Last week a group of my friends and I were talking philosophy, as we frequently do. To my
astonishment, some of them believe that the earth has unlimited resources. This, of course,
led to a huge discussion on global warming, and our responsibility for reversing it. One of us
asked, “What about the polar bears?” Many people, it seems, feel terrible when they think of
these things. So this person was crying, thinking about those poor bears drowning, and
possibly becoming extinct.
Everybody reacts differently when they feel terrible. Some people are motivated to change
things around them to make them closer to what they like, so they can feel better again.
Others will completely avoid thinking about the situation, to prevent feeling awful in the first
place. But there is, alas, another possibility.
A very close friend just told me of an amazing experience she had this past weekend. She
was away on a retreat, staying in a dormitory room with several other women. The likelihood
of having a snorer in the room was fairly high, so she asked her teacher what to do about that.
Following the advice she received, instead of becoming agitated about that person snoring,
she imagined them to be a Buddha making beautiful sounds. She felt enormous love for that
person. This happened all through the night. The next day, instead of being grumpy and tired,
as would otherwise have happened, she was in a bright and cheerful mood, and had a
fantastic day. We can do phenomenal things with our minds.
When Esther Hicks and Abraham were asked, “What about the polar bears?” they had a very
interesting – and somewhat lengthy – response. I may not fully understand or agree with it,
but the portion that really jumped out at me was this: “Under any condition I can bring myself to
a place where I feel good… You have the ability and the desire and the knowing within you to
be a joyful being. You just have to train your thoughts to allow that - and the better you get at it,
the better things will manifest around you.” This is, admittedly, ripped entirely out of context.
But these ideas are so true. My friend was able to keep her mind from being disturbed by
another person snoring, and was, in fact, able to totally transform the experience to one of
complete love and joy. We can do this for any circumstance we find disturbing, if we “train our
thoughts to allow that”.
But how?
Acceptance. We need to cultivate a mind of acceptance. At first glance it seems like, if we
accept global warming and drowning polar bears, we won’t do anything about it and we’re all
doomed! Not so. It’s the lack of acceptance that causes people to run away from the issue.
This paralyzes people. As they say, “That which we resist persists.” We can judge it as too
horrendous to deal with. Or so horrendous that we rant about it and alienate others from our
cause. The mind of acceptance, on the other hand, doesn’t judge things negatively, simply
because they don’t match our expectations. With that, you can retain a peaceful mind, and feel
good about taking care of things. You have, no doubt, seen some parents who scream at their
kids for dumping their chocolate ice cream cone in their lap, more concerned about the loss of
food and clothing than about their child’s happiness. We’ve also seen parents who are totally
compassionate towards their child in the same circumstance. And still other parents won’t
even get their kids ice cream, fearing the chaos that might ensue. They each are taking care of
the situation in their own way, but one of them is using The Art of Allowing to help their child
deal with it. They are at peace because they accept that this is the nature of children and ice
cream. They still take care of the mess, and perhaps even better than other parents. Their
child learns many things, including: how to clean up dumped ice cream; ice cream tastes
better in your mouth than in your lap; and their parents love them, no matter what. This child
stands a much better chance of growing up happy and well adjusted.
So what about the polar bears???
Okay, I’m getting to that. If you can accept that destruction is all part of human nature and our
journey here on earth, it’s easier to accept that we now have a huge mess to clean up. It
doesn’t have to be some horrible thing that we need to either rant about or totally avoid. It’s not
necessary to be scared or sad or horrified. Just accept that there’s work to be done. A lot of it.
Educate people, including yourself. Learn which products are better for the environment.
Become politically active. Invite your friends and family over and show them "An Inconvenient
Truth"… and enjoy it! It’s much easier to face a problem once you’re okay with it. There’s no
need to get frantic. More people will really hear you when you’re the voice of reason. When
you train your mind to be at peace with the world, you become far more effective at changing it.
So? What are you waiting for? The polar bears haven’t got all decade. There are windmill
farms to be built. Solar panels to install. Politicians to call. Lets get out there and make a
difference, people!
astonishment, some of them believe that the earth has unlimited resources. This, of course,
led to a huge discussion on global warming, and our responsibility for reversing it. One of us
asked, “What about the polar bears?” Many people, it seems, feel terrible when they think of
these things. So this person was crying, thinking about those poor bears drowning, and
possibly becoming extinct.
Everybody reacts differently when they feel terrible. Some people are motivated to change
things around them to make them closer to what they like, so they can feel better again.
Others will completely avoid thinking about the situation, to prevent feeling awful in the first
place. But there is, alas, another possibility.
A very close friend just told me of an amazing experience she had this past weekend. She
was away on a retreat, staying in a dormitory room with several other women. The likelihood
of having a snorer in the room was fairly high, so she asked her teacher what to do about that.
Following the advice she received, instead of becoming agitated about that person snoring,
she imagined them to be a Buddha making beautiful sounds. She felt enormous love for that
person. This happened all through the night. The next day, instead of being grumpy and tired,
as would otherwise have happened, she was in a bright and cheerful mood, and had a
fantastic day. We can do phenomenal things with our minds.
When Esther Hicks and Abraham were asked, “What about the polar bears?” they had a very
interesting – and somewhat lengthy – response. I may not fully understand or agree with it,
but the portion that really jumped out at me was this: “Under any condition I can bring myself to
a place where I feel good… You have the ability and the desire and the knowing within you to
be a joyful being. You just have to train your thoughts to allow that - and the better you get at it,
the better things will manifest around you.” This is, admittedly, ripped entirely out of context.
But these ideas are so true. My friend was able to keep her mind from being disturbed by
another person snoring, and was, in fact, able to totally transform the experience to one of
complete love and joy. We can do this for any circumstance we find disturbing, if we “train our
thoughts to allow that”.
But how?
Acceptance. We need to cultivate a mind of acceptance. At first glance it seems like, if we
accept global warming and drowning polar bears, we won’t do anything about it and we’re all
doomed! Not so. It’s the lack of acceptance that causes people to run away from the issue.
This paralyzes people. As they say, “That which we resist persists.” We can judge it as too
horrendous to deal with. Or so horrendous that we rant about it and alienate others from our
cause. The mind of acceptance, on the other hand, doesn’t judge things negatively, simply
because they don’t match our expectations. With that, you can retain a peaceful mind, and feel
good about taking care of things. You have, no doubt, seen some parents who scream at their
kids for dumping their chocolate ice cream cone in their lap, more concerned about the loss of
food and clothing than about their child’s happiness. We’ve also seen parents who are totally
compassionate towards their child in the same circumstance. And still other parents won’t
even get their kids ice cream, fearing the chaos that might ensue. They each are taking care of
the situation in their own way, but one of them is using The Art of Allowing to help their child
deal with it. They are at peace because they accept that this is the nature of children and ice
cream. They still take care of the mess, and perhaps even better than other parents. Their
child learns many things, including: how to clean up dumped ice cream; ice cream tastes
better in your mouth than in your lap; and their parents love them, no matter what. This child
stands a much better chance of growing up happy and well adjusted.
So what about the polar bears???
Okay, I’m getting to that. If you can accept that destruction is all part of human nature and our
journey here on earth, it’s easier to accept that we now have a huge mess to clean up. It
doesn’t have to be some horrible thing that we need to either rant about or totally avoid. It’s not
necessary to be scared or sad or horrified. Just accept that there’s work to be done. A lot of it.
Educate people, including yourself. Learn which products are better for the environment.
Become politically active. Invite your friends and family over and show them "An Inconvenient
Truth"… and enjoy it! It’s much easier to face a problem once you’re okay with it. There’s no
need to get frantic. More people will really hear you when you’re the voice of reason. When
you train your mind to be at peace with the world, you become far more effective at changing it.
So? What are you waiting for? The polar bears haven’t got all decade. There are windmill
farms to be built. Solar panels to install. Politicians to call. Lets get out there and make a
difference, people!
| The Buddha Snores A Tale of Global Warming |
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