Friday, June 22, 2007

Political Reconciliation

Hello,
Happy first day of summer. I trust it is off to a good start and that you are enjoying the warm weather. Below is an email I've been working on off and on for a couple of days now and finally decided just to stop messing with and send it. I suspect I have written about it before some time ago but somehow felt compelled to revisit the subject.

I’ve been trying to stay relatively uninvolved in political goings on for a long time now, but I’m still on email lists of various activist groups that I joined during my outrage over stolen elections, the war, etc.. This does not mean I have become complacent, however. I’ve learned enough to know that I am doing the one thing I can truly do to make the world a better place by increasing my level of awareness and presence. True activism must come from a place of oneness and non-ego in order for it not to continue to feed the negativity that is breeding that which is being fought.

If you “love” the green power initiative, but “hate” those contributing to contamination of the environment, then everything you do to fight for that initiative is tainted with the negative energy that is creating that which you are fighting. The same is true for any issue whether it be the war or whatever. “If you fight madness, you become mad yourself.”

Therefore, I have remained relatively quiet despite constant email calls to take action regarding this or that. I have also remained relatively informed about what is going on in the world, however, and I have been recognizing the true nature of the issues causing the pain and suffering in the world at this time. This is where reconciliation comes in.

I have mixed feelings about sharing this type of information because of the negativity it may bring, but I know that many people may feel that what I have been sharing over the last year or so does not “fit” with what’s going on in the world. Hopefully, broaching this subject will illustrate how what I have been saying applies to the world situation and serve to shed some light on what we each one of us can do to bring about positive change in the world (which I think is what we all truly want). With that in mind read on and know that I will close on a very optimistic note.

Based on an investigative report from a BBC reporter (Greg Palast), who has done a great deal of investigation on the people currently in power in the US, there is a very strong connection between the Iraq war and big oil companies. The gist of the story was that the Bush administration had planned on privatizing the oil in Iraq once Saddam was taken out of power. However, James Baker (one of Bush Sr.’s staff) was serving as Exxon Mobile’s lead attorney at the time and threatened to sue if they did that. Then proposed that the Iraq oil supply be “controlled.” The end result? Gas prices reach record highs and big oil companies reach record profits and everyone in a position to make it happen gets rich. Everyone else, whether that be the gas buying public or the people of Iraq, suffer the consequences of that decision. This might also explain the reluctance to leave Iraq for fear of the loss of control over the oil there.

At about the same time I read this report, I received an email from the mother of an Iraq war veteran whose son came back in a bad state. He suffers from severe PTSD and has had difficulty receiving the care he needs from the VA. She mentioned in her email that many of the friends her son served with in Iraq have also come home and either committed suicide, turned abusive to their wives and children, or become lost in addiction to alcohol or other drugs. As a result, this mother has been living in a state of fear that her son may too commit suicide because of his pain over what he has seen and done in the past. She has been camping out in DC in an attempt to bring an end to the war and make sure veterans receive proper care once they return.

After reading her email, I felt compelled to help, so I offered to send her son a copy of Practicing the Power of Now to help him break free of the past (the author, Eckhart Tolle, was also on the verge of suicide when his life changing event occurred). She gave me his mailing address and I mailed him a copy. I have not heard from him but I can only hope that it will help in some small way.

So, how do I reconcile all of this madness? I recognize it all for what it truly is: unconsciousness. These people in positions of power that appear to be profiting from this war are after the same thing the rest of us are after – happiness. They naively think that more money will bring them what they seek. They are still bound by ego. However, no matter how many billions of dollars they accumulate, it’s still not enough. They still have not found happiness, which creates internal conflict for them. I suspect they are not totally blind to the misery being caused by their quest, which may lead to even more internal conflict. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that some of the world’s most unhappy people are also some of the wealthiest. Their lives still feel empty despite all the worldly goods.

This may be too much for some of you to swallow since you may still be under the impression that money is a key to happiness and that if you just made a bit more everything would be alright. I too used to feel this way. But it doesn’t really matter how much money you have if you are still in an unconscious, or ego dominated, state of mind. The more you make, the more you spend and you stay in the exact same place you are in now with more “stuff” to show for it. That is until you change what’s on the inside, which is where everything on the outside is created.

My challenge to you is to not fall into the trap of resenting these government officials and oil executives for their lack of consideration for the suffering being inflicted so they can find the fulfillment that they will never find, and to remember that this resentment only breeds more negativity. If we take a more compassionate attitude toward these people, without judgement or blame, we bring much needed positive energy into the world necessary to create true change.

If you need further evidence to help you overcome your outrage, think about it like this. We, as a collective population, have been recreating the same mistakes over and over again for a long time now. This is true on a global level as well as an individual level since individuals make up larger organizations of people. So, why does history seem to be repeating itself? I think it’s because we have not learned our lesson yet and woken up to the truth, so life keeps giving us new opportunities to do just that. In fact, it could be said that life’s one true purpose is to awaken us from our unconscious madness before we destroy ourselves.

However, in order for a great number of people to awaken the world situation will likely have to deteriorate more and more. Some people are easier than others to wake up, but each time a new person wakes up it creates a ripple effect that raises the energy level everywhere, increasing the likelihood that more will awaken. So, do you want to save the planet? Start by having compassion for those who are still destroying it and do not view yourself to be superior to anyone else. We are all one inseparable energetic organism and you are just looking at different forms of yourself in human form, all of whom you need to see for who they truly are in order to awaken.
May peace be with you,
Trey
PS - Please read the quote below as well (it is posted as a reply to the blog as well). It’s a quote from the end (page 138) of the book “Practicing the Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, which I trust you have all read or listened to by now. If not, let me know if you want a copy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Power to Choose

Choice implies a consciousness – a high degree of consciousness. Without it, you have no choice. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present.

Until you reach that point, you are unconscious, spiritually speaking. This means that you are compelled to think, feel, and act in certain ways according to the conditioning of your mind.

Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.

Similarly, if you are one of the many people who have an issue with their parents, if you still harbor resentment about something they did or did not do, then you still believe that they had a choice – that they could have acted differently. It always looks as if people had a choice, but that is an illusion. As long as your mind with its conditioned patterns runs your life, as long as you are your mind, what choice do you have? None. You are not even there. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of insanity.

Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment you realize this there can be no more resentment. How can you resent someone’s illness? The only appropriate response is compassion.

If you are run by your mind, although you have no choice you will still suffer the consequences of your unconsciousness, and you will create further suffering. You will bear the burden of fear, conflict, problems, and pain. The suffering thus created will eventually force you out of your unconscious state.

- Eckhart Tolle

Anonymous said...

Right on. I totally just talk about a 'better world' vision. The rest is too sickening.

Best wishes,

Anonymous said...

I read your blog about politics and couldn't agree more. I rarely pay attention to politics because it causes so much separation between people.

Peace. Love. Be Still.