Can Meditation Heal the World?

[Aloka]

A short video from Zen teacher Brad Warner. (Approx 10 minutes)




Any thoughts relating to the video?

[Esho]

Meditation -as said by Brad- is not a magic pill. It takes a huge amount of time to get used to it and when you get used to it is when you have to meditate just because. In the same way we have to behave ethically just because, we have to meditate just because. This is the teaching of 'Mushotoku': without a goal, without profit.

[philg]

There's a lot there in a shortish video. Can meditation change things? It certainly can if it changes you and you interact with the world. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but well worth doing as an individual. What about collectively? If you've ever been in a crowd, you can certainly 'pick up' the mood of the crowd, most obviously at sporting events. We seem to have an affect on ourselves as a group that isn't there otherwise, or at least not in quite the same way. In my childhood and youth I used to occasionally play around with an Ouija board, and as I got older I became interested, not in any silly message, but that eight or so people could steer something together, without practising, and make a coherent sentence.

Another interesting point is whether it is worth while taking up meditation in times of stress. I certainly think that relaxation meditations have a place in de-stressing people, but there are others which may make the matter worse. Should you sit with your anxiety and face it full on? Maybe not for beginners. I think it helps most those who have been meditating for some time and have developed skills in dealing with feelings which can arise while meditating. I used to visualize myself sitting there with my hand in front of my face. That is the world as it is, and there's no looking any other way. No escape from reality. Also no 'magic pill' because it can take years of work on the mat before you can do that.

I am certain that meditation does change you, and that those changes can be tracked to changes in how your brain is wired up, through new brain cells, new connections, stronger and weaker connections and pathways, and so on. If there is a goal to meditation it is that 'goalless' meditations still have a goal, that of change, else there's not much point to meditation. On the other hand it's not really for specific goals. I can't sit and have an end point by the time I stand up again, except maybe a lowering of blood pressure and stress-induced chemicals in the bloodstream using relaxing meditations. Otherwise the effects are gradual, with the odd 'breakthrough' being an exception.

[Aloka]

I really enjoyed this 10 minute video.

Brad read and reflected about a message on his phone which was about a mass meditation effort - plus a celestial stargate opening and an astrological portal! He also mentioned The Carpenters song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (video below this in #5)

Finally, there were his comments about the importance of meditation, of being stable and calm oneself, and his excellent affirmation:

"I vow to save all sentient beings from myself.".... which I repeated x 3 afterwards!

[Aloka]

[woodscooter]

The Event, 4th April 2020. The planets Jupiter and Pluto were in conjunction that day. It was described in the blurb as an astrological and an astronomical event. It promised that an astrological portal will open, a celestial stargate that could lead to the end of our enslavement to the financial system and the end of the 5G wireless network. But it requires that Humanity unites in meditation to make use of the power of this moment.

Well, I'm still enslaved to the world's financial system, and 5G hasn't gone away. Maybe the portal lost a lot of its power because Pluto is no longer (officially) a planet. Maybe Humanity didn't get the message. Maybe it's some people with an agenda talking up a lot of nothing.

Fortunately, meditation can continue unaffected, before during and after The Event. Fortunately, none of us need planets to line up in order to be effective in our meditation. Fortunately, meditation doesn't bring about someone elses's agenda to the world.

What meditation can do, if practised regularly with mindfulness and concentration, is to bring calm and insight to one mind at a time.

We don't need to change the world. We just need to work on ourselves.

[Aloka]

But it requires that Humanity unites in meditation to make use of the power of this moment.

It would take nothing less than a miracle for that to happen!