Averting World Disasters

Question: How can there be any intelligence in the laws of nature when hundreds of thousands of innocent people suffer and die from an earthquake, as is happening in Haiti?

What thoughts go through your mind, Thom, when you hear of such an event?

How does meditating help a suffering world?

Aren’t we just turning a blind eye when we meditate?

Thom:

Every single day, much of our world’s vast population experiences appalling suffering of every kind; most of it is unimaginable to us. The deaths, the gruesome suffering, the starvation and thirst after the earthquake in Haiti is well-covered by the media; it is shocking to learn of these horrors, and it is extremely frustrating to witness the obstacles to bringing meaningful help after-the-fact.

This notwithstanding, the media has not documented the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who suffer horribly in myriad ways every minute that we sleep, wake, and eat.

When given no alternative, occasionally the media will pause its program of reporting upon trivia and the “rich-people-problems of the non-entities” (by the latter term I mean ‘persons of little consequence or significance’). Then the media will present us with a few days’ snapshots of one horrible set of events in one place outside the bubble of safety from which we view –and it is shocking to us. Remember: we see only a snapshot before the trivia reports recommence. What else is happening to our fellow humans while we gorge ourselves on trivia? The experiences of the rest of our world’s people will go unreported.

Because no one knows what to do about the suffering of the world, unfortunately, the response of the majority of people in developed nations is merely to continue to ignore it. The media simply reflects its constituents’ willingness to ignore. This collective reaction is unsustainable; it invites destruction.

The true problem in our suffering world is the chronic failure of people in developed nations to correct their priorities. A developed nation that is fascinated by trivia and willing to ignore is, in fact, engineering its own demise. Stress accumulation and obsolete education are twin causes of developed nations’ ignorance of the true needs of their fellow humans. Stress makes one ignorant by causing chronic brain failure collectively.

Haiti was a disaster waiting to happen. An earthquake triggered that disaster, but humans inside and outside of Haiti set up the initial conditions for the magnitude of the catastrophe. Far from its being unlikely, only the most likely outcomes eventuated in Haiti, caused by humans failing to foresee the obvious future-in-the-making. After the disaster hit, we moved to provide aid provoked more by conscience than by other motives. To do so is a laudable act of charity, but it is not enough.

Consider this: how many more major disasters are waiting to happen right now in our world? I suggest to you that these are too numerous to catalogue. Can we deal with another ten or another fifty if they all happen together? Of course we cannot.

The use of available human brain power has bottomed-out in our generation, averaging just 2%. Let me congratulate you for practising your meditation technique regularly; you have joined a growing cadre of people who can see the reality of the world around them, because, like them, you are no longer averaging a mere 2% use of your available brainpower.

We cannot help the world by conforming with the majority who use only 2% of their brains. We must continue to develop our fullest potential in order to make a significant difference. I invite you and your friends to help me realise the plan of bringing a new age to this suffering world by popularising meditation and thereby decreasing ignorance.

After practising a session of meditation, dynamic activity stabilises the deep inner silence (Being) that we locate within. Once Being is stabilised, 100% of the brain’s organising power is unleashed. Regular twice daily meditation allows your entire brain to be fit and available fully for the big, important and urgent projects in the world that deserve high-quality attention, in order to achieve “what should have been done” before disasters underscore it.

Now, as regards nature’s intelligence, if one were to watch impassively as a child crawled excitedly toward a glowing ember and is burned, does this sequence of events negate the existence of intelligence in the laws of nature? Perhaps it does, for those who use 2% of their brains. You are not one of those.

What I teach is that ignorance creates the weakness that attracts destruction. A suffering population is a symptom of a world that is ignorant and weak; the suffering population is not blameworthy. Blame lies with those who do nothing new and thereby enable the world’s capability to ignore its fellow humans.

Don’t wait for others, especially don’t wait for governments. Identify and address now what is being ignored. Take that brilliant meditator’s brain of yours and put it into action!

Jai Guru Deva, Thom