THERE IS A WAY TO FIND PEACE - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

I feel the need to re-post this blog because of the disharmony existing in the world today. People are frightened that they are under attack - whether it be from violence or the relentless media horror stories that are thrust at us daily across the airwaves or maybe financial pressures or psychological issues from loneliness, mental unhappiness and insecurities or just every day stress and coping with day to day living. We need to urgently change the way we think and act - otherwise we will never find peace and happiness - also whilst we're talking about these issues - there won't be a human race if we carry on like this - we have to bring caring, compassion and healing back into our lives.

The purpose of this piece is to drive home the most important message today that there is a way out of suffering and to find peace & happiness if only the human race would take one step back and use its mind to think clearly and look at some very basic realities. On one level a global snap shot of the world today can look pretty gloomy - but it doesn't have to be like this - it really doesn't.

If we look at the world today its a pretty frightening picture on many levels. On one hand the medical world is striving to find a way to fight the super bugs such as the frightening Covid /Coronavirus pandemic that has swept there world and that threaten all humans and other creatures big and small - Ebola began to take many lives in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other parts of West Africa - Malaria and other diseases are still rampant in parts of the globe - The human race daily commits genocide on the animal world killing huge numbers (billions) of cows, sheep, goats, pigs and any number of other animals plus fish and sea creatures of every conceivable description just to feed an ever increasingly rapacious appetite for food (when in reality we can exist very largely on a perfectly acceptable vegetarian diet) - hunters are daily trawling the jungles and forests for tigers, rhinoceros, elephants, bears and others into extinction for what?

If you think that's bad - then let's look at the human condition across the war torn world - Afghanistan has collapsed into the hands of the Taliban with years of brutal rule ahead for millions of people, who only want to live their lives in peace -  Hamas sends rockets into Israel killing people, Israel responds with incredible ferocity - who suffers? Children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, families destroyed, animals and infrastructure eliminated in a flash - ISIS viciously killing at Kabul Airport - Shia, Christians, Kurds, Iraqis and anyone who won't convert to their brand of violent and radical so called Islamism; Girls kidnapped in Nigeria maybe lost to their families forever - young girls facing horrifying female genital mutilation and arranged marriages with years of misery ahead  - Syria a never ending cry of pain and misery - Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Yemen, Sudan, Mali, Afghanistan, Pakistan are just some of the countries enduring the most appalling suffering facing the human race today.

Yet, having maybe depressed all of you by my opening statements - is there hope for a peaceful solution - the answer is a definite YES but we all need to take a long hard look at ourselves and the way we live our lives and move forward. This blog is an appeal for a better life and is a definite message of hope but we have to work on ourselves now - today - there is no time to lose!

I have written many blogs previously that have expressed both outrage and hope at various situations that have dominated the news headlines (and so often quickly forgotten) - but ultimately all these problems come down to the way we let our MIND control us instead of us controlling our MIND.

Think about it - we are what we think - we do what we think - our minds are targeted from the moment we are born - our parents and friends influence us from the moment we consciously begin to think and absorb everything around us - if your local community is Sunni Muslim then you become one - if it is Catholic or Hindu you become one and so forth. We are bombarded by preconceived ideas "we are right and they are wrong" - If you were born in the Soviet Union in the 1950's or 60's you would have most likely been told that America, Britain, Europe etc were the enemy - if you were born into a Protestant family in Northern Ireland you may have been taught that all Catholics are the enemy - Radical Muslims are taught that any other religion is an abomination and has to be eliminated - and so it goes on and on - pre-conceived ideas abound, mind control from birth, 'I am better than you'; my culture is superior to yours; my tribe is better then your tribe, etc - it never stops does it?. We read that young boys in Pakistan under the influence of the Taleban are taught to only read the Koran from morning to night relentlessly learning it by heart - with no other education or knowledge of other cultures, religions, peoples - mind control and conditioning again from a very young age - how can these young kids have a balanced mind and live a compassionate, kind life - its going to be appallingly difficult and maybe impossible!! We see images of young kids holding guns at hostages heads in Syria or Iraq - These are just a few examples of how our mind is conditioned, influenced and controlled from birth or early age.

So what is the answer?

All of us wherever we live have to take a deep breathe and long hard look at our lives - if we are fortunate enough to have been born in a country that is at peace and economically stable we no doubt strive to do better and better career wise - get a bigger home, better car, build more wealth and so forth - we are bombarded by direct and subliminal messages day in and day out by an ever rampant media on our television sets, iPads, computers, mobile phones, radios, Facebook, Twitter, advertising hoardings in the streets - you name it - from the moment you wake until you turn out the lights to go to sleep. How do we escape from the daily battering of news and the thousands of messages being aimed at us hourly?

We have to begin by making some time for ourselves each day away from any form of media or electronic devices. Maybe create a space for ourselves that becomes our daily temple of peace - ideally it could be in our home but if not find a space in an open area, maybe a park or somewhere were you can find some quiet and peace for yourself. We need to take a hard look at our preconceived ideas and thoughts - do you ever think of dying? If you are in a war torn world the answer will undoubtedly be yes, but if you are in a comfortable job and have a nice home and everything looks pretty safe and secure maybe you'd rather not think of death and dying?  Well my friends its a good place to start to re-think your life and the way you live. You see every moment is precious because we simply do not know what the next moment will bring. People who are apparently fit and enjoying a great life can die suddenly - none of us know when we will die - we like to think we have many years of life ahead but who knows? You certainly don't!  However, I can hear you saying - how does thinking of dying help me and help this unhappy world we live in?

I will tell you why! Because it is only be changing our thinking and by changing our MIND and how we think that we can begin the hard long road to bringing peace to this war torn and suffering world. If we realise that every minute of our lives is so precious because it could be our last then we are beginning the healing process.

As the Buddhist's say - if you are going to take a long walk you have to take the first step. Its so true - we can heal this world and vastly improve our individual lives if we begin to take the first steps in bringing peace and compassion to our minds. We must begin this process by realising that all living creatures are the exactly same as us. I know that's a big statement to make and understand that you may have been conditioned to believe you are better than others - but this has to stop, you must now use your mind and begin to think clearly and with kindness and compassion.  Please think about it - everyone feels pain, everyone suffers, everyone can be frightened, everyone becomes ill, everyone can feel lonely, everyone  has successes and failures, everyone dies - its the same for animals they all feel pain and fear and get frightened - whats the difference? Why are we humans so damned arrogant that we believe we are better than someone else or an animal?

Ok lets begin with this - if we accept that we ALL feel pain, loss, misery, fear, become sick etc then why do we think we are better than any one else? Are we really better because we believe in one thing and others believe in something else? Don't they also become sick and suffer? Lets take this one step further - who do you think you are?

How long could you survive on your own? You think of yourself fiercely as an individual - I am me - but who is "I" and "ME"? If there weren't any trees or plants you couldn't breathe - if there wasn't this amazing planet we live on you wouldn't be here at all - if cereals, vegetables and other plants weren't cultivated by other people you wouldn't have anything to eat and you would starve - do you begin to get it? EVERYTHING IS INTERCONNECTED - none of us can exist on our own - there is no real "I" or "ME" in the sense that without the world of rivers, plants, trees, vegetables, grains, animals and other people "I" or "ME" wouldn't exist. How long would you live without water or food? How long would we live without oxygen to breathe? Pretty basic stuff eh? But its all true - hadn't we better begin to look after the planet we live on?

As I said earlier - all of us let our mind control us - how about you beginning to control your own mind?

If you wake up in a bad mood and yell at the kids and everyone you work with - you are creating pain and misery for those around you - if you are pre-conditioned by your environment and culture to hate others then you will cause pain and suffering - but you can re-condition your mind - BEGIN TO THINK KINDLY OF PEOPLE - BEGIN TO DEVELOP YOUR COMPASSION FOR ALL SENTIENT BEINGS NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE - Are the people you meet suffering? Are they in pain? Are they sick? Are they in trouble? Have they also been precondition from birth to believe in hurtful ideology? Have they lost a loved one? Are you being selfish? Are you being cruel, even unintentionally? Are you being hurtful? Are you being thoughtless? Are you causing pain and misery?

It is only when we begin the process of taking control of our MIND that we can begin to reverse the misery and suffering in this world - it starts with you, your mind and if we all of us begin this process we can REVERSE THE HELL AND SUFFERING IN THIS WORLD. We all have a responsibility to do this for ourselves, our families, for the generations to come, for all animals and for this planet we live on. It is all INTERCONNECTED.

Sit quietly in your chosen peaceful place and let your mind become peaceful - we call it meditation but titles and labels are unimportant - just sit quietly and let your mind be at peace and restful. This process has nothing to do with any of your beliefs or religious views - this is about you and your MIND

Let your mind become quiet - many thoughts will flash into your mind BUT DON'T FOLLOW THEM let them drift off into the wind - just quietly say to yourself "my mind is peaceful" with each breath. If thoughts are too hard to move on - come back to your gentle breathing and say "my mind is at peace" - give your mind a rest from the thousands of thoughts that it has to deal with hourly! If you do this daily for ten or fifteen minutes each day (longer if you can) you are giving your mind a chance to change it daily process - you can begin to meditate or think about the things that really matter in life :

BEING KIND TO EVERYONE

THINKING COMPASSIONATE THOUGHTS ABOUT EVERYONE AND EVERY ANIMAL YOU MEET - THEY ALL SUFFER PAIN, UNHAPPINESS, MISERY AND SICKNESS

BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE AND ANIMALS AS YOU DO YOUR LOVED ONES - WE ALL SUFFER NO MATTER WHO WE ARE

IF SOMEONE HURTS YOU DON'T AUTOMATICALLY HIT BACK - LEARN TO THINK COMPASSIONATELY - AN EYE FOR AN EYE IS WHAT IS CAUSING SO MUCH OF THE MISERY AND PAIN IN THIS WORLD TODAY

WHY IS SOMEONE CAUSING SUCH MISERY AND PAIN? ARE THEY ALSO IN PAIN AND SUFFERING? HAVE THEY BEEN PRE-CONDITIONED BY HURTFUL IDEOLOGY? - HERE WE GO AGAIN "I AM RIGHT YOU ARE WRONG"

USE YOUR MIND TO THINK LOVING, KIND COMPASSIONATE, HEALING THOUGHTS INSTEAD OF ANGER, HATRED, JEALOUSY, AVARICE, IGNORANCE - THEN THE GLOBAL (AND PERSONAL) HEALING WILL BEGIN.

PLEASE REMEMBER THE GREAT HUMAN MANTRA FOR LIFE: "LOVE, COMPASSION AND KINDNESS BRING HAPPINESS" - "HATRED, JEALOUSY, IGNORANCE, AVARICE, ANGER, KILLING BRING TERRIBLE SUFFERING"

When you as an individual begin to change the process of your MIND then the healing can begin - it doesn't matter whether you are Sunni, Shia, Druze, Sufi, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Coptic, Greek or Russia Orthodox, born again Christian, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Atheist, Agnostic - whatever - you can all begin the process of reconditioning your own MIND to bring peace, happiness, love, compassion, understanding and healing to your lives and the lives of hundreds of millions of people who live on our wonderful planet. Only then will the pain and suffering begin to stop.

POWER - FAME - RICHES - AMBITION - GREED - "I'M BETTER THAN YOU" - "MY BELIEFS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOURS" ALL ULTIMATELY CAUSE SUFFERING

Fame is so transitory it has no meaning and is quickly lost - power maybe gained for awhile but will ultimately be lost - you can't take power with you when you die or become seriously sick -  - riches can be accumulated but if not used for good and help people it has no meaning - you can't use it when you're dead! Ambition in your career and in life is fine if used carefully and lovingly - blind ambition, stamping on other people and causing pain will only rebound on you and the cycle of suffering continues

WE CAN CHANGE THIS WORLD AND PREVENT THE MISERY, PAIN AND SUFFERING BUT WE ALL NEED TO CHANGE NOW

There is hope and this hope begins with you at home and in your MIND

Don't wait until its too late - begin to bring your MIND to peace and begin to think loving, kind, compassionate thoughts from the moment you wake until the moment you go to sleep - this will change your life forever and all those you love and the people and animals you meet - it will have a knock on effect - others will begin to be influenced by your compassion and change the way they act and think

If we don't begin this process now we will only carry on the cycle of pain, suffering and ultimately death

Thank you for reading - please begin to change your MIND NOW - PEACE, LOVE, KINDNESS AND COMPASSION - this should be your mantra for you, your loved ones, all people, animals, our planet and your life