"The most dangerous thing down here [on Earth] is an undisciplined human mind."
— Marcus Luttrell
_________
It can be easy to think that life has never been so bad, that the world has never been in a worse way.
A quick scan of the news may alarm you; a regular diet of such concern and outrage could even cause serious PTSD and panic – as the research is starting to show.
Today it’s the Ukraine, and (as I’m writing this) it could get serious. But, without minimising the horror people are experiencing, let’s take a step back.
Over the years we’ve always had conflict and strife, disaster and uncertainty. There’s been doomsday cults predicting the End since the beginning of humanity. A quick scan of history will show you we’ve had crises forever.
If you pick up a newspaper (remember those?) and don’t look at the date, you might notice it’s all quite similar.
Billy Joel even wrote a song about it all that you couldn’t avoid if you listened to commercial radio back in the late 80s.
“We Didn’t Start The Fire” was written after a 20 something told him, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties”. Like the Korean war and the Suez Canal crisis were nothing.
Yesterday’s news is history; today’s news is emotional. If we let it, it grips us and becomes total. We freak out and become swamped. Not only do we spin around like headless chickens, we tend to lurch from one emotional disaster to the next.
I get it. There IS a lot wrong. The world needs peace. And we want to do something to help.
So many people are feeling outraged at the lack of justice and fairness, at the scale of suffering, afraid of the uncertainty and “What if?” of the possibility of a global conflict – and underneath it all, feeling impotent and out of control.
What CAN you do?
What can you control?
What I see we can do is three fold.
Firstly –
Don’t give into fear, suspicion, uncertainty, lack.
Be very careful when you play with these things, for as Marcus Aurelius noted way back, “The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts”.
Within them only lies madness. They stop you from being able to act clearly and cleanly.
If you are of a mind to help, and have the capability to actually make a difference, you have to realise that agitation is the thing that prevents all effectiveness.
Agitation may be the thing that gets you off the couch to act, but the actual doing has to be done from a place of ready calm.
A boxer never walks into the ring angry or afraid. That’s the end before they even touch gloves. Floyd Mayweather practiced such a relaxed state of mind that he famously even took naps before his bouts.
Learn to deal with your own fear and agitation.
If you look at it, you might agree that all of the world’s problems come from fear and lack and attempting to control, haven’t they? Hence, as ex-Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (the movie Lone Survivor was based on his story) rightly said,
“The most dangerous thing down here [on Earth] is an undisciplined human mind.”
All human created crises have come from a rampant, greedy and fearful need for more, to be right, for power and control. And we as individuals are the same. We are! If you’re honest, you’ll see you have your own controlling little tyrant living in your own head.
Deal with that – the inner two year old grasping and grabbing – and you lessen the cause of the world’s problems. In the core of your being, you are fundamentally part of the solution; not the crisis.
Secondly –
Narrow your horizons and carry less.
Focus precisely on what you can control. Base your life in this moment in time – what you can sense, what you can affect, who you can help, now.
As Seneca, another wise ancient, once wrote: “The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”
Don’t future surf. Live cleanly and clearly from a stable and clear mind and attitude. Live now.
Plan, sure. But make your life immediate. Because the one constant in life, the only known, is what's happening to you now.
Transcend those contracting and constricting thought and emotional patterns. See panic and suspicion for what it is. Let go of what doesn’t serve you; step forward free of fear and future burdens.
Thirdly –
Wait and see.
Before catastrophizing, wait and see how it unfolds.
At the risk of turning this into a Stoic-fest, Seneca again: “There are more things … likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Don’t suffer twice.
If it’s going to happen, then you’ll know all about it. Greet it cleanly and clearly.
The fact is we just don’t know. Good or bad? We’re such poor judges when we’re emotional about it all. We just don’t know what is good news and bad news in the middle of it.
It’s all about perspective. As Richard Bach once wrote, “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” A child’s disaster is nothing compared with the perspective of an adult.
Wait and see. You know what wisdom lies in hindsight – after the fact has happened. So, don’t be too quick to judge and get lost in the details.
Step back. Then when all is clear, or a little clearer, act accordingly – but always step back to adjust. Less haste and more speed, right?
I’m not saying don’t act. I’m saying act well.
So –
For what it’s worth, I hope that helps some. Maybe you can see how you can apply some or all of this to the unwelcome and unexpected day-to-day stuff in your own life, as well as global disasters and crises.
It’s all the same. The first step is to not let your mind run you ragged.
The greatest thing you can possess is a state of being and a mind that helps; not hinders.
This takes practice!
But it’s a practice for all of life. One that benefits you, and everyone. Take the time to go within. Take the time to choose differently.
Alrighty?
And as always, let me know how I can help.
Go well!
Arjuna
PS.
I talk about getting a balance between acting and doing from a place of clarity and wisdom in my latest book. Perhaps if you liked the above and want to read more, you’ll enjoy it.
“Chasing More and Finding Enough – How Being is the Greatest Foundation for Everything You Do” is available on all good online bookstores
Enjoy!
And we’ve got an Ascension meditation course coming up too, if you’d like to join us. It’s the last one before July.
8-10 April (begins 7pm Friday)
just ask. I’d love to help.
Go well out there. Make a real difference.