One Thing

Is it selfish to focus on one thing: our inner selves? There is so much wrong in the world. How can we talk of meditation and spiritual intelligence and such seemingly selfish things?

Is it idealistic and naïve to wax lyrical about love and light in the world when there is such injustice, violence and hatred?

Is it useless and irresponsible to talk of meditation when we should be doing what has to be done to get the world right? Are we wasting oxygen sitting in circles, clearing our minds and smiling at strangers? Wouldn’t we be better off more involved in justice, in fighting for a cause, in activism?

Maybe.

But each to his own

And the most important is the way of meditation. This is the way of compassion and contemplative passivity over stressed-out action. The way of demonstrating love through our words and our deeds. The way of doing less and trusting more.

Nothing else is as important as experiencing eternal love and passing it on in our daily interactions.

Just causes and righteous fights seldom result in worthwhile long-term change for the human species or the rest of the planet.

All the work in the world may change the course of the river slightly, but ultimately it still makes its way to the shore. Gravity determines that fact. Similarly human history on this planet is changed by the actions of people, but ultimately our story will follow the rules of human nature, natural sciences and social sciences.

As sure as gravity

We are destined to be who we are. The world is destined to go the way it goes.

There will be times of growth and expansion. Places and times where individuals, communities or the entire Earth’s population will flourish. Then there will be times of re-balancing of populations on the world’s ecosystem scale. There will be conflict and war, pain and suffering. These things are inevitable results of wounded human nature.

Good or bad means little in the big scheme of things. It is all not important on the scale of space and time. All seven or eight billion of us are nothing more than microscopic cells on a little blueish dot following a trajectory through infinite space pre-determined by gravity and momentum since before time began.

But a compassionate smile, or a freely given meal, can change one person’s life.

Why should we think our egos are the centre of existence? Why would our species not be destined to suffer, to live and die, passing like everything else in a transient universe? Who are we to assume any puny action or cause will ultimately change destiny? Are all our efforts to improve the world not just a waste of time? Are the activists and the philanthropists not wasting oxygen?

Maybe.

But again… each to his own.

The most important way

And what is the most important way?

Your answer to this question depends on whether or not you believe in another dimension, a continuation of consciousness, a so-called afterlife. One who believes in an afterlife will think the way of meditation, love and passivity is more important, because it points to, and accesses, this afterlife. One who believes that this life is all we have will place the highest importance on working to improve the world around them.

But practicing meditation informs all compassionate action. Without the inner life we run around like chickens without heads, soon feeling the pain of the world weighing us down.

The inner life is the most important human endeavour and the best way to change the world for an average person. While we have a duty to do our part in all aspects of life, whether that be in the family, in the local community or society, this duty should always be secondary to our personal spiritual quest. This is not selfish because the personal spiritual quest is a quest for selfless love, oneness, connectedness and compassion.

Every physical aspect of this world is a transient, thin surface dimension of a veiled reality that is much deeper. This deeper reality preceded the physical universe and will continue after it. Ultimate meaning resides below the surface. Once we tap into this, we have the inner resources to touch lives around us. We do it without personal motivation, without anxiety or aggression… just love and calm trust that we are changing one mind at a time. What will be beyond that is ultimately not ours to control.

No more is needed. No more is possible.

The experience of oneness in times of meditation convinces us that there is something going on with consciousness and self that transcends the life of the body I inhabit. That moves us with compassion, and at the same time, it gives us calm detachment.

The experience of oneness is also an experience of timelessness. With no time each moment is eternity. So everything about this physical world takes on a less primal position. There is no need to burn out fighting for justice, or to feel anger for any cause. All that matters is love… and that we have an opportunity to express in every interaction with another being. We have a chance to feel love in every moment.

It doesn’t mean that the problems of the world are not important. They are. They move the spiritual person to compassion. We that place the inner journey to higher consciousness as primal weep and are moved to act too… but guided by love.

Sometimes love means less investment in just causes and righteous fights. Sometimes it means quiet solidarity from across the world. A thought… a prayer. A loving touch.

The prophet

Perhaps Jesus was pointing his friends this way when he visited the sisters Martha and Mary.

The story goes like this: Jesus talked to his friends in the sisters’ home. By then he was a renowned teacher in the community. So people came to listen whenever he spoke.

Mary sat at his feet listening to every word he said. She was spellbound and totally absorbed as his words resonated with her soul. Meanwhile, Martha ran around with chores and preparations for the meal, neatening up and making sure their home was suitable for such an important visitor and his friends. She was too busy to sit listening like her sister and the others.

Martha thought what she did was of the utmost importance and it irritated her that her sister did not help. So she came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

 Jesus smiled compassionately at her and replied, “Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed. Indeed only one is of primary importance. Mary has chosen what is better, and I will not take it away from her.”

Only one thing is of primary importance today too. Love.