Author: Ariole K Alei
There's a kingpin in every machine, a tiny place no bigger
than the size of your hand - even in a machine the size of
a warehouse. In this tiny place, if you insert anything
foreign to the process of this machine - something even as
small as a toothpick - you will stop this mammoth mechanism
in its tracks.
What is the kingpin for humanity? What is the missing clue
that will stop suffering - and our perpetuation and
encouragement of it - in its tracks?
Are you overwhelmed by the global - or even the local -
news? Does the crime, 'natural' disasters, and even the
reporting of the weather get you down? Does the state of
the world plummet you into a quicksand pit of despair? Do
you sometimes wonder if humanity will ever stop fighting?
If we will ever enlist our will to the true cessation of
famine, poverty, homelessness, and suicide? What about the
growing epidemic of depression, anticipated to become even
more prevalent than heart attacks and strokes in cutting
short human lives? Does this get you down?
And in the privacy of your own personal life … Do you ever
feel like your past has you by the throat, choking the NOW
life out of you? Do you get caught in downward spirals -
seemingly relentless personal tornadoes - of fear, anxiety,
confusion, self-criticism, and hopelessness? How often is
the sun obliterated by clouds in your experience of life?
As a species, we are becoming rapidly more and more
de-sensitized - more and more like a great machine. The
images on the 'news' of suffering and disasters around the
world - 'reporting' which became increasingly fear based in
the late 1980's - has so overwhelmed us that we take
suffering for granted. Images and characterizations of
violence and violent people as 'heroes' in movies, video
games and television programs has made us 'tough' outside …
so tough that we are becoming increasingly desensitized.
When we 'step back' and observe this trend from an
observer's vantage, what do we see? What are the effects
of the trends that we are allowing to sweep our species,
unchecked?
With a trillion dollars exchanging hands around this planet
each and every day, how is it that we tolerate poverty and
living on the razor's edge of survival - for us and / or
for the billions of people around the world who daily eke
out a meager living? How is it that we complacently
tolerate this? What's gone wrong?
With thousands of people in villages and communities around
the world living well into their hundreds, hundred and
twenties, and even hundred and forties, why is it that we
increasingly assume, sheepishly, that disease is a natural
cause of death? What ever happened to dying from 'old
age', robust and content with our life's journey - at peace?
With six and a half billion people on this planet - and
growing - how is it that any of us are lonely? How is it
that we can experience such incredible isolation, as if we
haven't any kin?
With millions of people experiencing true satisfaction and
inspiration in their lives, eager to get up each morning to
live a new day of fulfillment, service, creativity and
discovery, how is it that any of us are bored? How is it
that we settle for dead-end jobs, under-challenging and
even denegrading work environments? And how is it that we
tolerate knowing that many of the products we buy are
created on the backs of sweat shop workers, farmers
unprotected from lethal pesticides, and other atrocities of
modern 'technology'?
How can this be?
It can be because we have become so desensitized. We are
like the frog in the glass beaker that sits trustingly as
the water boils - until it explodes. We adapt. We
normalize unspeakable conditions, our ego mind convincing
us that they're alright.
What is the cost of this? What if we were to pull out a
calculator, and with the most brilliant mathematical minds
in the world leading this project, we were to take an
inventory of all the areas of human life that are affected
by our adapting to appalling circumstances, protocols and
behaviors? What 'price' would we tally?
Take a breath - a deep breath.
All of this can stop, now. We know where to put the
toothpick in the machine. We know how to stop this
insanity in its tracks.
It's about stillness. And being present.
It's about re-sensitizing ourselves to the world around us
and within us.
It's about standing up in our internal power and
discovering that we each are far more capable than we've
been raised to believe we are.
There is no problem or challenge in our midst that is
devoid of a matching solution. To see this - to know this
- we must become sensitive to what is. And we must stand
in our true power.
Think of Atlas, the Greek God who carries the planet on his
back. He is doing this not out of suffering, or out of
martyrdom. He is doing this out of pure strength. When we
are strong work is not an effort. Challenges are not
obstacles. The toothpick stops the machine with utmost
ease.
Does this inspire you? Does it frighten you? Does it
evoke your curiosity? Do you feel hot inside, as if your
body is preparing to rise to an exciting challenge?
If you feel your senses whetted by what you are reading
here - this is a sign that you're ready to rise into
clarity, empowerment, and freedom from misery - yours and
humanity's.
All of the great teachers throughout the ages have shared a
common vision with their earthly students: That suffering
is not a necessity.
There is a path out of suffering.
A path, by its very nature, is a guided route. It is a
route that has already been traveled - at least by the
person leading it. Jesus taught as he walked this path.
He 'shone the light of his consciousness' upon it and led
the way for those who believed it could be true. Buddha
taught as he walked this path. Mohammed taught as he
walked this path. Lao Tzu taught as he walked this path.
Gandhi taught as he walked this path. Martin Luther King
Jr. taught as he walked this path. The list goes on …
This path is not a religious path. Religions have evolved
out of the teachings of great masters. The masters did not
proclaim a religion. Religion 'followed' them.
You can be a simple mortal and walk this path.
And you can do this NOW.
Take stock of your suffering. In what areas of your life
do you suffer? How? Do you suffer just in your own
personal life? Do you witness suffering around you? In
your immediate community? In the world at large?
How much would it be worth to you to reduce this suffering?
What if there was a clear and simple 'Map'?
Breathe again. Take a deep, long, slow breath.
It is here, now.
The 'Map'.
About the Author:
Ariole K. Alei is the author of "H.O.P.E. = Healing
Ourselves and Planet Earth - A Blueprint for Personal and
Collective Change", a book which has been likened to
Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth". She teaches international
Tele Classes and Workshops based on the teachings - the
'Map' - within this book. To purchase this and other Books
and to Register for this and other Tele Classes please
visit http://www.HeartSongSolutions
