World Blues...

WalkerInTheWoods · August 21, 2002, 04:51:03

I know nothing of any meaning to life or such terrible acts. But the whole world is not just terrible acts. The news seems to want people to think that things such as this is all that happens, but it is not. I suggest you stop watching/reading the news for awhile and take a break. I know I have to do this at times. Instead look at all the possitive things that happen around you. There are probably more than you think, you just do not pay much attention to it. How many people have been nice to you today? Anyone let you out/over while driving? Just yesterday I was standing in line at the store with just 3 things to buy. There were two ladies in front of me with many more things. They were nice and let me go in front of them. At times like that I feel reassured that there is still good in the world. Though their act was nothing big, it still was nice. If you want the world to be a brighter place you must do your part. You cannot expect others to be nice if you are not. If you want to make the world a better place be nicer to people and look towards the positive and try to ingore the negative.

muzza · August 21, 2002, 19:51:18

Hi Tia,

Unfortunately the most attention grabbing and rate grabbing news is all the horrific stuff that goes on. There are millions of kind compassionate acts taking place every day but they aren't deemed news worthy because they don't get peoples attention as much as a horror story! Sad but true...

The world is a terrible place...but it is also a wonderful place. Follow fallnangel's advice and take a break from the world. There is no need to watch the news all the time and take on all the things that have no meaning to you. Use the news ime to do something else...meditate? go for a walk? spend time with famly or friends? Do things that make you smile

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Take care and I hope the blues wash away soon!

-- Muzza

James S · August 21, 2002, 21:09:34

Hey Tia,

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There you go. Take a little love and happiness from those around you who want you to have some.

Gotta agree with Muzza & Fallnangel77. I confess ignorance to the happenings in the world right now because I can't be bothered soaking in all the bad vibes being thrown at us by the media. I like to wait until the news is just about finished, when they take a whole minute or so to tell you of something good or funny that's happend.

I got a good bit of advice from a very wonderful & loving spirit early this week. I need to boost my energy & keep my chakras balanced & open - something I'm having a bit of hassle with at the moment. The answer for me was pretty simple - open your eyes and your mind to the beauty around you, and actively look for the good in things where you wouldn't normaly find it. It raises the spirits in more than one sense. I've just got to remember to keep it up.

We have to LIVE IN the same world as all the madness around us, but we don't have to BE OF the same world.

Hugs - James.

James S

- You don't choose the belief, the belief chooses you!

Tia · August 22, 2002, 15:10:15

Thanks fallnangel77, muzza and James S for your replies.

I am taking a break from the news, but at the same time I need to be able to understand the world around me. I try to find some positive outcome in everything even horror - usually you can find it, some purpose or reason - but some things defy explanation. And I wonder if I'm turning a blind eye by ignoring/being oblivious to reality by cutting myself off from what goes on. Then I have to remind myself that I'm not that Superhero that saves the world but I do have some small control in my immediate environment to be positive, it's all I can do.

Wishing you all something wonderful...

Tisha · August 22, 2002, 17:40:14

Hello . . .

Terrible things going on here too . . . there were more children kidnapped in the U.S. this week. Despite the media hype, in the U.S. at least, child abductions have decreased. Even with the decrease, I learned from the news that the rate is 7 children per month.

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Everyone is right, we cannot change the world, but we can change our little part of it, and expand our scopes when we feel more powerful. Sometimes my personal scope doesn't extend beyond my backyard. Other days, I'm ready to take on the White House. The point is to do what you can about the world, however you can cope on any given day.

One of the hardest thing for me to "get," and to accept, was that I am responsible for the world(s) I find myself in. That means EVERYTHING. Not to blame, but responsible. I am my brother's keeper after all. After accepting this I had to decide to what extent I'd be active in becoming a part of the solution.

A shy type, not one to interact with strangers much, I'm not one to march in mass protests or engage in community-building exercises. So I just do quiet things, background things, things that don't draw too much attention.

They seem like such little things, but they are not! Imagine a world full of kind people taking over the world and protecting the innocents. Imagine us banding together to keep the world's children healthy and safe. We could do it . . . there are more of us than there are of them. Think about it!

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Tisha

"As Above, So Below"

James S · August 22, 2002, 21:48:32

I'd like to retract my previous statement about living in the world but not being of it. I'ts an old christian adage that I picked up years ago, and in retrospect it seems to me like a real "head in the sand" attitude.

We are part of this world and as mentioned by both Tia and Tisha we can change it for the better if we try. Just think BUTTERFLY WINGS!

James S

- You don't choose the belief, the belief chooses you!

Person · August 27, 2002, 02:58:33

I've struggled with that question a lot in my life. I still see humans as a kind of virus, destroying their environment full of selfish interest. Of course there was good, but that didn't excuse all the bad that went on.
Since then I've tried to answer the question of why. Some theories I have is that life would be too dull if everything was sunny and perfect for eternity. No growth would happen in that environment either.
When Earth is at peace, people bicker within the country or at their borders and build tension. When there's a common enemy however, we band together and drop our differences and try to be virtuous. Especially if it's for a good cause like freedom, we fight with all we can to rise up and be altruistic, putting forth way more effort than we would if there were never a problem.
Another possibility is gaining experience. Everyone is curious about other's lives, and what it must feel like to be them, to be someone else or face hardship. We love going to watch scary movies or ones where the character faces great challenges. Curiosity attracts us like gravity to read books, visit other cultures, and watch shows based on real life. Note that there is no movie or book that doesn't have a bit of evil or challenge in it. It wouldn't be interesting enough to sell if it didn't. Same with video games.. who enjoys a game where they didn't have to die a few times to reach their goal? If it's too easy, it's not fun.
If God wanted to see what it's like to be the farthest away from itself, it might desire a human life where it's abused as a child and winds up hating humanity/life/god/etc, maybe even commits suicide.. can't get much darker than that. Once it's reached the deepest end of the spectrum, it's ready to go on the path to reunite and rebuild inner strength and power on it's way, an experience in itself.
A third is for a challenge. I can picture myself high in the mental realms, seeing images of Earth and people in dispair, thinking *I* could be strong enough to make it through unscathed. If I failed, I'd know I would always come back eventually.
And last, perhaps for compassion. Once the chain got started, it's hard for others that havent been through hell to associate with other's pain. To Really help a person, one must be able to say "I've been there.. this is how I got out." Otherwise the depressed will shoo helpers off, thinking they're alone with their problems and no one could ever understand how bad it is, and if they did then they'd be depressed too.

-Person

jilola · August 27, 2002, 03:35:41

Not wanting to belittle or brush off the horrible things being done to people these days but I remembered something.
Someone posted on these forums a while ago about how we plan our life before being born in it, all the lessons to be learned and perspectives to be gained. Now is it possible that the people involved in these woeful incidents have agreed to do it to facilitate someone's learning?
I'm noit saying the events should be ignored or the quilty parties left unpunished, that is part of the lesson after all, but at least if this were the case there would be a reason behind all. Otherwise they are just horrible people doing even more horrible things to other people and for no reason at all. That I couldn't handle.

just to make sure everyone sees where I stand, I think those who do these things to little children should be hung from the parts that hurt until well dried in the wind.

James S: We are so totally of the world we can't even quite comprehend it yet. How can we not be? I at least want to be

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2cents

jouni

WalkerInTheWoods · August 27, 2002, 04:50:33

James S, I think there is nothing wrong with the statement of not being of this world. It depends on how it is taken and used. On the one hand it helps Christains to see that there is more beyond the physical and that they should strive to be more spiritual. But unfortunately it is usually used in a different way. I have mostly seen it used to elevate Christains above other people, animals, basicly everything on the physical. It is used as an excuse for not taking action or getting involved in world affairs or worse as an excuse for abusing things on the physical. We are very much of this world, but there is more to us than just the flesh.

yoki_h · September 09, 2002, 19:27:12

.We all have some level of discomfort in our life's be it physical or mental , life is a duality. Should it only be a bed of roses we would be content to stand and smell them till we died..I have found that the biggest lessons are learnt threw suffering, work threw it and there is grace to be found.Empathy and compassion become part of your nature and the down trodden are your brethren.
I was once told the pain and suffering were one of the universe greatest teacher,to my mind that and karma .Don't get me wrong the rose also holds a lesson one that is sweet and preferred, but how would you know one without the other

yoki

goku22 · October 09, 2002, 19:41:19

I think alot of good ideas have been tossed around and I'll try to not repeat them. I'm wondering that if seen from a higher perspective things like pain, murder, rape, etc.. are not "bad". The murder of a helpless babe, may have many spiritual ripples that go out into the world and effect it in a positive way. Ex. The person who did it may not repent during life, but may go to some sort of "hell" where they grow spiritually. A person who reads about it in the paper may decide to stop anything like that from happening again. The baby's spirit may have learned a valuable spiritual lesson. I just don't think we have the faculties to REALLY understand what's going on behing the scenes in our base level of consciousness. Perhaps during deep thought, meditation, or an epiphany we have a glimpse of what's going down. But I don't think we're supposed to know at the moment, we should just do the best we can with what we have. Either way, beyond good and evil is where the meaning is, we'll find out eventually. Oh yeah, read Talking to Nature and Journey into Nature, they have alot of good tidbits to see the world more positively. Ben

James S · October 09, 2002, 21:13:42

The more I think about things like this, the more I see it comes down to a matter of perspective.
Is the glass half empty or half full? More importantly who's the &%$@ who just took half my drink?

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We can complain about all the bad things in the world, or we can focus on the good. Ok, blocking out the bad things won't make them go away, but neither will dwelling on them.

Not long ago I was shown that there is a great deal of energy available to us simply by taking notice of the good things. Take the time to notice the beauty in the world, and the people around you, and especially take the time to see the beauty in small things that you might normally take for granted. This does literally feed us with a very positive energy. Not only do the bad things in life seem less important, you will tend to radiate this positive energy to others.

James.

Skatche · October 10, 2002, 07:52:50

I've heard that in this Day of Brahma (which lasts something like 10 billion years, of which we have about 3 billion left), God is trying to find a deeper understanding of the nature of negativity. Don't know if that's true, but we'll see in a few billion years, eh?

Anyway, don't let it bother you. As other people have said, there's still a lot of love and happiness in the world.

Tia · August 21, 2002, 03:07:47

If there is purpose in life, if there is meaning, what is the meaning of children who are abused and murdered? Take the case of Jessica and Holly (UK). I have thought about it a lot and no matter how hard I try, I cannot comprehend or understand why it happened. And it happens all over the world, all the time. There are so many terrible things going on, people hating and hurting each other - and I dont hear enough about the positive acts that people do. It all seems bad, and really bad. I cant stand it. I dont want to be on the same planet with these people. How do you make sense of the horror that goes on? What lessons do we learn from terrible acts of evil, except to live in fear and hate? I've got world blues, I will have to stop absorbing the news because I cant take it, makes me want to give up.

News:

World Blues...