Heal The World

Human beings have been fighting each other since the dawn of time. As history shows us, the atrocities we've done to each other–whether it's making slaves out of our own species, bombing our neighbors, and everything in between that's worst, and that we're probably not even aware of–depict an image that reveals how discriminative our actions have been. And now, we're forced to face the failures of our old ways, so that we realize it's about time we end the vicious cycle.

While we like to pride ourselves about how advanced we are today; the news are still filled with "relics of the past" such as murders, rape, bombs, protesting, threats of wars, people getting sicker and sicker. To make sense of this madness, we're encouraged to point a finger at a particular race, a religious group, a certain government, or even a bat–and the only lesson we learn in the process is how "different" we are from each other; which promotes our division, not only with one another but also with Nature, pushing us deeper into the rabbit hole.

Our mind is the most complex "machine" in existence. We use it to make sense of the world around us. The human mind works with the information it receives from the outer world, which it dissects and analyzes, before organizing everything into different categories, so that we're able to "call" back that information whenever needed. By its very nature therefore, the mind is discriminatory–and this discriminatory nature is necessary for us to function in the world. It's through the mind that we're able to improve our lives, build technologies that make things easier, and find ourselves in the so-called modern world today. The mind's motivation therefore is improvement, efficiency, in all ways.

But we forget one thing, we're not just minds, are we? We have a physical body, a mind that helps us make sense of the world, and a heart that makes us capable of loving, feeling compassionate, being kind–which connects us to each other. Our emotions give life and meaning to our existence. Emotions make living worth it.

It's true that outside our homes, friends and families–most of us don't use our heart much. We have to survive in the world, and to survive we need to offer some value to this world, which puts us in jobs and businesses most of our lives. We're in the habit of living based on protocols, we work in organizations, which contain hierarchies, structures, all of which are designed by the mind.

If we took a step back from our lives, and looked at things from an outside perspective–we quickly see that we're living in a mind-based world. And because the world, as it is now, demands so much from us; because we're burdened with responsibilities–we don't have enough time to think about things outside our little bubbles, and therefore most of us have come to believe this is all there is to life; that life is just about loving some people, firing some others, improving processes at all costs, focusing on margins–even if it creates horrible working conditions for people. Et cetera. All. Mental. Designs.

Everyday, we're draining the Earth from her resources, negatively affecting the very life forms, and "platform" that make our lives possible. Everyday, we're focused on squeezing every cent out of every opportunity, whether or not it's beneficial for those on the receiving end. Everyday, we're keeping the madness going, simply because we don't want to lose our power.

Our extreme emphasis on logic drives us into relying more and more on machines, and artificial intelligence. With so many screens covering our face today, we're unable to look at life, and connect with people, like we once did–from our heart. The consequences from such living are obviously disastrous. We forget that we're all human beings, which means means we have a brain, and a heart too. We forget the Earth is our home and that without the order of life, we wouldn't be able to watch our kids grow, appreciate the taste of a juicy orange, or watch a miraculously beautiful sunset. And because we forget it all, it's easier to hurt each other.

While we're still in the habit of overusing our mind–which has its use when it comes to functioning in the world–our overdependence on logic makes us forget about the intimate connection between our heart and our brain. And today, science itself is demonstrating how both were designed to work together. Research has shown that the heart has a "little brain." And in a paper published by researchers at the HeartMath Institute, here's what the heart's "little brain" is designed to do:

The heart is far more than a simple pump; it is in fact a highly complex, self-organized sensory organ with its own functional “little brain” that communicates with and influences the brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences can profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs. Read the paper

If we were designed by Mother Nature to function as whole beings, capable of the greatest technological achievements, but also of the greatest acts of care, compassion, kindness, love–to the point of being able to heal people–aren't we going against our nature by only relying on our brain? And more importantly, aren't we acting as an obstacle to our own evolution as human beings, therefore keeping ourselves trapped in vicious cycles of suffering and misery?

We're taught from a very young age, especially in our schools, that we're the product of "luck," but also that we're powerless beings in a threatening environment. Because we're made to believe something outside of us is more powerful than we are; we blame others, Nature, our "bad luck" for whatever situation we find ourselves in. What we don't realize in delegating the responsibility of our life to an external agent is that, it makes us feel powerless, like cogs in the giant machinery of the universe. While feeling sorry for ourselves may comfort us; scientific discoveries are now proving that the opposite is actually true, that we're not powerless pawns in a random universe, but that we create our lives from scratch based on how we "look" at them. Quantum physics, through the "observer effect," has demonstrated that we affect the world around us, and that the world is continuously being shaped according to our observation, as we keep going.

The power we've always craved, and believed to be in someone else's hands, has been ours since we were born. What we're looking for through people, what we're hoping to happen–entirely depends on us. We just have to reclaim it. But until we do, we'll feel dissipated. Our confusion will paralyze us. Our actions will be inconsistent–we'll say something, and do the opposite. Our speech will remain charismatic and interesting, but our execution will remain inconsistent, incoherent and irrelevant to what we're talking about. We'll develop organizations and religions to institutionalize our leaders' messages–great souls like Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, as well as countless of others, who acted for the greater good, and inspired people to create a world of unity, inclusivity and peace. But once they're gone–we'll allow our egos to take over the purpose we were entrusted with–spending the time and the resources we have, not to deal with the problem at hand, but to be right and look important in front of other morons.

But this shouldn't be "bad news," in fact, it's the best news we could have because now, we're forced to face the consequences of our actions; we're finally opening our eyes to the fact that our so-called "advancement" cost us our humanity. And while some day, we may all finally be on the same page; in the meantime, I will focus my energy where it can pay the most dividends. And that is on myself. On creating the best possible "me." The “me” that is able to serve as a contributing force to the betterment of all life everywhere.

How to heal the world with only two cents

I am a human being, just like you are. I don't know how to read or how to write. No institution takes me seriously because I have no credentials; I'm just another statistical number. Year after year, donations are made so that I am able to eat; food which I don't always receive. To the eyes of the world, I am nobody. And to put the cherry on top of a cake which I'll probably never taste, I don't exist in most people's minds because just like myself, everyone else is mainly concerned about their own problems, desires, and trajectories.

Yet, I am as much a part of this world as you, everything and everyone else is. However we may "see" ourselves, we're part of this giant ball called the Earth. How we behave, how we interact with each other, how we think and feel about people and our environment, and what those internal dynamics create in the world we share with everyone else; it has an impact on each and every single one of our lives, in ways we don't always realize.

Because I find myself so interconnected to everything, and everyone around me, and despite being nobody; I feel responsible about it. What I do, how I think and feel–this is up to me. No one can think or feel for me, no one can act in my name. I am responsible for my body, my mind and my feelings. Coming to this understanding makes me eager to share it with the world, so that others too, spread the word, and educate our children to keep the peace growing. But soon, I catch myself doing the same things I've been expecting organizations to help me with. Seeing where it ultimately leads, because I know how much we, human beings, love to boost our egos–I stop.

I won't repeat this mistake.

Then I ask myself two questions. What choice is left? How can I have the maximum impact without falling back into those traps that got us nowhere?

Because I am intimately connected to Nature, to other people just like myself through my actions, both psychologically and physically–I realize that the best contribution I can make, despite being no one, nowhere–is to live with total responsibility about my actions, internally and physically. And this means, not throwing my suffering onto the world. It means owning my feelings, dealing with my fears, and expressing myself honestly. I know that it won't be easy. I've been accustomed to my old ways for as long as I can remember–but I immediately stop myself from blaming that too, so I bring back my attention to this present moment, where I have the most power to create change. And here’s how I will make it happen:

1. My problems are mine, I don't project them onto the world
2. How I react to what I perceive is up to me, the world simply shows me different images, and it's up to me to decide whether or not they can affect me
3. I retain my individuality and everything that makes me, me, but I never forget the fact that I'm living with billions of other individual people just like myself, as well as all the other life forms in my environment, plus the environment itself. I never forget that I am part of this big, beautiful, blue planet that I call my home.

We like to think that only a miracle, or some massive mobilization of people and resources can create a healthier world for us all. The truth is much simpler. Yes, we create a powerful momentum together, but we're born individually–from all possibilities, the zero switches to one. It only takes one of us, to spark the change we're all hoping for. And once it happens, nothing can stand on its way.