face ALL BEINGS
“We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.”
W.H. Auden
My philosophy on humankind begins from the belief that we are fundamentally connected. On an Astral level, this connection is in our common consciousness and on a physical level, it is in our common abidance by the laws of the universe. In this way, bereft of the thinking mind, we are truly inseparable. Naturally this means that our capacity for compassion extends beyond just ‘ourselves’, as our true “self” encompasses all beings. This is a space of love — “be-able”, but not “know-able.” However, this is not the way the ‘thinking mind’ functions. And it’s that fundamental ignorance of the thinking mind that perpetuates a sense of separateness (and the attachment and aversion that result).
Boulder, Colorado
I believe it’s the strict obedience to the thinking mind that gets us in trouble. Though we know, intuitively, our fundamental connected-ness, our sense of connection is limited by what we know conceptually. I believe that as the species has evolved, we have had to draw lines of separation as a survival mechanism. What we knew, generally our “tribe”, was the domain of those we cared for, and those outside it were separated. As we have evolved, our world, what we know, has expanded and thus, so to has the size of our tribes. I believe that, though this timeline of evolution has allowed for our survival, it is now out-dated and a major impediment to world peace. This being said, we are ripe for the next step in this evolutionary process.
Where we are right now, with all of the social and economic inequality, devaluation (of not only humans but all beings), and systematic obedience to the institutions that perpetuate these issues, I believe that we have over-stayed our welcome in the “survival of the fittest” mentality. By this point in the evolutionary timeline, we have expanded our conscious lenses so much
sw-one Rotorua, New Zealand
that we are all part of one tribe. From the day we left this planet and saw it as a floating ball in space, we entered a new phase of conscious awakening. We are in an age of Globalization, where this whole planet is our tribe. And in this way, we can treat all beings like members. I believe that societal awakening begins with societal connection. It begins with a foundational value for all sentient beings — a society that will not stand for inequality and institutionalized oppression.
In this section, I consider the importance of recognizing and reflecting on our basic connection to others and highlight the injustice that is perpetuated by egotism and separateness. I re-define a paradigm life-style that works for the well-being of others and indirectly creates more positive lives for us.