I wonder if Meiko really believes that.
I have a love-hate relationship with society. I unlock my thief-proof door and step outside the sturdy infrastructure of my heated home and take in all that is beautiful about my recycle-bin-bearing, orderly neighborhood. Most of the families are already off at their steady, reliable jobs and their children are studying in our worthy public school system.
I flash back to my neighbors’ stick homes in El Salvador with canvas doorways and the magazine-page-wallpapered interior design that is peeling down from the leaky rooftops.
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| Morazan, El Salvador 2010 |
Wow, look at all that we have created. Look at how far we have come. I think to myself as I look out into the society that wears the name Pleasantville with pride.
And, yet, in all that we have created, we still have not come to love one another.
Recycled bins go unfilled, we leave our American-sized dishes full of food at the restaurants and we curse those who cut us off on the highway.
There is war in every corner of our planet.
There is a war with our neighbor for the more prestigious corporate job.
There is a war with the rivers between the fish and the factory pollution.
There is a war between cultures about “who wears it best”.
There is a war within each one of us. And yet we walk proud, as standing citizens in denial.
I don’t mean to say that we are terrible people. I do not believe that we are in any way. I just have a love-hate relationship with society.
And I think that slowly (except rather expedited-ly and directly) we are all going blind.
I will be the first person to point a finger at myself.
Because it is not easy. We are so conditioned by society and by the media, by our friends and our families, by ourselves - to be and live a certain way. We don’t often take a second to think. We don’t have a second to think.
The Upanishads teach (and I whole-heartedly agree) “The world is my family.”
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| Northern-Vietnam 2009 |
There would be no me without you and there would be no us without the earth.
...Yet, we love to hate our own planet.
A planet that so unconditionally loves us and asks nothing of us.
It rains when it becomes to hot and brightens up after months of dark. The flowers bloom every spring without encouragement from humanity and asks nothing in return for their bright petals.
But, it is too much effort for us to put out our cigarette butts in the proper disposal because we don’t have 2 seconds to think about the flowers that we are killing with each litter.
I saw a film a couple nights ago by David Lynch called “Meditation, Creativity, Peace”.
Many Westerners are afraid of Meditation or do not have time for it. For those, I think it is nice to recognize that there are many forms of meditation.
Music can give you the euphoria you feel when letting yourself go into a place of peace. For some it is running and for others it is the surf. Either way, the mind and body needs a time for euphoria. For bliss. For peace.
I believe if we all took a few moments each day to practice mindfulness, maybe we would slowly begin to love our earth, our neighbors, our flowers, ourselves.
Plane over Pacific Ocean 2009
Because when you love yourself and find peace within, it is so easy to spread to others. Those others who really want the same thing as us. Those strangers and enemies who also want happiness. Those rivers and fish who also want freedom. Those trees and rivers who also want harmony. Those cultures and planets who also feel euphoria and that live within us if we could really understand that we share this universe together.
It can be overwhelming to think about “world peace” - the politics, the “separation of powers” and where to start with it all.
In actuality, it is all pretty simple.
Start with you.
I have recently felt an overwhelming sense of faith and optimism that one day we WILL see a world of peace.
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| Sapa, Vietnam 2009 Solar-powered hotel. |
There IS corporate social responsibility where there one time was not. There ARE growing numbers of farmers markets and there are more people shopping there. Communities are taking recycling more seriously and people are spreading love and insight through social networking.
Be true to yourself first. Find peace and love and be a walking interbeing of those virtues.
Smile at the blue skies.
Laugh at the playing children.
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| Morazan, El Salvador 2011 |
Cry at the mother bird who has lost her nest.
Savor the sunshine that radiates from your clementines.
Vietnam Market 2009
Hug your mother, your father, your sister, or the guy who makes your coffee.
Touch the serenity of snow.
Say grace for the hands that cultivated the food on your plate.
Giggle at the little things that bothered you throughout the day when you realize that you are here now and that is all that matters.
Know the world is your family and you will see how your peace is contagious.
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| El Boqueron, El Salvador, 2010. "Be like the trees" -Zen Buddhism. Always growing. True to yourself. Spreading peace. |
