I have been wondering for some time now how it is possible to be striving for enlightenment and at the same time being of this world.
Let me explain: I'm a New Thought follower. Inspired by figures such as Buddha, Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mother Theresa and many more, who have shown the path to true happiness, the one from within, no matter what outer circumstances are, I have largely noticed that my models rarely (if at all) talked about politics.
I have also noticed (mainly from church and other spiritual gatherings) that the spiritual ones who are talking about politics are mostly liberals. It is very clear to me that when we say in spirituality there is one Truth, but many Paths leading to It, it must also apply to political point of views.
I've always been at crossroads: my dad was raised catholic and my mom protestant. I was given the choice by them to decide which "side" of Christianity was more appealing to me. I think it was a very smart decision on their part, as I grew curious of all religions and even though I noticed differences between the 2 faiths, they seemed to be 2 sides of a same coin. I also earned about Buddhism, Hinduism and it finally became clear to me that I was more interested in spirituality than in religions per se. It also became crystal clear that what was good for me, was not necessarily good for someone else and that there is the potential for enlightenment in every religion.
I happen to be more of a libertarian / conservative leaning. Born and raised in France, I have lived first hand what socialism is about and was completely fine with it (at least I thought, as I was actually truly unhappy) until I met my husband. The cultural shock (France / America, that has known better times) added to the socialist / capitalist point of views, it was some kind of explosion at first (mostly on my part as it was the very first time I was exposed to certain ideas and there are more tolerant beings than me in this world!). It was indeed another crossroad I found myself at.
He introduced me to a whole new world of self reliance, a sense of responsibility that had never occurred to me and last but not least a world where the government is not in charge of every move I want to make: I am. In one word, FREEDOM.
The more I discovered this, the more my happiness grew. Woo hoo! This was what Free Will meant! Free to make my own mistakes, free to fall, free to learn from it, stand back up and succeed!
This newly found freedom also came with a growing concern towards the ones in the US who are trying to create what we have in France. While I've been trying for 4 years now to ignore any political debate to pursue my search (I know, I know, just the fact that I'm searching prevents me from finding it!) of a higher level of consciousness, the profound denial over everything against my political beliefs has actually created stress in me. Amazingly, my throat chakra (you know, the one linked to whether we express ourselves or bottle up) has been going completely wacky. I have tried to shut up each time I would hear a comment that goes from slightly bothering me to completely pis..g me off! I would then tell myself that this is just the world of opinion, and I have to be above that. Meanwhile, the degree of frustration and health of my throat gets bigger / declines.
It's funny how because I'm French, liberals immediately assume I'm right there with them. Actually I'm not. I have a Russian friend who's in the same exact case than me. It drives her crazy to hear certain talks from the left.
Back to my point: the question I'm asking myself is the following: how do you try to get to a higher level of consciousness, with compassion, understanding and detachment without denying yourself? What's the limit between remembering this is a world that we create with our own thoughts and standing up for the beliefs one has at a certain point of his life? Maybe because I come from a country that believes in nothing anymore and gets its energy drained by an omnipresent government, I'm so passionate about the US that has the most incredible energy I've ever encountered and the most positive view about life? How do I go on trying to become the enlightened being I want to be without spending my time bottling up and trying to calm the volcano that sometimes wakes up in me when I see people focusing on what separates people all the time, pretending it's for minorities good while mostly what they want is divide to reign? Very old tactic; works each time! When I meet Americans who spit on their country, who spend their whole life being in opposition, I want to tell them to try to live in another country and not for 3 or 6 months. But for years. I can't deny the frustration in me, nor can I ignore it.
I always ask myself the question: if I had been on this same path in 1935: would I have been right to ignore what was happening in Europe or should I have been more of this world and taken some action? I wonder sometimes if people of the West do not have the luxury to express their ideas specifically only because there are people ready to fight for their right to do so. If Americans had not fought WWII along with the other allies, would I be here, writing this blog? Probably not. So shouldn't we be thankful to the people of this world making sure that we stay free, instead of being so condescending to them? I remember a very enlightened friend of mine telling me that the Bible talks about being as kind as a lamb but as sly as a fox (translating from French, so you guys probably say it differently). Everyone is not an enlightened being on this planet. Not yet. Do we want to pretend they don't exist? If we keep focusing on what we want (I'm a big fan of the Law of Attraction), does it mean that we refuse to see what we don't want, letting unacceptable situations (fascism, communism and so on) grow until it's too late for millions of people?
Let me explain: I'm a New Thought follower. Inspired by figures such as Buddha, Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mother Theresa and many more, who have shown the path to true happiness, the one from within, no matter what outer circumstances are, I have largely noticed that my models rarely (if at all) talked about politics.
I have also noticed (mainly from church and other spiritual gatherings) that the spiritual ones who are talking about politics are mostly liberals. It is very clear to me that when we say in spirituality there is one Truth, but many Paths leading to It, it must also apply to political point of views.
I've always been at crossroads: my dad was raised catholic and my mom protestant. I was given the choice by them to decide which "side" of Christianity was more appealing to me. I think it was a very smart decision on their part, as I grew curious of all religions and even though I noticed differences between the 2 faiths, they seemed to be 2 sides of a same coin. I also earned about Buddhism, Hinduism and it finally became clear to me that I was more interested in spirituality than in religions per se. It also became crystal clear that what was good for me, was not necessarily good for someone else and that there is the potential for enlightenment in every religion.
I happen to be more of a libertarian / conservative leaning. Born and raised in France, I have lived first hand what socialism is about and was completely fine with it (at least I thought, as I was actually truly unhappy) until I met my husband. The cultural shock (France / America, that has known better times) added to the socialist / capitalist point of views, it was some kind of explosion at first (mostly on my part as it was the very first time I was exposed to certain ideas and there are more tolerant beings than me in this world!). It was indeed another crossroad I found myself at.
He introduced me to a whole new world of self reliance, a sense of responsibility that had never occurred to me and last but not least a world where the government is not in charge of every move I want to make: I am. In one word, FREEDOM.
The more I discovered this, the more my happiness grew. Woo hoo! This was what Free Will meant! Free to make my own mistakes, free to fall, free to learn from it, stand back up and succeed!
This newly found freedom also came with a growing concern towards the ones in the US who are trying to create what we have in France. While I've been trying for 4 years now to ignore any political debate to pursue my search (I know, I know, just the fact that I'm searching prevents me from finding it!) of a higher level of consciousness, the profound denial over everything against my political beliefs has actually created stress in me. Amazingly, my throat chakra (you know, the one linked to whether we express ourselves or bottle up) has been going completely wacky. I have tried to shut up each time I would hear a comment that goes from slightly bothering me to completely pis..g me off! I would then tell myself that this is just the world of opinion, and I have to be above that. Meanwhile, the degree of frustration and health of my throat gets bigger / declines.
It's funny how because I'm French, liberals immediately assume I'm right there with them. Actually I'm not. I have a Russian friend who's in the same exact case than me. It drives her crazy to hear certain talks from the left.
Back to my point: the question I'm asking myself is the following: how do you try to get to a higher level of consciousness, with compassion, understanding and detachment without denying yourself? What's the limit between remembering this is a world that we create with our own thoughts and standing up for the beliefs one has at a certain point of his life? Maybe because I come from a country that believes in nothing anymore and gets its energy drained by an omnipresent government, I'm so passionate about the US that has the most incredible energy I've ever encountered and the most positive view about life? How do I go on trying to become the enlightened being I want to be without spending my time bottling up and trying to calm the volcano that sometimes wakes up in me when I see people focusing on what separates people all the time, pretending it's for minorities good while mostly what they want is divide to reign? Very old tactic; works each time! When I meet Americans who spit on their country, who spend their whole life being in opposition, I want to tell them to try to live in another country and not for 3 or 6 months. But for years. I can't deny the frustration in me, nor can I ignore it.
I always ask myself the question: if I had been on this same path in 1935: would I have been right to ignore what was happening in Europe or should I have been more of this world and taken some action? I wonder sometimes if people of the West do not have the luxury to express their ideas specifically only because there are people ready to fight for their right to do so. If Americans had not fought WWII along with the other allies, would I be here, writing this blog? Probably not. So shouldn't we be thankful to the people of this world making sure that we stay free, instead of being so condescending to them? I remember a very enlightened friend of mine telling me that the Bible talks about being as kind as a lamb but as sly as a fox (translating from French, so you guys probably say it differently). Everyone is not an enlightened being on this planet. Not yet. Do we want to pretend they don't exist? If we keep focusing on what we want (I'm a big fan of the Law of Attraction), does it mean that we refuse to see what we don't want, letting unacceptable situations (fascism, communism and so on) grow until it's too late for millions of people?
Great questions! Hopefully, this will get some people thinking. I happen to agree that a lot of us Americans take our freedom for granted and will only truly appreciate it when we no longer have it.
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
ReplyDeleteCaroline, you wrote: "Back to my point: the question I'm asking myself is the following: how do you try to get to a higher level of consciousness, with compassion, understanding and detachment without denying yourself?"
ReplyDeleteI write: you must consider compassion, understanding and detachment for yourself. This is necessary for your own spiritual health without which you cannot minister to others.