My father was raised in the woods of Alabama. The woodsman’s way of thinking never left him as he progressed through life. One of his favourite phrases was: “If you don’t like this speed, you surely won’t enjoy the next one.”
He was around for the Vietnam War. He saw a lot of violence in his time. His attitude never wavered from gratefulness. It led me to discover how similar the Southern backwoods mindset mimics Zen in a lot of ways.
I have now seen the sun come around enough times to have seen violence myself. In many forms, it smacks my existence and makes it vibrate. As the news footage shows yet another human, with hatred in his heart, starting to bring this world into another realm of constant stress, anger, worry and sadness, I cannot help but ponder how to maintain peace in the face of such aggression.
Fair warning, the only valid solution may seem harsh unless you realize it is stated with compassion.
Invented reality
I am sure there is an expectation that exists, just waiting for me to type the buzzwords of love and harmony. Those are about as useful as using a minivan to swat at a fly. You will find you can have pleasant thoughts and love towards a person, and they will still be violent towards you and others.
Let us seek the truth. Let us discuss the culprit of why your peace is gone. Let us discuss needs. Needs are what truly flummoxes most people. We keep broadening our perceived needs until they are dependent on too many other things and on the actions of other humans.
I am by no means an expert in economics, and I imagine if people were to cut out most of the things they don’t need, their home country’s economy would fail quickly. Still, if more people asked, “Do I really need this?” most things could be eliminated.
There are two issues here. The first is that when people think about this, they generally think this is about just material possessions. It isn’t. It is also about the clutter of the mind as well. The second is the idea of comfort.
You do not “need” another country or its leader to act a certain way any more than you “need” a large flat-screened television. These are wants. We want, and wish, that countries would stop attacking other countries and wreaking havoc, but we do not “need” it.
If we are being honest with ourselves, most of the stress we feel about it is for us. The humans in the situation have accepted their feelings. They know they are living in fear. They know they might die. They know reality. Their needs have become few. Food, water, survival and the same for their families. They need it to end soon. As harsh as that sounds, that is the reality.
The invented reality is the feelings of those of us watching the conflict from the outside who think we need this to stop immediately, who need to not have to deal with these awful things, who need to not have to deal with this because it “steals” our peace.
We are giving our peace away
Make no mistake, this is selfish. This is about our comfort. What we are comfortable with. What we are comfortable feeling. What we are comfortable seeing.
The odd thing about comfort is that one person’s comfort is another’s misery. There are a lot of people making great amounts of money based on how uncomfortable this is making us. Realize this, it helps take the peace back.
I see lots of people confusing their need for comfort with empathy. These are generally the same people who haven’t learned that their lifestyle and failed thought processes are what makes comfort so difficult to find. They haven’t experienced the phenomenon that chopping enough wood or carrying enough water during a day can make any bedding the most comfortable bedding they have ever felt. They haven’t heard the sound of a streaking missile.
They are the people who pick at their food. They think they are discerning, when in truth, they haven’t experienced hunger enough in the first place. I assure you the humans existing in this violence have already learned that there is no picking through food. There is just eating what you can get.
This vividly reminds me of a Marine I once knew who told me, “Everyone can be a vegetarian until they are starving.” Every morning that they wake up in a war zone, they are experiencing reality. Tasting their food. They are waking up grateful. They are not getting up and watching the news over a piping hot cup of tea in their pajamas and calling the spectatorship of this “stressful.” If you watch closely enough, you can see there is peace in their dedication to the simplest of tasks.
What a person doesn’t have, they never miss. They may eat and drink the same thing every day for a great long while. Yet, their food and drink taste better than ours because it is seasoned with hunger and thankfulness. Every lungful of air gives them a comfort that we cannot achieve through meditation or medication.
We light up bridges and monuments in the colours of their flag. They are trying to live another day. Their peace may be stolen from them. We are giving ours away.
If there is something you can do, do it
Have whatever reaction you wish. They are yours to have. I would like to offer a suggestion: Learn patience instead of demanding comfort and peace. Learn to take your time and process things, figure them out, instead of letting a news source or society tell you how to feel.
Learn to take your time and process things, figure them out, instead of letting a news source or society tell you how to feel.
Nature is in control. These actions will end as most of all that has ever happened does. The ending and its timeframe are not in your control. No sense in complaining or being stressed—let your spirit fit the day. If there is something you can do, do it. If there is not, don’t.
Realize that you are trying to live life like a car on the interstate, covering a great many miles (or kilometres) in just a few minutes. The world turns at its own pace. What you are trying to gain, unsuccessfully, in time and comfort, you are losing in benefit to body and mind. Know that it is OK to cut the news off and walk away.
Worrying about something you have no control over is a terrible pastime. We would be fools to live life under a shadow like that when we do not have to. Great minds working together will perform miracles. This too shall pass. On the natural timeframe.
As I have gotten older, I’ve realized that news never changes that much. It is the same thing happening to different people. I honestly believe we were never, as a species, meant to know everything that was happening in the world. We all have immediate “problems” in life; there is no use in being burdened with those of the whole world.
I have seen a lot of life. I never forget sickness, pain, my own suffering or that of others. All of this has taught me that you do not know what cold or joy is unless you have shivered yourself warm in front of a fire. Most people have never experienced the sound of incoming artillery shells. Respect and try to care for those that currently have to but be thankful that you do not. Have compassion and be realistic.
If you are reading this, it is safe to assume that you are not having to abandon hope at the gates of hell at the moment. Realize that there are a lot of folks currently waking up at the gates of hell and that they are thankful to do so. There is no shame in being grateful that you aren’t one of them. Give yourself a break.
image 1 Sammy-Sander de image: Pixabay 2 images par Gerd Altmann de image: Pixabay 3 images par Pete Linforth de image: Pixabay 4 images par Holger Feulner de image: Pixabay
