Path
Path
During the last year I was told by a number of people, among them a few friends, that in their opinion I was focusing too much on negative information concerning world affairs.
In their comments I sensed an attempt to “rescue” me from drowning in evil while trying to expose it. I felt like I was seen as one who was losing his mind. Considering these observations, I gave it some thought and felt like writing about it.
Seeing the environment being destroyed by the minute and personal liberty lost, I wonder what is the force behind people’s denial other than fear to see it as such? Perhaps, I thought, it was the sense of responsibility which they had to assume if they chose to wake up.
In my fairly recent conversation with two different people from different countries I wasn’t even given a chance to begin speaking my mind. I was stopped with the words from a man: “it’s all a conspiracy theory and I don’t want to hear about it” and the other person has simply said that she only wants to hear about the solutions not problems. I didn’t even bother to explain to them that “conspiracy theory” is a term invented by the government used to discredit critical thinking and stop an inquiry into the facts. These people were simply not receptive.
I didn’t persist and let the subject go but I did ponder these instances later, thinking how was it possible to find a solution to a problem if one refuses to see the problem? Can we find the cure to our illnesses if we don’t think we are sick? Can we get warm at night by imagining a sunny morning?
It would be great if only wishing for a change would make it become reality. But apparently things aren’t working this way. Was it the Dalai Lama who said that, “change doesn’t come from the sky but it comes from human action”? I’m finding this statement hard to disagree with.
But his holiness wasn’t the only one who spoke about the necessity for action. Nelson Mandela, for example, has also said that: “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
While great leaders like the ones mentioned above all have said that an effort is needed, other people disagree. They think instead that their “good vibes” will somehow reach and influence corrupt politicians and corporate profiteers so much that one day these self-absorbed and greedy individuals will realize the destructive shallowness of their unsatisfiable desires, confess and abandon their position of power or use it wisely for good.
And even assuming that miracles happen, how long are we willing to wait?
How many more people have to die in illegal, fraudulent wars? How much more destruction does our planet have to suffer before our wishful thinking becomes a reality? Don’t we realize that our dreams for a better tomorrow are someone’s nightmares today? What makes us believe that we will have a chance to have a better world unless we will be willing to face reality as it is and contribute to the common good by raising the public awareness about the state of the world? Is it so difficult to see that corruption is at the root of all evil and that secrecy allows corruption? How hard is it to realize that by remaining indifferent we simply enable the secrecy which then breeds corruption and thus contributes to the problem?
Turning a blind eye to a problem doesn’t provide a solution. But a shining light of awareness does to secrecy what day is doing to night and what truth is doing to lies – revealing its nature. Exposing the wrong is making a place for what’s right, like weeding the field for the sowing.
It took more than wishing for freedom for the American people to break free from the tyranny of King George.
Oppression continues if the oppressed remains silent.
I deeply relate to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that: “Change comes through continuous struggle and no man can ride you unless your back is bent”. This is a truthful statement.
But the fight for freedom doesn’t have to be bloody. There is another way which Gandhi showed to be effective. Both ways, however, do require an awareness and refusal to submit to tyranny.
I believe that as global awakening reaches critical mass, real change will come, washing the evil away like a tsunami. Meanwhile, our role is to assist in the process by contributing what little we can.
“You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul”.
Mahatma Gandhi