MAY I BE A BRIDGE, A BOAT, A PASSAGE
MAY I TREAT OTHERS AS I WOULD HAVE THEM TREAT ME
Forward:
For those who have not read the following post which please read it first as everything I discuss here is based on the earlier essay.
As we stand now at the point of no return where our social and political systems are in utter disrepair and failing - there is only one place remaining open to us and that is to change.
Those who do not change will remain part of the problem and will suffer the fate of the old system which is now demonstrating its last gasp.
This need not be a depressing recognition but a mandate showing us both a dead end and a passage around said dead end.
I am more than convinced that our creator is offering us the means to change and to change for the better.
We simply cannot ever know all the ways in which God or the universal energy demonstrates a course of action - but this one is pretty definitive and could not be much more clear.
We have the option of how we respond to what happens - and everything that happens is meant to happen.
Each of us has a journey and no element of it is coincidental or accidental.Â
We have full control over whether or not to see an event as a non coincidental thing which is supposed to happen or to see it as a coincidence or accident meant to defeat us.Â
In other words what may seem coincidental or accidental is meant to serve as a guide for us to pay attention to - or a direction for us to follow.
Obviously if we have ignored earlier signs of trouble and don’t change course we can initiate a course of events which is truly devastating.Â
An example would be if we experience near misses in driving a car carelessly, fail to pay attention, and then eventually have a serious accident.Â
Or we ignore our health and as a consequence of ignoring it end up sick or injured and in a terrible place.Â
But even then we have a choice as to how we respond to these situations.Â
The situation we are in as a planet now is the result of thousands of years of maladaptive decisions and a failure of heeding every signal the universe has been giving us about the proper direction to take.
Had we each been able to engage our full healthy emotional and physical capabilities to shape our interaction with our environments in a positive way this current dystopia would not have occurred.
What has occurred represents the failure to take personal and also civic responsibility for millennia - for this is the path our civilizations have chosen.Â
When a whole civilization takes the wrong course it represents not only our own failures but the cumulative failures of many millennia.Â
But now we are at point of no return where either we evolve spiritually and therefore culturally - or we face extinction.
As I would expect the universe or God to make clear - we are being instructed as to precisely which steps to take.
We are meant to use our inborn nature to adapt positively to the world - to detect the positive steps and avoid the negative steps.
And we can achieve this easily if we are born into positive circumstances with parents who help us detect and follow our own true journey.Â
But the intergenerational trauma which is handed down by our civilizations - means that our parents have inherited such trauma and are so wounded they cannot find their own way let alone help us see our own.Â
In order for us to work our way free of this trauma we must at first acknowledge it.Â
Then we begin to have more control over how we respond to it, can gain power over our emotions and begin slowly to make better decisions.Â
A PATH OF THE HEART
For those unfamiliar please see the quote from Carlos Castaneda below and become familiar with the work of modern shamanism and spiritual pursuits by such writers as
Just through following some basic spiritual teachings - such as learning to follow the path forward by making decisions which feel right - we begin breaking patterns of negativity.1Â
All of a sudden we are listening to our deeper selves - our true consciousness - and little by little our lives improve.
We notice that we begin making better decisions and that people around us begin to respond to our improved spiritual and emotional state.Â
As we heal the intergenerational trauma in ourselves we serve as not only examples but of sources of energy and strength for others.
This is the only conceivable method of healing ourselves and the world - it must first take place in ourselves and then will be noticed and understood and taught and picked up by others.Â
This is true revolution - as true real revolutions must first take place within and then begin to include others and the world eventually changes.Â
But due to the intergenerational pain, anger, fear and insecurity which has been built up there will be tremendous resistance to the idea as our idea of our reality has shaped itself to fit the world as it now is.Â
If we look back on the time of Jesus as he preached rather simple and straightforward ways we could change and see the light - the power of the angry, negative, fearful and insecure Roman state won out and has persisted across all the generations since.Â
But the power of the spiritual life is such that once we have really seen the light - we cannot then fail to see it.Â
The spiritual life offers true power and relies completely on our own moment by moment decisions.Â
Literally each breath or move we take and each thought - our consciousness - has effects throughout the surrounding universe.Â
Breath, movement, thoughts, consciousness - all actions which ripple out from us in all directions.
If our breath is tight and restricted, our movements jerky and unintentional, our thoughts angry, fearful, insecure - our consciousness a jumbled mess - then those are the ripples we send forth.Â
If our breath is loose and easy, our movements intentional and careful, our thoughts peaceful and kind, our consciousness clear, calm and observant - this is what we send out as ripples into the universe.Â
And what we send out we receive back in spades - creating a feedback loop which either is peaceful and kind or chaotic and unpleasant.Â
So changing ourselves and then endeavoring to be there for others as they try to change is the real way the world will change.Â
WE CHANGE THE WORLD BY CHANGING OURSELVESÂ
That is what Jesus taught and he also reminded us that it would be slow and difficult - like fitting a camel through the eye of a needle as he put it.Â
What Jesus taught - is also taught today through shamanic practices - in different language and images - but we can recognize the important landmarks as we seek help.
As we gain knowledge we can compare the actual words of Jesus to what shamans guide us to learn today - and this also teaches us which parts of spiritual teachings to value and which to discard.Â
Spiritual materialism has grown to be a huge problem in today’s world as churches aligned with the state to become huge rich real estate empires and in many cases were overtaken by actual satanic forces clothed as shepherds.Â
But as we take our first tentative steps, accessing at each new juncture whether our direction feels right our not - we begin to become more sure of our direction and more assured we are taking the right path.Â
If we encounter a step that does not feel right we can take up a different path which does feel right.
On the right path synchronicities begin to occur - and the world begins to change in response to the energy we send out as ripples in all directions.Â
On the right path the world feels right - our steps assured and confident - the energy which comes back to us begins to feel better and better.
Other people and animals respond to our energy.Â
Life becomes filled with synchronicities which seem meant to be.Â
Then we can begin to believe we are changing the world - one person at a time - each one teach one.Â
Each of us capable of becoming a bridge, a boat, a vehicle for those who would cross the water.Â
Each of us doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.Â
All religions have these teachings as a base but our civilizations have corrupted them.
So when we look to religions we must hold to the same principles we use to determine the right path forward.
If our path, our choices, our consciousness feeds back to us with compassion and kindness then we understand the path is good.
And if at anytime we feel the path is wrong we backtrack to where it once again feels right.
Here I link both the Buddhist Shandideva Prayer and the Christian words of Jesus Christ which possess much wisdom in common:
Shantideva Prayer
May I be a protector to those without protection,
A leader for those who journey,
And a boat, a bridge, a passage
For those desiring the further shore.
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.
Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.
And until they pass away from pain
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.
— Shantideva in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
From the Christian Bible
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a biblical concept spoken by Jesus in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12; it is commonly referred to as the "Golden Rule."  "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Luke 6:31).