baggage" on us. You see this happen in cities like New York, or really any large population center.

So many people are just unconsciously living on a perpetual treadmill, just to survive. We are sort of in a sleep.

I have given it thought and I think the way to fight it, is that we have to spiritually recenter ourselves. We must always be mindful of the following things.


We live in a VAST and largely beautiful universe, that is awe inspiring. We should think about this EVERY day. It puts our existence back in perspective. Just go outside and look at the stars for a few minutes whenever you can. Look at the SUN when it rises and sets. Or the moon. WE are part of this. We are much grander than just little creatures on a treadmill.


Our life has value and is a miracle. Look at your hand. It took 3.5 BILLION years to make that hand. All the atoms to form it were made in EXPLODING STARS billions of years ago. Our brains are the most amazing complex things in the universe. We have as many neurons as our brains as their are stars in the galaxy. WOW.

Other people ALL other peoples lives have value and are a miracle. We are all here together on this ball of rock that is 8000 miles across. The ENTIRE human race is living on a little speck. Together. And everyone on Earth is distantly related. Look at that person walking by you. They are literally your 100th cousin. Doesn't matter their ethnicity or color, those things are recent. 100,000 years ago there were far less of us, we were a "tribe" of a few thousand people. We all descend from that small group, and we are ALL distantly related. The human family really is that, a family.

All live on our planet has value and is a miracle. All the animals, fish birds, bugs, bacteria, are sharing this world with us and its their world as much as it is ours. We used to treat them with much more respect. We need to do so again. ALL LIFE no matter how small should be revered and respected to a degree. After all, in all the universe, in millions of galaxies and stars, we are all the life we know.


Our world is our home. It is not a thing separate from us. it is part of us. We breathe its air and water, and its very atoms become our atoms. What we do to it we are doing to ourselves. How we treat it is how we are treating ourselves. What happens to it happens to us. It gives us our peace and serenity, if we take its peace and serenity away we will lose ours in the process.


We have lost sight of these things because in our haste to survive and our fear of not surviving, we have turned inward. We need to reverse this process.


There is a simple way to do it.

Kindness.

Every day. Every single day, be mindful to be kind so someone. It doesn't have to be monumental kindness (although it can), it can be a simple act, open a door for someone, help someone with directions, donate some of your time. Look at other people and remember they are fighting through this just like you. Make an effort to be nice to someone every day. What it will do is take your focus from inward and turn it outward.

And when you do that, your perspective will start to correct itself. You will start to look outward instead of inward. You will feel more calm and grounded. And maybe a little better about yourself. Its a better feeling than anything material can give you.

And there is an interesting thing about kindness. Its contagious. When someone is kind to you, it makes you feel good, and it makes you want to be kind to someone else. It really does spread out like waves from a rock tossed into a pool of water.

If we all start to be kind to one another, it will literally change the world.




Well there is my thought, just wanted to put it out there.

a reply to: openminded2011

I am a strong believer that in order to change this world it needs to start at the individual level, and start expanding at your immediate family level (if you choose to have one).
It's just like racism, most of the racism you see today in the states derives from old family ties of slavery or close knit community, or the different sects of Islam in the ME, it's all family feuds pretty much.

There was a great TED talk about male feminists, and how feminism will only work if men get involved and start to teach their sons to treat women as equals, the main issue is that men are put onto some sort of podium that they NEED to be a provider, they NEED to strive to be successful and have a boat, a truck, a sports car, etc. The same goes for anything else, your family you grow with and the environment you grow up in has a direct effect on your life.
Yes, being nice to a stranger is good, but honestly it only goes skin deep, boosts someones moral for a day or so but it looses meaning.

a reply to: openminded2011

I agree that the practice of daily kindness works. I've also found that smiling helps. People respond positively to a smile and it is a form of social interaction. In the grocery store, just for fun, when someone looks at me and our eyes meet, I'll simply smile. More often than not, they smile back. Not much of a "conversation" I admit, but there is an element of recognition, an element of sharing of smiles, of kind intent.

Part of the problem, in my humble opinion, is that the architecture of our era doesn't lend itself to peaceful and fulfilling lives. Its not inspiring; its not harmonious. It doesn't "invite", nor does it engage. Its off-putting, sterile, functional, and in too many cases overwhelming and ominous. And when you look at modern city buildings you'll find its near entirely cubic. The buildings themselves are nothing more than boxes stacked upon boxes. The windows are square or worse, rectangular. Its like Mussolini modern without the embellishment. Its cold much like Soviet era apartment blocks; soulless rabbit warrens for the apparatchiks that ran the empire.

In contrast to this bleak environment, we can look to the expressions of adorned and meaningful cultural architecture of earlier advanced cultures that were heavily influenced by the use of arches. I can't upload pictures, but google on "Milan Galleria" and check out the photos and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

A healthy society isn't one you create with better drugs and therapy and a snap of the fingers or some magic "live your life better" formula in a self help book. A healthy society has to be built and nurtured, studied and promoted and it must be constructed with some dedication to the classical forms and their understanding of natures rules of proportion.

a reply to: openminded2011

How to Heal the World

First, we need to stop valuing the valueless.
This easier said than done. Healing can, and
often does take an entire lifetime.

In my view, "to value the valueless" is what
the world needs to be healed from.

Some use the term "evil" to describe problem,
but for me, evil can be defined with two words:
False Authority

"The desire for power and authority over others may
hinder not only ones own spiritual progress, but may
also become an obstacle for those who submit to that
false authority."

Simply stated, False Authority is any source outside
of one's self. The external authority is anything that
would impose its will on us. Liberty is our authority,
and when walk in that liberty we rebel against evil.

We each have a Divine Self, God living inside of us.
True Will comes from within and not from outside.
Knowing this, "Do what you will." Love and Hate,
but do what you will (not what a False Authority
would have you do, say or feel).

Let the God inside you feel your pain.
How else can you be healed?

Let the God inside you know your hate.
How else can you be healed?

"Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another."

Heal the fear inside yourself, and you heal the world.

> LINK: 10 Ways to Heal the World
> www.mindbodygreen.com...


Your LIBERTY is your true authority!
Do as you WILL and by your example you teach others
to do the same. In so doing, we heal the world.

a reply to: openminded2011

Love is the most healing force in the world; nothing goes deeper than love. It heals not only the body, not only the mind, but also the soul. If one can love then all one´s wounds disappear. Then one becomes whole - and to be whole is to be holy.

Unless one is whole one is not holy. The physical health is a superficial phenomenon. It can happen through medicine, it can happen through science. But the innermost core of one´s being can be healed only through love. Those who know the secret of love know the greatest secret of life. Then there is no misery for them, no old age, no death. Of course the body will become old and the body will die, but love reveals to you the truth that you are not the body. You are pure consciousness, you have no birth, no death. And to live in that pure consciousness is to live in tune with life. Bliss is a by-product of living in tune with life.

Osho, The Imprisoned Splendor, Talk #10

a reply to: TonyS

In order to heal the world, I must practice repentance. Not from "sinful acts" per se, but from my failure to be engaged in the process of repentance. What is SIN other than a very old disease called Selfish Indulgence Neurosis. What so many people call S.I.N for short.

Repentance is moving AWAY from what the mind values toward that which the heart cares about. LOVE is not doing the right thing when there is no personal risk, on the contrary… LOVE is knowing you really are not vulnerable. It is manifest when we step out on faith and act according to this belief. LOVE is knowing you are not vulnerable and having the courage to ACT without validation from friends, family or peers.

Repentance is simple changing one's mind. It is a radical and transformative shift in how we think. In order to think differently new pathways are need in the brain. (This what happens went an individual is effected by THC).

Repentance is a radical and transformation shift in how we view and react to the world around us. Repentance is changing you mind is such a way that old views and opinions fall away. The old convictions are replaced with peace, harmony, compassion, kindness and forgiveness.

When we value the valueless, we are in need of repentance. This is the problem with the world, we value things that have no value. The call to repent of this sin is a call to change our minds about what really has value to us. It is a call to stop seeing the world the way our peers do, and to stop seeking validation in the opinions of others. It is a call to have courage and change your mind. It is a call to stand with God and to walk in the light, regardless of what other might think.

Repentance is an invitation to accept the validation of God. When we do this, we are accepting God love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. When we know we are accepted by God, why would we continue to seek validation from people? True repentance is healing for our low self-esteem. This is the change of mind that is needed by all. We all need the courage to accept the acceptance of our Creator.

My prayer is that God would come to live inside me, to feel my pain, and share in my joy. This is the relationship with God we can all have, if we would only make the effort. It doesn't require lighting a candle or casting a spell, we need only talk to God. We can enjoy the same relationship with God that Jesus did, just by talking to God about how we feel. When we do this, we walk in the Light.

Walking in the Light is how we heal the world.