Our modern-day lifestyles are frequently out of balance, with enormous numbers of people experiencing high levels of stress and chronic disease. Many of us have lost our essential connection with Mother Nature, and therefore also, with our own inner nature. In the last few decades we have created a digital world that is characterized by violence, greed, individualism, breakdown of community and our earthly biosphere is being increasingly ravaged. More than ever before, we are being called to question our purpose here on planet Earth, and the answer can often appear to be elusive.
I believe that we are living at a fascinating and defining moment in human history. Do we turn left, or do we turn right? Do we choose the red pill or the blue pill? By which I mean, are we part of the solution, or are we actually, unwittingly, a part of the problem?
Over the last couple of centuries, science has eclipsed both religion and nature. This has heralded an exceptional time in human history, where groundbreaking technological developments have been emerging at an accelerating rate. There has never been such a pantheon of choice available to us, and a richness of life to explore. Yet these are confusing times, where economically, politically, and socially the terrain is uncertain and complex. So much so, that we really have little idea of what the future looks like.
If we take an objective look at human beings today, and the way in which so many of us live in vast clusters, or the “urban jungle”, we frequently appear obsessed with consuming and acquiring ever more. There is an unspoken belief that “out there”, something will magically make us feel happy and fulfilled. This is in spite of the fact that everything about our life experience so far suggests the opposite – nothing “out there” has ever yielded enduring happiness!
When we pursue the superficial blip of calm and happiness that results from buying a new sports car, dating an attractive partner, owning more clothes, or indeed realizing a previously unattainable yoga posture, we experience what I call the “hot bath” effect. We feel good for a while, but sooner or later, the heat wears off, and we’re back where we started. Everything in the material world is ephemeral.
In truth, aren’t we all craving something deeper, some overriding possibility that elicits real fulfillment. Isn’t real success more to do with peace of mind and a sense of thriving? And surely this has little to do with reaching ever-higher levels on a linear scale of money, possessions, power, or postures?
My view is that there are three aspects of living in the urban jungle which stand squarely in the way of our health and happiness –
- Ignorance – A lack of easily accessible, validated information regarding holistic, natural living
- Delegation of responsibility – An assumption that others, or the state – “the experts”, will take care of us
- A lack of will power – A tendency to lack the confidence and resolve which enable us to hold true to our deepest desires
I believe that many of us are being lulled into a state of helplessness and hopelessness by the prevailing circumstances and our sheep-like, status quo mentality. What is required, is the realization that if we are not taking charge of our own well-being – mentally, physically, and emotionally, then who is?
Self-responsibility
So what exactly do I mean by this?
For sure, self-responsibility requires a level of awareness across the whole of our human lifestyle, but it begins with something far more fundamental…
Normal versus Natural
I’d like to share a story with you, “Taming The Lake Monster”, which is about a restless monster that disturbs the waters of a beautiful lake. The monster is a representation of the human mind, and how it tends to seduce us into being lost in unsolicited thought. He’s not a bad monster though, just one who is poorly
educated. So the message of the story is that we learn to “tame our lake monster” – our unruly mind.
Because of our monster’s habit of swimming about randomly, it’s often the case that we can’t see our own inner beauty; and, whether you believe it or not, the beauty is there within us all. The fact that this is sometimes not evident in certain people, is merely a reflection of how busy and distracting their lake monster is.
When the monster is allowed to behave in his normal, bothersome way, we are not very happy. Since happiness and health go hand in hand, when we’re not very happy we tend not to be very healthy either. So the biggest problem that we face in life today is not global warming, challenging relationships, or having less money than we would ideally like to have, but rather that our mind is racing out of control.
I would like to suggest, however, that this is a huge and magnificent opportunity, since if we can tame our own lake monster, and we can, then we become the masters of our own health and happiness.
For much of the time, we give most of our attention to the monster, allowing him to disturb the calm waters of our being. This is what we might call the normal state.
Yet this is not our natural human state. Our natural state is to be vibrantly alive, neither stressed nor causing stress to others. It’s natural to take good care of ourselves and therefore want to give
of ourselves to others. But due to life’s circumstances, many of us have, to a greater or lesser extent, been programmed into the normal state, where we’re frequently lost in thought, prone to shallow breathing, and careless with the needs of our bodies.
Because of our own inner unease, or stress, we tend to be less compassionate towards others.
Your life experience, and every aspect of your well-being, begins with your quality of mind (normal or natural), and this begins with your predominant thoughts. Whatever you focus your mind on, you enliven it with your life force and generate a vibration that is transmitted throughout your being, and out into the world. So if you continually believe that the programmed thoughts and emotions that arise in your body-mind are “who you are”, then you attract and gradually become their likeness:
‘The mind is everything. What you think you become.’
Your quality of mind is king, in that it determines how you see the world and what you attract towards you, and therefore also who you become. So your predominant thoughts, and your resulting quality of mind, determine the quality of your life.
With this in mind, perhaps you begin to see that you have a magical opportunity with this human life that has been given to you. You can become the master of your own well-being.
Not only this but since everything in life is merely energy vibrating at a given frequency, you are literally sending out a vibration into the world around you, which is a mirror of how you are feeling inwardly. It must therefore be true that if you intentionally choose to vibrate with a positive and loving frequency, then this is the impact that you will be having upon the rest of humanity.
Through consistently inviting your natural quality of your mind,
you will inspire others to do the same, and together we can positively transform the world.
Your well-being is about making the most of your compelling possibility, rather than believing that you are the victim of your genetic programming and the harshness of life. You have the magical capacity to unleash your creative fire at will, so that you live in the natural realm of magic, and not the normal realm of projecting a conditioned story onto the screen of life.
So, my question to you is –
Are you turning left, or are you turning right? Are you choosing the red pill or the blue pill? Are you in your natural, or your normal quality of mind?
Moreover, can you perhaps see that the “urban jungle” is not “out there”, but rather a state of mind within your own being?
These questions lead us to the heart of YOGA – self-knowledge ☺
