Every human being loves their life. Every living being loves their life. Each wants to have the opportunity to grow, to live, to thrive, to procreate. Each wants to have enough food, enough water, shelter.
So the basic human needs, physical needs, are not dissimilar from those of other living beings upon this planet. And it is the birthright of each one that comes to live on this planet to be provided those basic necessities: food, shelter, water, sunlight, and for human beings, clothing. These are the essential needs to be met. And the Mother Earth has grown all the living beings on this earth, including human beings, and provided for them, developed the resources that they might enjoy their lives and prosper.
So nature is a fine balance of having that which is needed and supporting life, and yet having a disruption so that there is the high and low. But the natural forces, the ways of nature, are simple, governed by the laws of Mother Nature, by the laws of Prakriti. The standards remain.
However, disruption to those natural forces can and does occur, both with human error and in natural settings. Asteroids destroy the balance of the planet yet they remain in the overall balance of the galaxy and the universe. Cosmic forces of the sun, sun flares, can destroy the balance of life on a planet, yet it remains within the balance of the larger perspective of the galaxies or the universe.
So all things have their time and operate in a process of synthesis and of chaos. So it is within human life that there are factors outside of the individual’s control. As much as you try to make your life secure so that your primary and fundamental needs are met and then your mental needs and your spiritual needs are met, as much as you try to make this the way of your life and to control it, there are times when it falls out of your control. And things may go in ways that you cannot predict.
And the question arises, has it ever been in your personal control? Does a human being have free will and can you control what happens? Or is it destined to be in the larger scheme of the cosmos?
You are a part of an integrated web of life, on this planet and beyond. You are a part of a whole of being. Just as the cell in your liver does not control your entire body, though it can impact your entire body if it is ill-functioning, so an individual does not control the whole of circumstance, though they can impact it. And if the collective of those individuals, if all the cells of the liver should become degenerate, then there is a definite impact on the whole system. And even the whole system can be destroyed.
This capacity of the individual within the context of the integrated, interwoven whole of life is much the same as the cell in your body. And the impact of a group of people whose mental and psychic energies become destructive to life can also impact the body.
There is no definitive control that the individual has over themselves or the whole of life. Yet they are part of that. And each one plays a part to do their job, to do their duty. Should you not do your duty, should you choose to not be a vital part of the functioning of life, you do harm. Should you choose to be aggressive and destroy others, you do harm. All things have their time, their time of life and their time of death, their time to preserve, their time to be born, their time to leave. This is true both individually and collectively.
Stars are born. They live for a time. In their light, whole societies of living beings may flourish on planets, who also live for a time. But the lives of the living beings on the planet being so much shorter, they may not realize they are part of a whole system. And that whole system has a birth, a preservation of its existence, and a death. This is the way of creation. It all occurs within the cosmic mind. So it is that human beings have this same rhythm. If they want to be immortal and live forever, they would be outside of this rhythm, for even life forms such as suns that live for billions upon human years still are in this rhythm. They are born, they preserve, they flourish in life, and they pass from this world.
All things have their time in this manifest universe. Because all things lie within the cosmic mind. They are creations within the consciousness of being. The glue that holds it all together, that glue in human terms we call love. It is the attractive force that brings all things together, that makes what is whole, that makes what is complete, that creates the cycle of life, preservation, and destruction.
This created universe abides by certain laws, operative principles. Fundamental are the three Gunas: Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas. They are fundamental to this operative way of life. Human beings have the unique capacity to choose whether to move in harmony with the laws of nature, or whether to attempt to subvert them, convert them, attempt to move aside of them, to preserve themselves eternally, to acquire more than their share.
When the minds of human beings become imbalanced, they will want more and more. And they will feel as if it is never enough. This can happen individually, and it can happen collectively. When fear takes over the mind of a living being, the living being becomes aggressive to preserve their life.
But when fear becomes irrational, that aggression can become a way of being, an attitude, an action in life that does not merely sustain, but is destructive. So it cannot be said that human beings do not have choice, for there is choice. But the choice is limited, for the individual lies within a larger system.
And the system, the laws of Prakriti apply to all. When they are violated, there are repercussions. This planet, Earth, is in a process of transformation. As a living being, the planet has its own life force, its microvita. It produces microvita and flourishes life of all types to evolve towards cognition and conscious awareness.
In that evolutionary process, in the pull of life towards the one, towards the whole, towards the Purushottama, the cosmic nucleus, there are highs and lows, fits and starts. But this pull is exerting on every living being, knowingly or unknowingly.
Human beings are fragile in many ways. They can be hurt physically. Their bodies are not very strong; they are very vulnerable. They can be hurt mentally. The minds of people can be wounded, causing imbalanced reactions in the mind and in the actions taken.
When the mind of a person is not wounded, they simply want to live, to prosper, to express their inner heart in the world of form, to love, to be loved, and to flourish. That is natural. But when that natural urge is harmed, and the person experiences diminishment, fear and anger arise. Because there is a desire to complete this natural flow of prosperity, of joy, of love to the whole.
And in that struggle, when thwarted, fear and anger abide in the mind of a human being. And out of those two emotions, come a multitude of actions of self-preservation, of one’s individual self or one’s group, at the cost, often, of another. This is the natural result when a wound is there, there is the reaction. From the reaction abides new action. Thus, Karma is accrued both individually and collectively among people.
And fear and anger bring about suffering as human beings try to right the wrong that they perceive, and bring themselves to a place of balance where they can find the love, find the self-worth, find the connection to others and to themselves, find the ability to open their hearts in love, and dance in spirit with the one.
This is a time in the world when there is a great transition, an evolution of consciousness. Evolution does not come in a straightforward, uninhibited path. It comes in fits and starts. Because everything, everyone wants to stay where they are. They don’t want change.
Change is frightening. And despite the fear and anger, there is a clinging to what has been, a fear that change will somehow make it worse. And so as living beings evolve, as the crisis of the current situation, the destruction of the planet, the weather, the pollution goes forward, tension rises.
And what happens to human beings when they feel that their natural course of thriving in life is disrupted by not having the opportunity to fully express, to believe in themselves, to feel good about themselves, to be able to be all that they can be and grow and develop? When that is thwarted, fear and anger arise, individually and collectively. And these lead to war, conflict, territorialism: I and mine as opposed to other.
So in the tumultuous times, people’s security goes down. Their defenses go up. And their aggressive actions often follow. In such times, having great compassion for all those who suffer, and doing what you can, is important. But it is also important—the shifts and changes of evolutionary transformation—as humanity finds its way from the divisive groupism that has governed its evolution to a new unity of hearts and minds, it is bound to encounter fear and resistance, anger and upheaval, both in individuals and in the collective of human society.
What to do during such times? Remember the pure love of the infinite for all living beings regardless of race, nationality, language, religion; the love of the infinite for all living beings. Remember that and keep it most prominent in your mind, governing your actions, so that you do not live in hate of anyone, though you may disagree and you may attempt to stop the harmful actions of some.
Remember this and remember that these are times of change. And change, positive change, comes in fits and starts. Two steps forward, one step back. This is the way. Ups and downs, this is the way. But though you have ups and downs, you’re going towards your goal.
Humanity is moving towards its collective evolution. It is coming together to be one. And in that process it is rubbing up against itself, opening up old wounds that need to be healed.