The Jewel of Eternal Renewal
Excerpt from Chapter 56 of The Journey Across Forever by Wayne Saalman
TO BE SANE IN A CRAZY WORLD is tricky enough, but to be wise in such a world is trickier still. Such a statement might seem an exaggeration or it could be deemed satire, but for those of us who follow the daily news dispatches on the global airwaves and cable networks, the reports we encounter are generally steeped in violence and death, most of it politically or religiously motivated.
Seeing, hearing or reading such reports can make one’s blood boil. The natural response is to hope that the torturers and killers among us will be brought to justice and locked away for good. We might even feel the desire for revenge and wish those persons to suffer the same fate as their victims.
Such outrage is justified, of course, but we would do well to think twice on that front and keep a certain spiritual adage in mind, namely that, “Energy flows where attention goes.”
In other words, if we feed energy to the idea of revenge, then that notion will grow within us and with it will come agitation. What follows on from that is stress and stress, as we know, is quite often the root cause of many, if not most, of the physical ailments with which we humans must contend. Stress weakens the immune system and that can lead to countless diseases.
While outrage in many cases is fully defensible, it is far better to realize that millions of our fellow beings have suffered terrible personal and collective injustices over the years and this cannot but darken their minds and hearts. In their emotional and sometimes physical pain, these victims of violence often find themselves living under a cloud of distressing emotion and it narrows their openness to the light. As a result, many are driven to join in with others in an effort to right the injustices of the past. In many cases, people hand down their outrage to their children, and those children, in turn, hand it on again to their own children in a cycle that serves only to enflame tensions in a community or a nation.
The spiritually wise do not want their children to be saddled with hand-me-down pain and anger, however. They want everyone to get beyond the atrocities and the injustices of the past, and to grow wise in their own right. The spiritually wise want every man, woman and child on the planet to become loving and compassionate, to become enlightened in some way, whether one’s idea of enlightenment is defined simply as rational behavior or as some form of mystical, super conscious awakening. The spiritually wise desire peace of mind for everyone, even for perceived cultural nemeses. They want this especially for the political and religious leaders in the nations of the world and in their own societies. After all, the point of politics is to allow nations to govern its members in a fair and intelligent manner, and to prevent violence and murder, while religion is meant to keep humanity high-minded and lofty in its ideals and aspirations.
Fortunately, two truths stand out about humanity. One, we have an almost infinite capacity to find solutions to our problems and, two, each of us has within us something precious and eternal: a spiritual heart-essence which impels us, ever and always, toward renewal. This is true even in one’s darkest hours, even when we feel as if all hope is lost.
To start anew again is not only possible, it is nature’s explicit way to generate such renewal. If nothing else, the healing powers of the body prove that point. The seasons also prove that to us year in and year out. Starting anew is best pursued by turning inward. Meditating even fifteen minutes a day can facilitate renewal with surprising swiftness, for we are all connected to a Higher Mind, a Higher Heart Essence that is the very wellspring out of which humanity has discovered its deepest truths. One can sit for such a meditation or, if preferred, simply go out walking alone without a phone while keeping as silent and aloof as possible and experiencing our own aliveness.
By opening up to our inner psychospiritual essence on a regular basis, we renew our awareness of the energy body and the soul, and it renews us by channeling an abundance of intelligent, emotional insights back to us. That feedback can expand our perspectives, impel us toward helpful situations via surprising synchronicities.
How, then, can we become wise in a crazy world? By being mindful of our every thought, word and deed, and by immersing ourselves as deeply as possible in the perennial wisdom of the masters. Such mindfulness is exactly how we can help the world to become a little less crazy.
