Become Enlightened As Quickly As You Can

It's very difficult to know how involved to get in the dramas of this life. It is easy to see hatred, division, violence, corruption and other fear based actions between the people of the earth. As benevolent beings, we want to be and do our best to make the world a better place.

We can protest, advocate, educate, serve, support, pray and more. I have a history of being a bit of a soap box preacher, activist and protester making it my mission to wake up as many people as I can by sharing information about the causes that have been meaningful to me at different times.

I remember many years ago at a buddhist meditation class I attended, someone asked the resident buddhist monk what we can do when we see the terrible things that are happening in the world and his response has always stuck with me. "Become enlightened as quickly as you can." He didn't say protest to your government. He didn't say go overseas and fight for your side. Become enlightened he said, without hesitation.

While there is a place for activism, education and even protesting, it does sometimes feel futile. Is anyone listening? Are we making any progress at all? Sometimes yes. But I do now fully believe the priority should be enlightenment. Why?

We have to be mindful when we are engaging in what we believe to be benevolent action for the causes that matter to us. Mindful of ego and mindful of fear based energy. These are things I became more deeply aware of through my own experience and evolution of myself.

When we take a position of righteousness, we create a perception of the other side. If I am right, someone must be wrong. I have been guilty of this. I have been guilty of buying into divisive propaganda until it happened that I felt totally abandoned by my own side and was left politically homeless and open to exploring the other. It was a very humbling experience to find home with the others and see my previous position from another perspective.

Not only can our ego prevent us from clearly seeing the others, but it prevents the others from hearing our message. Unless we are happy to preach to our own choir and virtue signal to those who already think like us, calling out and pointing fingers (our ego) will only trigger the egos of others. It does very little if anything to create the change that we seek. It's very difficult to be deeply involved and passionate about a cause that matters to us without succumbing to fear based energy. This low vibration energy does not contribute to the positive evolution that we seek. It fosters division when the world needs unity.

Energy is the only thing that will change humanity. As time passes, the wisdom the monk shared with us in that class two decades ago resonates with me more and more.

It feels very purposeful to be spending so much more of my time now in prayer, energy work, meditation and yoga. I am grateful to have experienced a shift from division to something much closer to oneness. I feel much less attached to the narratives of division and confident that I am still contributing in a meaningful way. I know that energy is contagious and as more and more people become lighter and lighter, it lifts the energy of the collective.

I know that my progress in awakening is partially attributed to the awakening of those before me and my awakening is contributing to the awakening of others, even if I never wrote a word or shared my experience in this way.

Om Shanti, shanti, shanti