EMERGENCY!

By Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

There is an emergency of epic proportion going on this planet! Earth is like a patient on an emergency room table that is bleeding out an….

There is an emergency of epic proportion going on this planet! Earth is like a patient on an emergency room table that is bleeding out and there are fifty or more people in the room arguing about how to save the patient. Some are doctors and some are not. Some are experts in their field and some are not. And some are…well…no one even knows how they got in the operating room to begin with. Most of them, qualified or not, are sure they know the answer to the problem. Some just don’t care, it’s like they were dropped off here, not even asked whether they even wanted to be here or not…all they know is someone every now and then screams out at them, “Don’t you care?” This makes some of them feel a little guilty and some it just makes angry, I mean after all they didn’t ask to be here in the first place.

There is no shortage of people who are just sure they know the solution. The environmentalists argue it is all about conservation. The politician and the warlord argue it is all about political dominance and control. The minority argues it is all about equal rights. The rich argue it is all about money. The selfish argue it is all about self-gratification with no consequences. The animal rights activists argue it is all about the animals. The religious argue it is all about bowing before the god they have created. Did I leave anyone out? This world is in a mess, to put it mildly. The patient is bleeding out and losing consciousness fast. The patient is fighting to live. That is the only way it knows. Truth of the matter is that everyone in the room has made their cuts into the patient. Some mean well. Some could care less, it is all about them after all, they reason.

Everyone named above and probably more that could be added have one thing in common. They are all takers. They float around space on this rock called Earth, part of and contributing to a system that is completely unsustainable and taking anything within their reach with no consideration to others or the consequences of taking what is not theirs to take, not caring or considering if what they took was meant for someone else, let alone how it will affect future generations.

Where does it all end? What do we do about it? At the root of it all is greed, selfishness and an ‘all about me’ attitude. It is all about the ‘Great Balance’.

The Great Balance is like an ether all about us and in every living thing. It is a vast invisible ocean that fills us all with life and connects us to the Creator. Within it there are often storms but it is always filled with the ripples caused by each created being’s choices good and evil and even those things that are basically neither good nor evil. The most peaceful and enlightened among us still send forth a steady ripple, an energy that stabilizes the instability in the ether. We are all connected. All we do affects every other thing. Our actions cause the greatest ripples of all but have no doubt our very thoughts also affect all living things and all creation. For all actions are preceded by thoughts. Potential actions present themselves every day to the courtroom of our minds to be tried by us, then we make our choices. It all begins with a thought. Some would say there are some things that affect our world more than others and it may seem so but the reality is every thought, every action, every choice has no less effect than another. How can it? We are all created and began as a thought in the Creator’s great mind.

And what is this ‘ether’ I speak of? It is truth. From it every living thing proceeds. And everything is a living thing. Religions, cults, politics and even terrorist movements push their version of what they call truth but that is all it is, a mere label to hang on whatever their brand is trying to justify. I can wear a shirt that says ‘Grand Canyon’ on it but it doesn’t necessarily mean I have been there. Just because this group or that group says they have the truth does not make it so. It doesn’t matter how powerful someone seems or how loud they scream from a pulpit it doesn’t necessarily make what they are pushing the truth.

Something Dawson McAllister said a long time ago that has stayed with me is “For something to be truth it must be for all people for all time”. Think about that. Truth can’t be just for the ones who voted Democrat or Republican or who joined your denomination or a particular multitude or mob. It doesn’t matter if your axiom has been around for thousands of years it can be wrong. It doesn’t matter if a majority or at least a large part of the population believes it. It doesn’t matter how sincere you are; You can be sincerely wrong.

Seeker of truth, spiritual walking person beware. There is a balance. All human beings and life are of value and part of the great ether. Any belief system that discards another does not have the truth. Any religion that puts one human being over another does not have the truth. Think about the gifts, talents and skills we are depriving ourselves of because this person or that person, this color or that color, this gender or that gender are discriminated against. Take the example of abortion. What if that child that was aborted had the cure to cancer or AIDS or some invention that changed the world for the better? Who are we as human beings thinking we can place the value of the life of one person above another. There are Native American tribes who even considered those that in this modern day and time would be labeled retarded as touched by spirits and worthy to be listened to lest they say something profound. Think of the world just 100 years ago that put away a child with Down’s Syndrome for life in some asylum somewhere yet now they are CEO’s of companies. Here is something to think about: The father was syphilitic, the mother had tuberculosis. Of the four children born, the first was blind, the second died, the third was deaf and dumb, the fourth also had tuberculosis. They are pregnant with their fifth child. Would you abort that child? If you said ‘yes’ you would have murdered Beethoven.

We are all in this together. We are one tribe who can benefit from one another’s strengths and weaknesses. All lives matter. All thoughts and actions matter.

WE ARE WARRIORS

As a martial artist and a student the disciplines and philosophies of warriors of old and even now I see a code running through them all, a creed, personal rules, lines they will not cross and things they will not tolerate. This too is part of our spiritual walk as human beings. Being a warrior is less about actual physical fighting than you may think. Yes, that is part of it but only as it relates to self defense or defense of another less capable of defending themselves. Consider how you face the challenges of life. It is more than resolving the outward manifestation of the issue, is it not? Is there not a mental and spiritual warfare going on in these times? This feature is to share the warrior’s way. It is up to you how you apply it to life.—Raven

These thoughts are from Dr. Bohdi Sanders (Martial artist, Author, Philosopher):

If you calm your own mind and discern the inner mind of others, that may be called the foremost art of war. Shiba Yoshimasa

I have talked a lot about how the warrior should keep a calm and tranquil mind no matter what situation he may find himself in, but I haven’t elaborated much on discerning the minds of others. This is another important skill for the warrior to learn. Shiba Yoshimasa calls the combination of these two skills the foremost art of war. They are both necessary for success. You have to develop, not only the ability to remain calm in adverse conditions, but the ability to sense when others mean you harm.