My Hawaiian Aunty, my spiritual teacher says, “Everything is pono (perfect) until we think otherwise.” I know that to be true but when events like the shooting at Virginia Tech happen it is often difficult to see the perfection. Once again I watched the news and was struck by the confusion, pain and fear I saw in people’s faces. My mother was killed in a car accident so I know well the shock of sudden loss. I feel the same way when I watch the news and see a woman crying over the body of her child that was just blown apart by a car bomb. How do we make sense of human cruelty? How do we see murder and mayhem as perfect?
Those were some of my thoughts when I sat down to meditate this morning. What came to me were some thoughts about great spiritual teachers like Buddha and Jesus and how we focus our attention as a species. For many years I believed my mission was to help create a world that would be safe for children and animals. I figured if they were safe the rest of us would be golden, but then I began to realize the world was perfect just the way it is. I still wonder how we can be so cruel at times but I have come to realize that seeing something as cruel is my judgment. I have now found greater peace and the capacity to be more loving.
Let me explain. When I look at people like Buddha and Jesus I see people who have had a direct spiritual experience. They connected with God or their spiritual essence at a profound level and lived their lives from that loving and expansive place. They did whatever was necessary, on a daily basis to deepen and maintain that connection. They lived from a place of love, free of judgment and a sense of separation. They knew the only thing that is real is God and that the external world was an illusion. They knew that, “You are me, I am you and we are one.”
When I listen to the ramblings of the Virginia Tech gunman, the news and people in the grocery store, I hear a common theme – OUT THERE. We want to blame someone or seomthing. They treated me badly, the government needs to do something, they are the problem, and something out there is the problem. I do the same thing at times. I can make statements like, “That really upset me.”
Life is, then we tell ourselves a story, and then we have an experience based on the story. My hunch is Buddha and Jesus looked within, to their connection with spirit more often than they blamed out there for their experience.
Moment by moment we are either deepening our connection with our spirit or our beliefs agreements and assumptions. We are either deepening our connectedness or our sense of separation. We are either focusing within or allowing our attention to be hooked by out there.
In a society that focuses the majority of its attention on externals events, like the shooting at Virginia Tech unfortunately make sense. They are part of the paradigm that embraces blame and judgment rather than encouraging self-exploration and personal responsibility. Even most of our religions teach us to focus externally. God is out there. We get our message from God from someone or something outside of ourselves – the minister, rabbi, the Bible or Koran tell us what to believe and how to find God.
What do you suppose would happen if more people began focusing within? What would happen if each of us did as Jesus, Buddha, and Mohamed? What if each of us did whatever was necessary on a daily basis to have a direct and profound inner connection to God?
Would we be able to judge one another? Would we choose to physically assault one another? Or blame someone else for our internally generated emotions?
I think not. If each of us learned to love, really love and live as Buddha, Mohamed and Jesus, violence would be a rare occurrence rather than an everyday event. Perhaps Cho Seung-Hui would have been able to reach out for help rather than think violence was the solution.
As long as we persist in judging anything or anyone we can’t experience our oneness. It is our belief in separation that engenders violence. When I make myself see the perfection in everything my heart expands and I can love. By loving I can live life in a more loving fashion and my sense of oneness grows.
Love or fear are our only two options. We know what kind of a world fear has built isn’t it time to see what kind of a world love can build?
With lots of love and aloha,
Susan
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