A series of typhoon has brought rains for more than a week. The rain silenced the unnecessary noise around and allowed me to look deeply and reflect on the current situation of our lifestyle.
Here are some of my contemplations:
Contemplations on Lifestyle
We are aware of our lifestyle. We know the effects of our diet and habit to our health and environment, yet we still continue on our chosen path to decay of our bodies and character. Why is this so? I am using "we" because I also catch myself participating in this path to decay. We choose to eat unhealthy and choose convenience. We prefer complex, intense, savoury, and greasy food over simple, fibre-rich, and modest diet. We choose to participate in "hate" and "fight" over matters that sprouted from "hate". We choose to react in anger over other's anger resulting to no peace and understanding. We choose to lust and entice lust from others with our behavior and appearance, thereby, losing our purity and integrity. We allow social media, television, and internet sites to mould our mind and character instead of reflecting on it upon ourselves. We allow dogmas to govern our faith rather than allowing nature to penetrate our hearts and realize the truth of Creation.
We are aware. We know what is happening around us. We know its causes and effects. Yet, we still choose to remain and participate in it. We allow our minds to stagger and lag and feign ignorance. Ignorance can never be bliss. Ignorance can only add to the weight of our suffering.
Being aware is only one step. We have to strengthen our discipline and roots and reflect this on our lifestyle and action.
Contemplation on Social Media
Social media have indeed caused many suffering on our lifestyle. It helped the ego of people grow and create false self-images of themselves. The one posting boosts his or her ego then the one who looks at the post feels some sort of emptiness. "Why are they having this much fun?" "Lucky for them they can travel" "Why am I not having what they're having?" "It's nice to have a girlfriend/boyfriend" This may then result to that person posting something to boost his or her own ego or, unfortunately, lead the person slowly to depression.
Yes, you can communicate via messaging or texts but there is no direct communication going on. I cannot look into the person's eyes and see the sincerity of their words. I cannot hear the softness of the voice and feel the compassion. I cannot see the hand gestures, the subtle movements that emphasize on the words and feelings they want to convey. You can see that they already "saw" your message and we respond on our own convenient time. This harshly lessens the significance of a conversation. When they are right there, in front of you, you can be fully present for them. Respond to their words with sincerity and love. See the emotions in their eyes. Hear the compassion in their voice. Observe the sincerity in their gestures. This creates real connection. This is the "real" network.
If social media is part of our job or is indeed necessary for our current lifestyle, let us be mindful of what we share or post. Before we post anything, consider if this is helpful to other people's life. Will this help their awakening process? Am I only posting to boost my ego? Will this feed truth, joy, and love in other's hearts? Am I spreading hate, distrust, lust, or anger? Ask these questions before posting or sharing anything and we can use social media to help ourselves reach greater consciousness together.
Contemplations on Love
Here is one of my favorite contemplations. Love. The beautiful energy of Love!
Oh how we have twisted the meaning of Love to fit our selfish, lustful, and greedy motives! We reasoned many of our misdeeds and blamed it on Love. We have raised our children with wrong teachings and punished them out of "Love". We have built relationships thinking that our empty hearts needs to be filled by "Love" from another person.
These are all not true love. The energy of love is pure, gentle,and thrives in truth. Love does not exist in violence. Love does not exist in attachments and possessiveness.
We need not seek Love from another person! We do not have holes in our hearts that needs to be filled. We simply have not realized yet that we are already filled with Love from the very beginning. We seek completion from another person such that when that person leaves, we feel "empty". You are already complete to begin with so why seek completion from another?
This does not mean that you do not have to create relationships. If two people who are not aware of their completeness agreed to start a relationship, there will only be suffering because this will result to a tug-of-war of energies. Each one is sapping from another's energies because each one feels incomplete without the other. This results to conflicts, misunderstandings, and possessiveness.
To create a better image, if two people who are aware of their completeness and are pursuing the purpose of their lives each on their own and decide to conjoin in a relationship, imagine the goodness they can bring to this world! Their energies are now not sapping from each other but complimenting one another. A synergistic combination arises and this can be reflected in their lifestyle. Furthermore, the child born from this type of conjoint creation will surely be raised in an environment that will create deep impact to the society they will be in. This is so because the child will observe firsthand the emotions and actions born out of truth and love.
This is True Love. All encompassing, free, joyful, and thrives in truth.
The rainbow after a series of typhoon reminded me to look up to the heavens even on rainy days
