Buddhas Psychology teaches that we are not out thoughts, our bodies, our feelings, our personalities. Who we are is the awareness, compassion and kindness who observes our thoughts, bodies and feelings and behavior.
It also teaches that our suffering occurs when we ‘believe in a thought that is at odds with what was, what is and what will be in the future.’ When we suffer because of our inaccurate and or delusional thoughts, others in our family and community can also suffer, as well.
I am going to offer four examples of what this looks like in todays’ world:
…Vladimir Putin has the idea that he wants to bring back the Soviet Union to its glory days. In order to do this, he has to retake the lands that left the Soviet Union upon its dissolution as a nation state. He is currently attempting to retake the lands in Ukraine. United States intelligence has stated that Russian losses and wounded numbered 315,000.
In the course of Putin’s attempt to restore the Soviet Union, the Office of United Nations Hight Commissioner for Human Rights reports that in the Ukraine there have been 9,614 civilian deaths and 17,535 reported to have been injured as of October 27, 2023. Women, children, hospitals and shelters have been destroyed in addition to homes and communities. It reported that Ukrainian military causalities number 383,000. As of December 2022, the number of Ukrainian military wounded numbered 17,329.
One man’s delusional wants have caused such suffering. Again, suffering occurs if we believe in a thought that is at odds with is.
…In 2005, Israel left the Gaza Strip, and the political fabric of this area was turned over to the Palestinians to govern. Out of this transfer of power, Hamas emerged as the leading political force. The only difficulty with this political equation is that Hamas is committed to destroying Israel and every Jew on the face of the earth.
On October 7, 2023 Hamas attacked and slaughtered, raped and tortured Jewish citizens. 764 civilians died and 248 persons taken hostage. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s determination to destroy all vestiges of Hamas has brought about staggering causalities and destruction of the Gaza strip. Since the October attack, over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of whom are children and women.
The nature of Hamas’ way of guerilla warfare is the hide behind women’s skirts and to use children as their protective shields. To eliminate members of Hamas, innocent Palestinians have been and are going to be killed. Homes have been destroyed and much of Gaza looks like a moonscape. Israel has cut off water, electricity, medical support and food to the Gaza Strip. This act alone ensures disease and death for innocent Palestinians. Hospitals have been indiscriminately bombed.
Netanyahu is approaching the destruction of Hamas and an act of killing leadership and foot soldiers, when, instead, Hamas is an ideology that people adopt. History has shown that an ideology does not die by killing those who act it out.
What Netanyahu is doing is planting the seeds of resentment for those who have lost children, wives, husbands, family members and all of their material possession. His starving innocent citizens is only inflaming generations of these victims for decades to come.
Again, suffering occurs when we think a thought that is at odds with what is. Netanyahu’s killing people is not going to change the ideology that propels people into killing machines. He is only creating more resentment and hatred toward the people of Israel.
…The Mega arm of the United States Congress thinks that their job is to slow down the passage of legislation, to make the Biden Administration look incompetent. Their approach to a do-nothing legislature, allows them to gamble on the government going bankrupt. Their attitude is a caviler ‘it might be a good thing for the United States to go bankrupt.’
It is as if these folks are clueless about what the net impact will be if the United States Government does not live up to its commitments in relation to other nations throughout the world. Ukraine counts on the United States for weapons and munitions to stand up to Russian aggression. The United States is the grounding force in NATO’s ability to meet threats of aggression from Russia, and from other potentially hostile nations. If a do-nothing Congress fails to act to support these treaties and commitments with our fellow security partners, the United States will lose its creditability on the world stage. It makes it easier for the rest of our partners to feel threatened in ways that they don’t experience with the backing of the United States. And it entices our potential opponents to test the waters to see how far they can go to impose their agendas on the world scene. Again, if we believe in a thought that is at odds with what is, we and all who relate to us will suffer.
…And, finally, we cannot believe in delusional thoughts and not suffer. If we did believe in the psychopathic and delusional lies of a Trump, we would destroy our Constitutional Institutions. We would not be a country where all are equally protected under the law. Instead of an orderly transition of power between administrations, we would have violence tainted efforts to do away with our rights to life, liberty and pursuit of wholeness that are guaranteed under our Bill of Rights.
Our need is to become aware of what we think, what we say and do in our everyday lives. We need to become aware of any reactivity we might have around situations, thoughts, or interactions we might have with others. If we observe any reactivity in our behavior, we need to stop, look and listen to what is going on within us. Anytime we react, we are in touch with an emotional nerve ending that has been touched and we need to become conscious of how that nerve ending is putting us in touch with some area of pain in our lives. Only then, are we able to transcend from reacting to others and be able to respond with awareness in our involvements with others and life itself.
Namaste
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