—
Many of us are exploring a deeper awareness through different meditative technologies today, from traditional sitting to the more active yoga, martial arts, or other spiritual practices. And this is very good news. It is from these meditative mind states that a critical mass of awakening can emerge on our planet. The sickness of our collective insanity, that fuels so much suffering, is reaching a tipping point. And the need for planetary healing has never been greater.
But, for most of us, the challenges today are much more immediate and personal, rather than global. If we are being honest, our motivations to engage in these meditative practices are ultimately selfish ones. We just want the pressure off. Stress and anxiety loop through our lives and nip at our heels like an angry stray and we just want the little beast to settle down. So, some of us seek for wisdom beyond the yapping surface layer of consciousness where the struggle endlessly churns.
This is how the system works best, when the suffering and insanity of our personal lives becomes so unbearable that we actively change the way we think about and do things in order get the pressure off. And this change usually involves some type of evolutionary growth spurt that brings us into a more expanded state of consciousness. This is how the system was designed to move us forward.
But something went off course in the modern era. We discovered medications to numb our pain and anxiety. And we also learned how to completely distract ourselves from our pain so that we don’t even have to think about it.
There are disturbing consequences to these modern interventions into our natural evolutionary processes for growth. We now we live in a technologically connected world where our unexamined pain, anxiety, and fear has the loudest voice. Instead of seeking to improve our imbalances with a disciplined approach towards consciously evolving and healing ourselves, many of us just group together in cadres and cliques of mutual sickness where we blame another group for our suffering.
We fill each other’s heads with a non-stop running commentary from a cacophony of ego-ridden opinions and worldviews, filled with anger, hate, and fear. Everyone has a pulpit now, where they can spew insanity, trying to make it seem reasonable by making it louder. Welcome to the 21st century.
In case you haven’t noticed, we are not built for non-stop anger and fear. This only breeds the most corrosive mental illness. It would be like continually running our cars at really high RPM’s. Do that and the engine will soon blow.
We have forgotten our shared connection as Earthlings. We are of the same Source. We all wish for happiness, love, and security. We all wish our children to be safe from harm. We are truly not that different at all, once we look a little deeper than the surface debate of the day. But instead, we dehumanize each other with meaningless labels and seek to prove how right we are and how wrong the other is.
Our current worldview is no longer working for the vast majority of us. And it certainly isn’t doing anything for the rest of the planet or beings we share it with, either.
But, going back to the way the system was originally designed, the current global state of extreme fear, ignorance, and imbalance is an invitation for us to consciously realign with the living systems of our planet and each other, to seek for a more life-affirming and enlightened worldview. And this is where those meditative arts that so many of us are practicing come into play.
Despite the distractions, more and more of us are accepting the invitation from the world to practice the art of awakening.
We have a great capacity for self-healing. This healing energy can be accessed within the depths of those meditative practices and technologies. Self-healing is discovered when our minds become still and we are not filtering our experiences of life through the lens of those fear-based thoughts, opinions, and beliefs of the ego-self, that sees itself as separate and alone.
There is something truly empowering when we make the choice to become aware of that deep and abiding connection with life. We discover the shared spirit that binds us together. When we choose to discover who we are, below the noise of those tiny thoughts, opinions, and beliefs, based on a false, ego-identity, we are choosing to lift a tremendous weight from our overburdened psyches.
It is from the remembrance of our connection with the entirety of life that the pressure begins to lift. We are no longer alone in the face of our societies challenges. We have the entire Universe backing us up. Self-healing aligns with global healing and becomes a priority.
Awareness of this healing energy is really the prize when we engage in different meditative arts. What we discover on the meditation cushion, yoga mat, in the dojo, or with other spiritual technologies, is a state of mind that is much more powerful than our surface fears and anxieties, or the societal insanity that runs through our newsfeeds.
We can make it our intention to be the change and bring that awareness off the mat or cushion and into the many choices we make on a daily basis. We can ask ourselves throughout the day, “Is this in alignment with the healing energy of a transformed world?” And if it isn’t, we can consider other possible ways of doing, being and interacting, then we can choose again.
—
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join like-minded individuals in The Good Men Project Premium Community.
◊♦◊
◊♦◊
Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
◊♦◊
◊♦◊
Sign up for our Writing Prompts email to receive writing inspiration in your inbox twice per week.
♦◊♦
We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.
The Good Men Project is an Amazon.com affiliate. If you shop via THIS LINK, we will get a small commission and you will be supporting our Mission while still getting the quality products you would have purchased, anyway! Thank you for your continued support!
—
Photo Credit: Getty Images