Our family was privileged to hear the Dalai Lama speak when he visited Seattle. What a calm, thoughtful, and humorous man, even while living at the center of a maelstrom of controversy regarding his country. Amidst that whirlwind, he seems to be the calm in the storm. He is an inspiration to everyone around him.
Oh, to be as serene and compassionate as he, through meditation, introspection and learning to control one's "uglier" emotions!
And yet, when I think about that Nirvana, that blissful and peaceful way of life, I find an interesting obstruction blocking my ability to emulate that lifestyle. It's like a jersey barrier that will not allow me to go down that path.
Knowing myself and how I operate, I have to admit the only times I seem to get things done are when I'm either agitated or have to meet a deadline. Last week, when I was perturbed at my husband, I accomplished a plethera of tasks in the span of four hours that had been waiting for months to be done. If I have company coming over on a certain day, I will be motivated to do this awful thing called "housework". However, this week, now that my husband and I "kissed and made up", and neither of us have pressing deadlines, we have enjoyed TWO lazy days in a row doing practically nothing (gasp)! I feel a bit guilty because I do have a list of things that need to be done, just none of them high enough priority to stimulate action.
Now, if my husband started working diligently around the house, I would immediately drop what I'm doing here and follow suit because 1) I don't want him to start complaining that he's the only one who does work around here, and 2) there's that slightest bit of competition between us to out-perform each other.
Healthy competition, then, and a little bit of stress to stimulate adrenalin and "creative juices", seems to be necessary for us, like most people, I think, to accomplish much of anything. While it would be nice to sit in a forest meadow and ponder the trees swaying in the wind, the birds chirping, and the bubbling brook washing over the stones, it would have taken the human race much longer to come up with steam engines, automobiles, airplanes, moon landings, and computers!
From the depression era through the end of the 70's, the human race--Americans in particular--made HUGE strides forward in technology, medicine, and science borne out of necessity and healthy competition. Then we hit this "bubble" in the last 2-3 decades, and it seems many Americans became drunk with materialism, power and greed, especially the financial sector...gambling with assets that didn't exist. However, the resulting recession in 2008, while difficult for many, was beneficial in that it really forced us, like most people, to rethink our priorities, to analyze our budget and realize we could "make do" with our current belongings, sell off things we didn't need, and fix or remodel what we already owned instead of discarding the old for the brand new.
And yet, the people responsible for the recession did NOT seem to learn their lesson. Some are even continuing to do what they did before! The ever-widening divide between wealth and poverty of the last decade continues to grow. Even in the aftermath of miners being killed and oil rigs blowing up, health and safety regulations continue to be ignored. Major companies conspire to conceal the alarming speed in which the effects of climate change approach, as well as the impending water and food shortages.
Get ready for it, people. Tensions are mounting. This planet's resources are finite, and our ever-increasing demands on them will only pull the strings tighter. Partisanship grows, the "Us vs. Them" mentality.
Let's show a little maturity here. We are supposed to be *learning* from our mistakes, becoming MORE civil, not less, able to engage in reasonable debate and discourse, to find compromises that will benefit both sides of any argument. Instead, I see grown men and women acting like 2nd graders, putting their hands over their ears and singing "Lalalalalalala". They are fiddling while Rome burns!
NOTHING gets accomplished, and catastrophes grow in strength and frequency. Perhaps that is what we need, then, a major catastrophe to beat all previous major catastrophes, to finally motivate everyone to work together, to correct the mistakes of the past, rather than repeat them over and over.
Scientists have been warning us for decades, but people don't want to hear it. They don't want to accept the possibility that it could be that bad. They much prefer to hear the misinformed versions being spread by people/companies standing to lose money if it's true. As each scientific prediction begins to come true, faster than anyone could fathom, I sometimes feel almost panicky as the evidence piles up higher and higher!
When those feelings start to overwhelm me now, I ask myself "What would Dalai Lama do?" If he saw mayhem and chaos, he would continue calmly and quietly urging people to practice kindness and compassion toward each other, not anger, suspicion and hatred. If he saw cooperative, respectful collaboration, he would nod and smile sagely, probably letting out that cute little giggle, as his eyes twinkled with joy. I will hope for the latter.
As ecosystems collapse, and we are faced with the immediacy of the changes and challenges needing solutions NOW, we might also ask ourselves, "What would MacGyver do?" We will need to follow the example of his innovative resourcefulness, too, if we want to survive.
So, while circumstances change for the worse, it is MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER to overlook skin color, culture, religion, beliefs, status, more important to treat EACH AND EVERY person with respect, to ask their opinions and listen to their feedback. If their opinions or appearance or manners are different from mine, I must ask questions to understand why. They may know something I don't. I may know something they don't. Many different ideas intermingled into ONE will produce much stronger results than relying on ONE ideology.
I need to be like Dalai Lama and MacGyver combined. I would enjoy it if others joined me in this quest.
Peaceful acceptance. Resourceful creativity.
Self-sacrifice. Self-reliance.
Nirvana. Heaven.
BALANCE
