Zen-Pack - for What's Ailing Our World

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.  We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love.  There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.  The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality.  There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

― Mother Teresa

We continue to live through times of enormous uncertainty and overwhelming stress.  As a culture we have seen in the last forty years a progressive sense of disconnect, alienation, and separation.  Most Americans have realized that what was once the "American Dream", has become a "nightmare".  Even if you do all the right things, work hard, and play by the rules, the guarantee for prosperity, the kind of warranty every American believed came with the rules, is no longer included.  The "ground" which millions built their lives on, and invested their time, energy, and money in, has proven to be like sand.  It is very easy to feel  overwhelmed, lost, and fearful.  Out of this has come a cynicism and pessimism of immeasurable repercussions.   For some time now we continue to see a failing trust in others, and in the  institutions which we relied on for support and guidance in the past, both political and religious.  (I'm not sure yet but, this might be a positive.)  This is not an historic event, we have seen this in others cultures, other times, and other civilizations throughout history.  What may be new is the sense of despair and hopelessness so many are not only experiencing, but have become.

I am offering this "Zen-Pack - For what's Ailing Our World" as a possible antidote which I believe if taken as prescribed will in time bring healing and a renewed sense of a heartfelt passion for living life skillfully.

Living the Zen Iinspired Life - If there is no resolve, you might as well stay on the sofa.

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell." - Buddha

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve." So is "resolve" the missing ingredient in most peoples efforts to create real and lasting changes in their lives? Take for example one's weight loss effort, getting to the gym, trying to stop procrastinating, cleaning that closet, or practicing to be more compassionate, without resolve we might as well stay on the sofa. Now I believe that at all times we already know what we need to do, we just don't like it. Most people never get pass their habitual behavior of finding "excuses" as to why "they can't". My two year old daughter, who is my teacher on many levels, always says to me whenever I tell her "she can't", "But I can try." I often tell people, "Today a persons word is equal to their excuses." We talk a great deal about who we can rely on in times of trouble, most of us are never on that list.

The More Change They Promise, The More Things Stay the Same

An ancient Zen story tells us, that one day a Zen master had a visitor who came to inquire about life. But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own concerns and giving his own thoughts and opinions. After a while the master served tea. He poured tea into his visitor's cup until it was full and then he kept on pouring.

Finally the visitor could not bear it any longer, "Don't you see that my cup is full?" he said. "It's not possible to get anymore in it." "Just so," the master said, stopping at last. "Like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas, your own agenda. How can you expect me to give you anything new unless you first empty your cup?"

If you have been able to stomach the current political events, (and I would certainly understand why you haven't) you may have noticed that, "the more politicians continue to promise us changes, the more of the same we are getting." So you and I are left with the "same" old question. How is the world ever going to change? Even if all the jobs return and the economy improves it will only be temporary, until we address the "root causes of suffering". We know what they are, we keep witnessing the causes every time we turn on CNN, or MSNBC, or FOX.

 

We are a culture which believes that the answer to change is the "plastic surgeon", or the next "miracle pill". Something which only changes the surface while underneath their remains decay and death. This explains why we continue to elect the next "American Idol", rather than someone who truly understands what "causes the end of suffering" for so many in our country and around the world. It also explains why we continue to place our trust in perfect strangers to make the vital decisions for our lives and our children's lives, rather than making them ourselves.

 

Living a Zen Inspired Life, an Authentic Spiritual Life, begins with the process of emptying our cups. It is a sometimes an arduous and painful process of trimming down and stripping away the layers upon layers of barriers we have built up, preventing us from being fully-alive, and realizing our inherent capability to, if I may coin a popular political phrase, "govern ourselves". It requires us to take stock of our lives, every area of our lives, especially our religious life or spiritual practice, our approaches to living life. It is about committing to "relying on ourselves" for the changes we want in the world and exercising the inherent quality that enables us to say no to ourselves and especially our political leaders and institutions, so that when life turns hard of its own accord we have the spiritual and moral stamina to say yes to its twists and turns with the faith or self-assurance that no matter what happens we remained true to something larger than ourselves.

In so doing we truly changed the world for the better, for ourselves and others. "He who looses himself will find himself.", and he who keeps trying to protect his own interest at the expense of others will continue to grow hungry, and suffering will compound.

Authentic Spirituality involves making new strives to be what we say we want to be. To be who we say we want to be in the world, in our personal relationships, and as citizens. Most of us find this difficult to do because we have no idea of what any of that means. We have no "personal vision" for ourselves let alone the world, because we find ourselves trapped in just trying to survive, or we are addicted to our personal "comfort zones" so much that we are unable to sort out the difference between immediate gratification, (a cancer of contemporary society), and a life fulfilled.