Envy of the Dim-Witted

The first phrase that crossed my mind while reading this blog is:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

Well, I suppose in this particular case the “poor in spirit” are meant to be those in search of (internal) wisdom - finding their inner peace and leaving the exterior appearances (in this case all those things that disturb you) behind them … what in fact doensn't mean that they are brainless morons … ;-)

Dear Daroy,

I've been there and back, my friend…

It takes great inward strength to notice harmful things and recognize that  you cannot stop its continuance.  In a free world, we must learn the skill of accepting.  This is integral to being free and being peaceful.  Accepting is an allowing skill that delivers great benefits to those who embrace it.

When you observe that which disturbs your sensibilities, you are faced with a choice.  This is fully within you domain to execute a Love and Wisdom that allows others to be as they are as part of the 'freedom to be' thing. ( You can at that same moment inwardly bless the person or situation and know that at the level of Universal Mind, you have planted a “seed of awareness” into the 'soils of humanity' for future germination.  This in itself can give you  some inward Peace.)

Of course, you can choose to upset yourself and lose your calm center which, in effect, pollutes the Mind of humanity with an angst not really needed in a collective Mind already so burdened with  stress and MisInformation.  You can choose to center yourself with the gratitude that you can see a bigger cause-effect picture with Mother Earth and humanity.  You can magnify the growing awareness in ecology and other more mature behaviors that are taking place, or you can magnify the errors and harm.  It IS an inward choice ,  is it not?

I applaud your concerns.  I deal with such matters by asking myself certain questions that make the choice before me easier to make while empowering my inward strengths to be compassionate:

I don't fuss over “right” vs “wrong” anymore.  I've replaced that with the recognition of BALANCE as a more powerful discerning point.  Thus, I ask, “From a Bigger Picture beyond this picture, what action would beget  a greater balance here and now?”  Balance always implies that 'an extreme' is being moved back to a more centered place of functioning. Is not obsessing always an extreme response that is stressful, tight, rigid, etc??  Balancing, centering are always reconciling forces that beget peace while diffusing tension.  Balancing always returns us to a middle ground where a little-of-his and a little-of-that are considered, leaving either/or as impotent to the solution being considered.

What I hear in reading your post it that you want Good things for humanity. It seems only appropriate to me that you have peace from your vantage point, not stress.  You deserve nothing less for your growing wisdom.

So, isn't it a matter of changing how you handle your choices of responding, thereby allowing you to save your energy for more useful activities which will advance the desire you have for more enlightened way of living?

I get the pain of observing inharmonious stuff, yet, growing-up in awareness is not meant to disturb our peace, it is meant to allow more enlightened choices.  Awareness is not meant to burden us, rather, to free us!

Remember, you are not disempowered by accepting what is, you are empowered because you are freeing up your inward energies to do more of the things you Love, making you a more potent force for Good.

I wish you well, and great Peace for your beloved heart of caring.

All to Love,
Sharon

“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of life” - this was not an endorsement of masochism, but rather a recognition that life contains hardship and an individual should embrace the experience of being alive by living affirmatively in the face of inevitable sorrow and suffering. This was an echo of a Buddhist teaching that calls for “joyful participation in the sorrows of the world.”
 
 Quotes of Joseph Campbell
 
 Campbell would go on to say (and to echo Sharon), “We cannot cure the world of sorrow, but we can choose to live in joy.”  This is not ignorance-is-bliss type of joy, but the experience life from a perspective of equanimity.  Without such a choice, one could consign oneself to a paralytic existence.  Not the Hero's boon that Campbell had in mind!

Acceptance is a good thing.

That said, there are limits to what should be accepted.  Can anyone honestly tell me that an “enlightened being” should merely accept a pedophile, particularly one who seems unwilling to stop themselves from such acts in the future? 

Now, I don't mean to suggest that buying non-organic foods is on par with pedophelia.  But keep in mind, when you're trying valiantly to embrace a universal acceptance of all things, that in order to remove suffering from our lives sometimes there are things that should not be accepted.

I personally don't purchase organic meats because, frankly, they're not available in my area.  I do however use energy-saving lightbulbs, and I recycle the plastics that I can in my area, along with other similar things.  Not all methods of protecting the earth are available in all places. 

I think the best thing to keep in mind is that you too were once unaware of what impact your actions (or lack thereof) had on the earth.  I'd be willing to bet most other people would also make more wise decisions if they were aware of what their current decisions mean.

What you say is true. I want to stop everyone I see, but we can't all we can do is show the change in ourself and hope it will be enough to help them to change. I also believe there are other ways we are hurting our planet. Every day we use toxic chemicals to clean ( laundry detergent, dish liquid, shampoo, BLEACH, just to name a few). I believe we should get the word out. Tell everyone we know we are  trying to change the world. Some may follow. That's all we can hope for.