1. What are some of the elements that lead to world's problems: e.g. famine, wars, terrorism, diseases, economic collapses, instabilities, financial crises, and global warming?
The heart of the world's problems, of what separates the world we have from the world that is possible, in some ways stems from a law of physics. Momentum, which guides the trajectories of physical particles, also manifests within human lives and bodies, leading us sometimes to see no further than what the world presents us with currently, and often to follow the tried paths of habit rather than acting on the insights that we know will bring us greater health and happiness.
The work it takes to reach and sustain a new energy level in our personal lives is not encouraged in our culture. We are addicted to outside answers, which leads us to channel our resources into products that present themselves as shortcuts to happiness, and engenders a culture of blame for our problems. Everything from corporations to elected leaders to privileged individuals receive the credit for our global misfortunes. Thus we exist within a culture of severely disempowered individuals, who cannot see beyond the fast-paced lives to which we have enslaved ourselves to recognize ways in which our own choices might both make ourselves happier and allow our abundant resources to be shared with others to make the world at large a better place.
Our complaints reflect how wide a picture we have expanded our minds to take in. The majority still complain about effects felt within the circles of their immediate lives: about how little money they make, how little time they have, how busy they are, about general unfairness in the world, about the weather; this type of complaint reflects a general attitude of scarcity, and will pass with a change in perspective or in circumstance. A broader variety of complaint identifies imbalance in the world. Concerns about violations of justice, double-standards in our leadership, economic inequality, and global climate instability take in a bigger picture, and are able to connect some of the problems we see in our personal lives to larger trends. We all catch view of this bigger picture at times, however seeing the imbalance in broader contexts will make the average individual feel even more disempowered, and so we will tend to minimize our exposure to this perspective unless we have a way to feel we are making a difference within it.
The deeper complaint, however, which lies below all of the above complaints, is a feeling of general unhappiness, emptiness, or lack of meaning or purpose in one's life. We rarely confront this complaint until life forces us to look honestly at ourselves. However, it is the most important root of all our other problems, which will never be solved until we realize our power to realize happiness and the life we desire from within ourselves, independent of external influence.
The goal should be to shift from an era of complaint to an air of responsibility. Once we accept responsibility not only for everything in our personal lives but also for the ills we see in the world, then complaining will fall away, along with our global problems.
The world is out of balance. The labels we give to what is missing will change depending on what part of the picture we focus on. However, it is important to recognize that all things are connected, and a move toward balance in any part of the picture is a positive change for all parts of the picture. Thus, our personal efforts toward bringing balance, health, freedom, and positive vibrations into our lives are not meaningless; to the contrary, they are the key to freeing up the rest of the system to change.
Of course many changes on a systemic level might help individuals wake up to their own power, and to the inherent meaning of our lives. Leadership that teaches positive responsibility rather than making false promises of security; corporations that pursue policies and products that promote harmony and health for consumers above superficial distractions; and religious institutions that encourage authentic spiritual experiences rather than the blind acceptance of dogma will all go a long way toward healing our planet.
However, behind each of these changes will be individuals – coming together in groups or acting alone – who awaken to their power and choose to recognize the meaning in their lives through hearing and taking action on what their hearts call them to do. Whether on a large scale or small, it is through acting on the opportunities to make changes in our contexts, where God has placed us, and finding that guidance through trusting our intuition rather than waiting for external validation, that our institutions will change – rooted in transformed individual choices, and resulting in the altered flow of resources and priorities that will restore the world to balance.
questions asked as follow up to ATHGO Global United Nations Forum, May 2007.
copyright 2007, Andrew Varyu
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