Welcome to Active Meditation.
Coping with chaos,
Creating a mindful relationship with society and politics.
Managing the impact of the general unrest in the social and political world is best achieved when we are in a relaxed state and concentrated in our higher self.
When we are calm,
Detached from the outer turmoil.
When we are able to think clearly.
When we are able to stand apart from the stress of outer circumstances.
We can find this state by giving our self permission to relax and close our eyes.
Do this now.
Imagine that we are in the center of a slowly spinning wheel.
We are quiet and unmoving.
We can see or sense our outer world and ordinary activities moving about us at a distance.
We also sense the actions of others as we remain in the center of this slowly turning wheel.
We are aware of the agitation,
Disharmony,
Competition and animosity in the people and situations out there.
As we sense these events at a distance,
We become conscious.
We become aware of our own feelings and thoughts slowly moving about us while we remain as the calm observer,
The silent witness.
Able to notice our thoughts and emotions from this place at the center of our awareness.
From this place of consciousness,
We can detach our self from the moods and ideas of others.
We observe them.
We don't react to them.
As we continue to think of our self being in the center of our wheel of awareness,
With the outer world slowly spinning around us,
With our thoughts,
Emotions and desires slowly rotating around us,
We sense the safety and peacefulness in this center of our consciousness and how we are partly removed from the outer agitation and anxiety.
We have found our inner oasis,
Peace and safety in a world that is sometimes not peaceful and unsafe.
As we view our life from this safe place,
We need to learn to retain this sense of peace and safety when we return to our outer activities in the world.
There are many guides to help us to do this.
Our ability to stay out of the agitation and distress in mass consciousness is greatly assisted by developing a healthy sense of who we really are.
Many of us give little attention to how we define our self and so we may rely too much on the approval of others for our attractive appearance and general popularity among our peers.
While admiration can be important,
Our only reliable sources of confidence and stability will always come from recognizing and appreciating our innate strengths,
Our innate knowledge,
Noble qualities and abilities.
When we experience significant distress about the difficult parts of our life,
We often become excessively focused in these concerns.
The more anxiety we feel about our difficulties,
The greater the tendency we have to be identified with our discouragement,
Our worries,
Illnesses and other problems.
At times,
We tend to give excessive attention to our flaws,
Mistakes and past failures and defeats.
This is a universal experience that we all have.
Each of these events are meant to help us learn that we must respect the limits of our authority and responsibility.
At other times,
Our imperfect results are meant to teach us how to become smarter and stronger so we do better the next time.
These experiences should not brand us as a permanent failure.
They are just a part of life.
They are areas where we need to grow more in knowledge and skill.
We can do this.
We can do it better and faster.
Having this view of ourself prepares us to engage all of our daily activities and our challenges with strength,
Hope and skill,
Rather than hesitation,
Doubt or discouragement.
There is another aspect of strengthening and clarifying our self-image that can be confusing.
This occurs when we become too strongly identified as some part of a large group,
And we allow ourself to be defined by our gender,
Race,
Class,
Politics or tribe.
While it is natural to sense a strong connection to those who think and act as we do,
We need to respect our individuality,
Our personal merit,
Our strengths,
Skills,
Values and virtues that we have developed.
Even though we sense strong connections with those of our gender,
Race,
Class and those who think like us,
We are still individuals who want to be known by our best qualities and personal achievements.
There are people who encourage us to be so identified with our group that we should also take on the collective problems and grievances of the group as our own,
And then fight to correct these issues.
This can be our choice if we want,
But we appreciate that this also adds a considerable burden that will diminish access to our strengths,
Abilities and the best qualities in our thinking and behavior.
Be aware of the consequences of taking on the grievances of others.
It will diminish our view of the world.
It will diminish our ability to make the best of our personal situations and opportunities.
Similarly,
There are some people who encourage us to believe that we should recognize that our membership in a group different from theirs compels us to take on all their sins and crimes,
Compels us to see ourselves as a bad person,
Perhaps a prejudiced and arrogant abuser of innocent people,
Even though we personally have not ever acted in this manner.
Group guilt,
Like personal guilt,
Can be a powerful barrier to cultivating our strengths and abilities to be helpful and useful to ourselves and others.
Professing our shame in our group only weakens our ability to be an effective and constructive influence for ourself,
Others and society.
Be very careful about accepting guilt for what others are accused of doing.
This can quickly lead to inhibiting our good qualities and constructive activities.
We all have our faults and problems.
We struggle with them.
But all this really means is that we have lessons to learn,
Problems to solve.
We can't address these issues better when we lead with our strengths and our best qualities of courage,
Hope,
And skills.
Let us be mindful that we can choose to live our best life.
And this means we are making the most of our skills and knowledge,
Our capacity for hope and creative change.
When we combine this with our awareness and the support of our higher self,
This view of our self and our personal world will help to keep us strong and proactive in how we view ourself and our daily tasks.
We can act as a compassionate person who seeks to be helpful and charitable in the world.
The goal is to be skillful,
Efficient,
And effective with who we help,
The causes we serve,
And how we offer our kindness and generosity to the world.
It is our responsibility to go about this work in an intelligent and effective manner in which we know what we are doing will be useful,
Not wasted in useless effort.
Rest in this awareness,
This peace,
In this secure place of consciousness.
Be aware of how our mind is changing in subtle ways as we experience our wheel of consciousness.
We adjust our priorities and boundaries,
Our principles,
And our responsibilities to honor our higher self.
Now it is time to return to full waking consciousness,
To time and space.
As we prepare,
We bring with us this strong and peaceful state.
We also bring the knowledge that we have made significant progress in developing a working relationship with our higher self.
I am aware.
I am.
