I often finish work just before 6pm so that I can settle down on the sofa with a glass of Merlot and a handful of nuts to watch the BBC news. Last Wednesday’s opening story had me in despair before I could put glass to lip or crunch a walnut. Quite rightly, in my opinion, the BBC showed images that for once were truly disturbing. Their report showed pictures of a Turkish police officer carrying the body of a small boy from a beach. The boy, Aylan, his brother and mother had drowned in a desperate attempt to reach a Greek island within the European Community. When I thought about it a little later in the evening, I became alarmed as to my “normal” state of insensitivity. I realized that it had taken such harrowing images to arouse one of the foremost “Natural Principles” within me.
Compassion is that foremost Natural Principle
I say alarmed, as it would appear that in order for events of human suffering in other areas of the world to truly grab my attention these days, ever more shocking input is required from my outer senses. It’s no longer enough to read or hear of hundreds of migrants perishing in the waters of the Mediterranean, or of dozens of refugees suffocating to death in the back of a truck in Austria, or of asylum seekers risking life and limb to scramble over razor wire at the Channel Tunnel entrance, for me to sit up and focus.
In this time of information overload and overwhelm my ego-self would appear to insist upon crystal clear visual images before anything is deemed worthy of attention. We rely on our sense of vision the most to steer our attention, so to see the body of a lifeless child—not “just” an adult’s body—was a required jolt to my visual outer sense that sparked my inner senses to life.
Surely the tragedy of this one death, a young life “sacrificed” (in the greater scheme of things) in order that we collectively awaken our inner senses to this humanitarian crisis, will not only set ablaze that facet of Divine Love—compassion—within all of us, but will also help focus our collective attention on a “mass event” that is screaming out for examination at the deepest level.
The mass event in question is the displacement and resettlement of large numbers of people.
The overriding mass event, of which the migration of people to a safer place to live their lives is symptomatic, is our world in evolutionary transition. A world that is changing not only its physical appearance, but also its psychological and spiritual structuring. The political and cultural ramifications of our “shifting” world are only just beginning to take shape, and the long-standing physical and mental borders between peoples are part of what needs to change in order that we gain a peaceful global unity and lasting solutions to our problems.
In light of this eye-opening tragedy on a Turkish beach, it is time for all of us to act on the principle of compassion that is aroused within us. We can no longer simply document events, express our condolences when needed, and then waste our energies deliberating on who’s to blame. The spiritual message underscoring this event is for us to start exercising our inner senses. Exercising our “Empathic* inner senses,” attunes us to several of the Natural Principles that describe the vitality of Divine Love within everyone and everything.
We have created this mass event for ourselves, therefore we are all to “blame.” We are all responsible for its manifestation.
Blaming another party for a co-created painful event is a relinquishing of responsibility. We do this all too often because at the moment we don’t have a core belief within us that acknowledges the fact that we create our own reality. We are always responsible for our personal reality and our co-created realities.
When we wholeheartedly believe this—when you fully acknowledge that this is a fundamental premise in the construction of your physical world—then we can begin the creation of a more preferable reality.
How can you help in the creation of a preferable collective reality?
We create preferable realities by nurturing a mindset that adheres to the Natural Principles as much as possible, particularly when that mindset is under pressure to resolve a painful situation. Cultivating a mindset that nurtures and promotes the Natural Principles is a prerequisite in the creation of a preferred reality for yourself. When it comes to co-creating a shared preferred reality, we must come together in communities that collectively express the Natural Principles.
To change or resolve an undesired reality we begin by expressing, through our mental and physical actions,
- Compassion – for those in immediate suffering, but also in simple acts of kindness whenever you have the opportunity
- Forgiveness – rather than looking to blame or judge others, realize that we co-create painful events
- Acceptance and Allowance – for the fact that others express themselves differently to us, which is part of the rich tapestry of human consciousness, and
- Cooperation – (politicians take note) with others in seeking solutions to the “challenges” presented.
Maintaining an attunement with these four Natural Principles will produce creative solutions to any challenge. They help to establish an overall mental climate that operates out of Divine Love—not from fear.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, confuses what should be done immediately concerning the displacement of our fellow human beings (act compassionately in the first instance) with what needs to be done in the long-term:
We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world. I don’t think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.
Of course the taking in of refugees doesn’t solve the long-term issue. However, by cooperating with other nations in a display of compassion for the displaced, we place ourselves in a much more receptive psychological state that is crucial to the development of more creative solutions to the political and cultural challenges we face during our shift in consciousness.
In order to solve any crisis, we begin by bringing our minds into an appreciative and grateful repose. We appreciate and are grateful for the ability of Divine Love to bring our attention to the beliefs we need to change in the fulfillment of our newly evolving expression of humanity.
Extreme pain, whether in our personal experience or our collective one, means we must act immediately, without recourse to lengthy thought processing. We act with a faith in the guidance of Divine Love, confident that this spiritual force will provide specific solutions for us through moments of inspiration and intuition—rather than relying on the conscious mind’s regimen of logic and reason.
It is not coincidental that many of the tragic events surrounding the migration of peoples over the past few months involve passage across water and death by drowning. Recent channeled information speaks of the psychological “waves” involved in our shift in consciousness, and the very probable rise in sea levels in the coming years due to global warming.
The current displacement of peoples across the Middle East and Europe is but a prelude to the coming magnitude of displaced people throughout the world. We must take up our responsibility for this global event now, and begin the process of reformulating our beliefs surrounding the need for borders across our physical lands as well as the ego-self’s need for division in our psychical landscape.
The present migration crisis is a forewarning of greater water-related, people-displacement challenges to come.
*Empathic inner senses – a set of “inner” (as opposed to your “outer” five) senses that take you beyond conventional “empathy” as currently understood. They allow you to sense, understand, and merge with the “being-ness” of things. (See p. 72, It’s About You! Know Your Self.)
Google have put up a donation website to provide assistance to migrants and the organizations dealing with the crisis. Your donation is matched by Google. Here’s the link to the site: https://onetoday.google.com/page/refugeerelief?c=GB
Excellent points Joe.
Compassionate action should not need to be shaken out of us by harrowing events. It is something (simple acts of kindness) we should practice each day by recognizing an opportunity to be kind when it arises – allowing a motorist to pull out in front of you at an awkward intersection, for example; or letting someone who only has a few items in front of you at the checkout desk.
I read somewhere that if you can practice any action at least once each day for 21 days consecutively, then that action becomes a habitual trait of your personality. Practicing and habituating all of the Natural Principles (Compassion being one) will attune your personality to the state of being I refer to as Divine Love.
Regarding the use of compassion in the way we go about our purchasing needs, I would refer you to a book by Charles Eisenstein – “Sacred Economics: Money, Gift & Society in the Age of Transition.”
Andrew Harvey testimonial: “This beautiful and brilliantly written book is a must-read for all those who believe our economic system is terminally sick and in need of radical sacred rehaul. I hope this book begins a serious, worldwide conversation on how we can reinvent our attitude to money.”
Thanks Joe.
Events such as this will arouse compassion in most people, and following through is important, I think. Yet we can practice compassion in simple acts in everyday life that help people far away who are in difficult, though not as desperate, circumstances.
Look at the clothes we buy, for instance. Most of them are made by poor people in distant countries who get paid little and sometimes work in buildings that collapse. How about buying fair-trade clothes? People who make those clothes are paid significantly more than their counterparts who don’t. Plus those clothes may be made with organically grown cotton grown by people who are more compassionate toward the environment.
A more compassionate society will include higher wages and environmentally friendly practices, I believe. The old order of concentrating money at the top of an organization while taking advantage of those at the bottom will fade away. Our purchases can help promote a more compassionate future.
Joe