I read the news today and saw a picture being painted of a world teetering on the brink of disaster. A never-ending war, a possible new war, global warming, a possible world-wide financial collapse, rising oil prices, and plummeting food supplies.
It has all the ingredients of a perfect storm which could reduce the world that we currently know to a fleeting memory. Will there be suffering beyond imagination? Yes. Will we be able to rise from the ashes? That is the question that we need to answer.
I do know, however, from first hand experience, that great suffering leads to great strides in consciousness. And with a new collective consciousness (vastly different from the collective consciousness that got us into this mess) we can build a new humanity. A humanity not built out of greed and competition, but out of understanding, harmony, and oneness.
Every crisis is an opportunity and this is no exception. How does one survive something like this emotionally and psychologically? Is this is an opportunity to discover who we really are? Is this a chance to discover who we are as individuals, as communities, as nations, and as a world?
When an outer structure crumbles that we identify with, we have two choices: we can either become lost or discover a reality that exists beyond form. For are we not in reality formless? Are we not in reality consciousness – whole, perfect, and immortal? If God is Infinite Consciousness, then how can we be outside of that?
What better time to know this, to realize it deep within, than when the outer structures of the world are crumbling? Whether we are Buddhists, Christians, Sufis, Hindus or Zoroastrians, it matters not. For we all share the same inner essence – oneness. And oneness is the only solution for mankind.
I get asked sometimes what I mean when I refer to the word, mysticism. Does mysticism mean a denial of life? Just the opposite. Here’s what it is, in its most simple terms:It is the discovery or realization of inner presence. It’s the realization of oneness, which progressively enables the transcendence of the separative ego.
Mysticism is a process that makes this inner state more and more conscious, which gradually becomes the soul’s identification. It’s a process of identifying with the real self over the false self.
This process accelerates with the gradual deepening of understanding of true and false values. This happens with introspection. Questions arise within as to whether an experience strengthens the inner presence, or weakens it. Does the heart become more awakened to love or more deadened? Do we feel a deeper sense of oneness or a heightened sense of separateness?
If mysticism leads to a transformation of the individual, then social mysticism leads to the transformation of humanity. When I can serve you to the degree that I forget my self, then not only are you benefited, but so am I.
When service of that level becomes the rule rather than the exception, then the world is transformed. When compassion becomes more important than competition, we as a humanity will be on the right track towards wholeness.
To serve others to the degree that you forget your own desires is a mystical path. I recall Meher Baba’s words: “Being is dying by loving.” I gave a speech on that once in the Beverly Hills Toastmasters about 25 years ago. To me it means that we discover the essence of being, when through love, we are able to die to our false self.
I feel there is going to be a great need for more social mystics, great individuals like Mother Theresa and Albert Schweitzer. Last week, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. Perhaps soon the entire world.
As the world approaches the year 2012 (what many predict will be the end of the world as we know it) and slides deeper and deeper into collapse, the opportunities for transcendence of outer form will be abundant. That is mysticism.
I will go so far as to say that the only way to emotionally survive the coming world crisis is to focus more on others. Otherwise the psychological shock of living life in such great turmoil will be too great.
Collectively going within is the only way a world can turn its darkest hour into light. And then, and only then, can we rebuild this world. If unconsciousness, at unprecedented levels, is the root of our troubles, then a big dose of consciousness, fueled by love and compassion, is surely the antidote.
When that becomes the structure upon which we build our lives, then we can, together, build a New Humanity.
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