Individual Awakenings Lift Humanity

Part 1, A Golden Opportunity for Humanity! discusses how the ancients of many cultures of mankind foretold the coming of a new age for humanity. And just as the start of the next season lies nestled in the midst of the current one, so too the next civilization of mankind is already beginning in the midst of our current world situation. In Oriental Medicine, this is an example of the “yin within yang” and the “yang within yin,” depicted graphically in the well-known symbol of Yin and Yang. But how does this help us usher in a new civilization? Considering the current state of global affairs, the future is uncertain, at best.

The question many ask, in the face of a seemingly hopeless and overwhelming situation is,

“What can I possibly do to make a difference?”

This is a great question! But we cannot leave it to dangle, delivering it’s message of incapability! We must continue to reflect and ask ourselves, where inside myself is this question coming from? What is at the root of this disheartenment? Clearly, the tone of the question reveals both the recognition of something needing to be changed, and, a sense of disempowerment. The words imply that, no matter what efforts one may exert, the outcome would be nearly meaningless. Has this ever been your experience? I, for one, certainly have, and of late, every time I watch the news.

When I experience this kind of discouraging thought, I shake my head, and just want to forget the whole situation, and shove it to the back recesses of the mind. This is how people go numb to the situation. The problem with doing so, is that a lingering undercurrent of disharmony continues in the background, as the situation is not resolved. Sometimes, as in our current world pandemic, the situation can NOT be readily resolved. Sweeping cultural forces, built over many, many generations, cannot simply be changed or altered through even the most ardent lifetime of one individual’s passionate efforts. The current culture of mankind is like and enormous wave on the ocean, and one human being is like a drop of water. What can the drop, of itself do, to change the tidal direction?

On the outside, one human being, or even a dedicated small faction, presumably can do little to create sweeping change. However, on the inside, there exists an unlimited potentiality within each individual.

According to modern physics, an actual connection to the entire cosmic landscape of physical existence. We are made of star stuff. We are made from the molecules of earth, sun, star, and elements. We are one with all that exists. Doesn’t this point to a kind of deep, human collective spirit within? Connected at our roots like the aspen trees, their branches so intertwined that a seemingly one organism.

The fact that we are not taught at an early age about our connectedness, to this world and each other, is a disservice to the human experience. In our popular culture (the same one that values sex, sports, and entertainment so much higher than educating the next generation of humanity) we place so much importance to material, external well-being. The focus is on acquisition, external accomplishments, and maintaining status quo.

Surely the deep thinkers, mystics, and devout beings realize a deep inner reservoir of human capacity akin to and cosmic connection. There is also a deeper reservoir of reverence and respect for nature throughout indigenous cultures. Why has popular culture gone so shallow as to create actions that are killing our own natural habitat and resources?

If we take the idea of human connectedness as true, we now have a platform from which to answer the original question. “What can I possibly do to make a difference in this vast human collective?”

Inner work. The answer when there is seemingly little we can do to affect a global change, is to work on what we can affect, from inside our own being to within our own lives. In this way, we effect change, one life at time, until such time as the critical mass takes over, and the change becomes a larger reality.

Perhaps we can take comfort in the adage from Oriental Medicine: the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and visa versa. A simplified example is that the smallest and the largest operate under the same physical laws. The particles of an atom orbit the nucleus just as the planets orbit the sun.

Meanwhile, we also take mindful action as we can. An obvious example in making a difference toward how we are governed, is to vote. If we want to reduce the use of pesticide use across the country, we buy organic, and explain why to others. These may seem small actions, insignificant to huge problems, but en masse, they can be very powerful. The tidal wave of grass roots change is historically slow, yet it is significant and lasting, and broad-reaching. Change comes from within.

Just as the tender seeds of one seasons beginning lies in the height of the previous season, humanity’s future exists in silent presence of the current, collective human mindset.

If we as individuals put forth the effort to understand our own inner workings- our minds, mindset, emotions, patterns, etc, and make our inner landscape peaceful and clear, then eventually our society will inevitably change for the better. As individual drops of rainwater collect to form a lake, so too will human awakenings collect until there is enough shared awareness to change the current tide of corruption, greed, ignorance, and violence against one another.

Each one of us has the ultimate opportunity, perhaps even the responsibility, to understand the depths of our own inner being, forming ourselves into that which we would wish for our entire species and world. Let us hold a vision of deep respect for all things, animate and inanimate, and create an unshakable, common human morality which has compassion and awareness at it’s roots. In this way, we can begin to create our world anew, sustainable, secure, and sacred.

Each individual, human awakening adds to the collective upliftment of humanity as a whole, and in this way, we do have a powerful strategy to answer the question, “What can I possibly do?”

Wake up. Become aware. Make decisions from the highest view point that includes our sustained, global humanity.. Continue to develop the greatest capacity of being human, manifesting real love, in the greatest sense of the word. From the place of real love, divine love, we cannot harm one another or our world. In this way, we access our inner understanding and true power of discernment to bring about a new, and most wonderful age, for human kind.