As a practioner of spiritual growth and personal development, I am often asked to comment on life issues. Life events can be categorized into world, social and personal conditions. For my first submission I will discuss an unfortunate current event, the Middle East Crisis.
The headlines recently have been about the storming of the US Embassy in Libya and the deaths that followed. Indeed a sad tragedy. What is happening to our world? Will the awful events ever end? Wars, revenge, anger and recently terrorism seem to be the norm. Is there an answer to our malaise? “Can we fulfill the dreams of peaceful coexistence?” Think for a moment about the devastation caused by hurricanes where entire communities are wiped out. Do we not build better structures to withstand the next onslaught of gale force winds? In order to solve the problem, we must first look at the root cause. In the case of natural disasters it is easy to identify, but circumstances created by humankind are far more difficult to comprehend. What are the causes for war, terrorism, revenge, hostility? CNN may believe they have answers; newspapers and magazines have their opinions; leaders and experts also add their knowledgeable views. They may be articulate, even convincing, but are we not depending on their credibility and intellectual justifications for answers? We know all too well that there are many differing responses depending on the individual’s values and conditioning. So it is little wonder that we find it difficult to resolve these issues. We need to change our approach. Instead of looking beyond and without, we need to look within with intelligence. Each one of us has the answers. Unlike the uncontrollable fury of nature; seething with anger, seeking revenge, plotting acts of acts of terror reside within the control of each individual. To prevent terrorism, wars, revenge, anger towards each other, we need to repair and transform the self and thus effectively alter circumstances. Society is the by-product of who we are on the inside. We can be the creators of the circumstance of war or the harbingers of peace.