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YOU DO BELONG HERE
I adore this planet – the incredibly beautiful diversity of flora and fauna - the wildlife, the birds, fish, animals, insects (well maybe not all the insects). I love the way the ocean crashes against the shore on a windy day. I love the way the rain leaves little sparkling globes of water balanced precariously on velvet pink petals of a rose. The nobility of wild animals, surviving in diminishing habitat fills me with poignant awe. The mystery that brought two pining souls together from opposite sides of the globe after over ten years leaves me with a wondrous gratitude. And the open, naïve, trusting acceptance of my two and a half year old son who throws himself at me across a room, completely unaware of his vulnerability fills my heart to bittersweet bursting point.
All of that, and more, gives me ample reason to live and be joyful. In fact, when I’m close to nature and in the company of genuine "what you see is what you get people", I’m at my happiest. I am at one with Nature and all is well with me and my world.
But sometimes I wonder if I’m on the right planet.
Does it seem strange to you that our global society is structured in such a way that a fly-ravaged baby dies of disease and malnutrition while, not far away, some rich pooch is eating doggie caviar and being pampered with the most expensive doggie shampoo money can buy?
Does it seem insane that while we all know our planet cannot survive without out its trees, nothing real is being done to stop the mass destruction of our rainforests? And how much effort are the governments putting into assisting the indigenous peoples with alternatives to earn a living without the need to deforest?
Doesn’t it seem ludicrous that though Queensland, Australia is known as the Sunshine State, only about 1 in 20 houses have solar power heating? Could it have something to do with the power companies not wanting to lose business?
And what about petrol? If your local shop fluctuated the cost of its loaves of bread as often as the petrol stations vary gasoline prices, wouldn’t there be an outcry?
It all seems bizarre to me.
It’s no wonder I’m turning to food for a bit of stability and comfort. The world seems crazy – American children are shooting their classmates for God’s sake – and the USA’s supposed to be one of the leading countries. Healthy young Australians are amongst the highest proportion in the world to take their own lives – and Australia is a young land, full of opportunity and abundance.
What’s going on?
In this age of global communication, global economies and global travel, how come there isn’t a global body putting in some real effort into some of the above? When I look at the world news every night, I do wonder if there isn’t a global body more intent on destruction rather than creative solutions.
Or perhaps I’m being paranoid.
But I think to myself, if there’s money to be made, they can build a city in the desert in a matter of days – piping in water and all necessary conveniences for a cast of thousands. So how come people are still starving?
Do you know what I think a large part of it is? Stephen Covey once said (in Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People) that if your circle of concern is larger than your circle of influence, you’d get stressed out. And its important to put your effort into what you can actually influence. I think he has a good point. I reckon that so many of the global problems seem so large that the majority of us feel overwhelmed and mentally hand them over to "the government", or "the ones in charge". But who is in charge? Apart from a handful of genuinely concerned individuals, I rather fancy a large proportion of the ones in charge are megalomaniacs, or money hungry power-mongers who are taking advantage of (dare I suggest, manipulating) the situation.
While the majority of us (and I include myself in this to a greater extent) numb ourselves to our problems and those of the world as they are too overwhelming, there are those few who are milking the situation for all its worth without giving a damn about the consequences. After all, if they’re only concerned about how much power they can wield now, reaping the benefits of a materialistic society who’s moral ethics have been turned by and large upside down, they’re not going to worry about the long term outcome – they’ll be dead anyway. Why should they care about the legacy they’ll leave our children.
So how do they remain in power if they’re so destructive? Why don’t we do anything about it? They (who also own and control the major media companies) bombard us with visions of how bad a state the world is in and leave us feeling powerless to accomplish any real change. Then they bombard us with visions of how ugly we all are and how we should really look, dress, act and smell. And then they give us credit cards. We get so hooked on looking, dressing, acting and smelling right – and telling our friends about the latest fad on our indispensable mobile phones that we lose track of the big picture. And just in case any of us wake up and see the smokescreen they’re creating, they pump out cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate and drugs (oh yes, and TV soap operas) to keep us nicely doped to our real feelings.
You see, our real feelings, when we allow ourselves to feel them, will tell us quite clearly if we’re living our lives healthily, honestly, and in harmony with the Universe. In that instance, we’ll feel joyful, peaceful, humorous emotions and love ourselves and others, warts and all.
And if we’re not living healthily, honestly and in harmony with the Universe, we’ll feel uncomfortable, depressed, sad, anxious, angry and/or frustrated. And because we can’t see a way to fixing the whole world’s problems, (and no-one’s told us how to fix our own), we’ll try to numb all of this out with our favourite "poison".
So it is important to wean ourselves off those nice comforting "poisonous" habits we have fallen into - to the extent that they prevent us from appropriate action in the world - if we want to bring our lives (and our planet) back to harmony, happiness, and long-term-survival fitness.
And that will comprise the first of doing something in the line of the tips on: How to change your life, then...
So while the world we live in may sometimes seem to be being run into the ground by insane, wicked people – don’t get disheartened. You do belong here.
If you feel so at odds with the way the material world works at the moment, take time out from it and spend some time in Nature. Listen to some nice music. Hug a friend.
We do live in a magical universe. We do have the power to change the world. And we can live in peace. We just have to do it from the inside out – and start with ourselves first. Then, as the ripples from many pebbles thrown separately into a pond join together, one day we will awake and find that we have joined the world with our light and loving actions.
And I will see you there.
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