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At the time of this writing, darkness has descended upon our planet.
The terrorist attacks and the ensuing wars leave little doubt that we are firmly embedded in the Kali yuga—the dark age. In the Kali yuga mankind is said to be going through its furthest descent from its spiritual source. It is not easy to keep your heart open in dark times, and that is why there is said to be special merit for spiritual behavior in the Kali age. But keep our hearts open we must if we are to heal our deep wounds.
If you are drawn to the spiritual path, realize the tremendous call to action these times herald. Spiritual workers are needed to keep the light from going out. In the wake of the recent bombings, the heroic efforts of the rescue workers attempting to save any lives they could among the carnage stands out as noble aspect of humanity responding to crisis.
Those on a spiritual path are the rescue workers for humanity in the Kali yuga. Shine your light under the rubble of a collapsing material empire to be a beacon for those still trapped.
We can’t stop the march of the movement toward a global community. All the major issues plaguing our modern world are global issues, environmental, economic, political, spiritual—it is a global issue now and its too late to turn the tide. In individual lives, challenges are turned around once we become proactive in moving toward the solution. Life is change, change is law; the immutable truth of existence. Everything is going along just fine, and then China invades Tibet. Everything is going along just fine, then terrorists attack. We are forced into a larger reality kicking, dragging and screaming.
The march of evolution has moved from tribal to community to city to state to country and now stretches toward global. Just as the civil war in the United States showed the difficulty of expanding allegiance from the state to country level, national wars are showing this same difficulty to expand to the next level.
Is there a proactive way of moving to a global community? Of course there is but is overlooked in its obviousness in the Kali age. The first rule of the spiritual path is “first, do no harm”, ahimsa. If we extended this to the global theater, it would encourage a coming together of different countries in a way that first, does do harm. We are apparently all going to have to deal with each other, either as enemies or allies. Can we learn the way to be allies with one another and deal with each other in ways that are mutually beneficial? That is the proactive path, as simple as it sounds. And of course it would work. If we were united as a global community and used our global resources to benefit and meet the needs of all the citizens, there would be prosperity, full employment (there is plenty to be done) and an improved spiritual climate to raise our children in. Too simplistic? I don’t believe so, nor do I underestimate how many “civil wars” it will take until we learn that we are all in each other’s best interest. Still it is the way.
The task is enormous—to get the nations of the world to live together as one. Where to start? The military has its opinions and is strongly supported based on the horrors that we have perpetrated on one another. Here, the spiritual community of the world must unite together and see the importance of the work in front of us. There is a saying, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This is where we can start, in our own lives, actualizing the teachings and demonstrating how to live in peace in the world. In our individual families and communities is where to start.
All of the teachings presented in this book are paths to living at peace within one’s self and the world. How each of us handles the petty annoyances and major disputes in our individual lives adds to how the world will respond with this same issue.
In times like these that humanity’s cruelty and ability to inflict suffering staggers the rational mind. Our behavior as a species is incomprehensible to the rational mind. In times like these, thank God for the Teachings. When thousands of lives at once are lost to acts of violence, can there be anything more healing than the Buddhist path of compassion. The practice of Tonglen can be particularly helpful for yourself, and to soothe the suffering in the world. The Tibetan teachings on death and the bardo states of transition in between lives can help us understand our spiritual responsibility for holding sacred space for the dying and the dead. The Hindu teachings on the nature of the Kali Yuga we are immersed in can lend understanding for what we are up against. The Hindu understanding of worship to the One God with many names, can be invaluable in helping to break down the biases and prejudices against the different names we all call God. Hinduism also helps us to understand karma and the eternal nature of the soul. These teachings and all the meditational techniques offered by the Hindu path can be helpful in dark times. Returning to the teachings of the Tao can soothe our troubles souls and reveal a way to live in harmony with all of life. Tantra gives us the awareness and techniques for awakening even in dark times.
The teachings are there for us in troubled times, like rafts that support us on turbulent waters. It is my prayer that we learn to proactively engage the spiritual practices of the world, so they are not just rafts to rescue us in troubled times, but become the fertile soil to grow our souls in times of peace and well-being.
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