By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar┃Posted: July 11, 2018
The constancy of change
There’s infinite spontaneity and creativity unfolding every moment in Nature. Every day the sun rises but every sunrise is uniquely beautiful. This is true for our experiences as we go through life as well – everything is the same and yet everything is different. Another year comes to an end and another begins.
Though change is a constant factor in the universe, certain changes leave permanent impressions on the human psyche. Whether positive or negative, these impressions rule our life. To be free from them and act from there is true awakening. These moments of awakening touch everyone’s life, although they occur frequently for some and rarely for others.
Comfort and conflict zones
Revisiting events of the past every once in a while has two benefits – one, it reinforces your understanding and wisdom, and second, it releases unwanted impressions, which subconsciously influence your thinking and behavior. Looking back, the fear and anxiety that has gripped our world is due to terrorism. Asia, Africa, Europe and even America have suffered greatly on this account. Under the circumstances, it’s imperative for us not to let these memories color our thinking and lead us down the path of paranoia and prejudice.
Often when a challenge or crisis arises in society, we have a tendency to slip into a cave and say, “It’s not my problem. Someone else should solve it.” I would say many people are too complacent. In the current global scenario, we are left with no choice but to take responsibility for the whole planet. In the middle ages, when a problem arose in one part of the world, the other part didn’t even know about it. Today, with technology, the comfort zone and conflict zone are not very far apart.
Complacency and tolerance: stretching out your hand
The whole world is affected by intolerance. The past year saw a huge rise in expression of intolerance. Both tolerance and intolerance when misplaced are equally bad. Tolerance need not be complacency, and intolerance need not be aggression. We need to direct our intolerance towards inequality, injustice, and corruption.
Any issue or conflict becomes much easier to deal with when we are willing to stretch our hand out first. For instance, we were able to reach out to Colombia’s biggest rebel group, which resulted in a ceasefire, ending a 50-year old conflict with their government.
Blossoming, spontaneous involvement
This is an era of unprecedented interdependence. We need to come out of our isolated shells and become a part of something bigger and more beautiful, both individually and globally. The love and warmth that everybody carries within just needs the right environment to be brought out. Coming together in spirit itself creates an atmosphere of celebration.
Life is a very fine balance of learning and unlearning, of being involved and being detached. Finding this delicate balance keeps freshness alive and that’s the Art of Living. When you move in life with a big vision, your connection with Nature is re-established. Although situations are the same, you’re ever fresh and different. You no longer watch Nature’s spontaneity unfolding from a distance, you become an expression of it.
Wishing you all lots of happiness and enthusiasm!
