To have everything fixed.
Is it possible to influence the course of history and development of the society?
Is it possible to influence the course of history and development of the society?
There are two opposite phenomena: decadence and renaissance – the first is the state of decline and the second is the state of progress. Decadence is slow, seemingly inevitable movement towards the worst. It is a particular perceiving, understanding of the surrounding resulting in this or that decaying sentiment prevailing within certain social strata. Renaissance is the state of rebirth, new beginning. How can the humankind meet the challenge and move from decadence to renaissance?
Before we answer this question, first, we are to realize how the state of decadence appears. The human mind functions in such a way that it is likely to cause problems on its own. Anger, desires, envy, greed create tense situations. One can make efforts to suppress and control these feelings with carrot-and-stick approach, but this way will not give results. Somehow, a new way appears to circumvent a new rule. The attempts to take control of the problems are similar to the behavior when one goes to the river with a lash and starts whipping it in order to make it flow correctly. But it doesn’t produce any effect on the river.
The importance of the values
If we want to change our behavior, we need to change the values. Once the values of the society change, people’s behavior changes as well. Whatever we may say, but the top values of the modern society are money, power and fame. As soon as someone possesses them, he/she becomes a person everybody wants to make friends with or take selfies with and so on.
But there are other values: honesty, morality, desire of well-being to the society. They are still there, but for the majority of people these values are secondary. Naturally, if a person is respected for the values, which were mentioned first, so the majority will do everything possible to gain precisely those values. If there is a choice between these two types of values, in most of the cases the preference will be given to the first.
So, in the society, where money, power and fame are welcomed and approved, the life of people will be flowing the same way. People will face the problems connected with greed, pride, envy and so on. Enormous, massive effort of the educated people - psychologists, sociologists, educators, would be necessary to dig up this “riverbed”.
These people should possess strong willpower and desire in order to introduce proper social principles. It may seem utopian, but the shift in values is gradually going anyway. Considerable changes have taken place during the last century and even during the recent years; and we can’t help but notice them.
So, in the society, where money, power and fame are welcomed and approved, the life of people will be flowing the same way. People will face the problems connected with greed, pride, envy and so on. Enormous, massive effort of the educated people - psychologists, sociologists, educators, would be necessary to dig up this “riverbed”.
These people should possess strong willpower and desire in order to introduce proper social principles. It may seem utopian, but the shift in values is gradually going anyway. Considerable changes have taken place during the last century and even during the recent years; and we can’t help but notice them.
The collective unconscious
So called “dark matter” exists in the space. The visible matter constitutes only 10% of the weight of the Universe. The rest 90% of the Universe is hidden, it cannot be registered by any equipment, can neither be seen nor heard; but it exists. Thanks to this invisible force, we can see the Universe in its present shape: there are constellations, the galaxies twisted in spirals and so on.
Similarly, there is the force of the collective unconscious layer of the humankind. The flows of positive thinking and negative thinking are running within this layer. The collective unconscious is a mobile substance. It is formed out of all minds. Anyone of us might throw a stone into it. And because of this stone the whole enormous inert system would shift by a micrometer.
Similarly, there is the force of the collective unconscious layer of the humankind. The flows of positive thinking and negative thinking are running within this layer. The collective unconscious is a mobile substance. It is formed out of all minds. Anyone of us might throw a stone into it. And because of this stone the whole enormous inert system would shift by a micrometer.
The collective unconscious is a mobile substance. It is formed out of all minds. Anyone of us might throw a stone into it. And because of this stone the whole enormous inert system would shift by a micrometer.
Take for example the Swan, the Pike and the Crab1. They will be pulling the loaded cart in different directions, and the cart will remain at the same place. However, if some people join this duty and start pulling together in one direction, they will outcompete the Swan, the Pike and the Crab. Thus, there is always a chance that the in-depth, causal layer will change. The influence of meditation on a human is an example of how this happens. There is an obvious effect of the spiritual practice. For example, I have meditated and now I am in a positive mood and I am producing a good impact on the people around me. We can easily feel and understand this phenomenon. There are many examples of how meditation, vibration and the state of mind of a meditating person influence his/her surrounding – the children, the adults, the animals. So, there is hope.
If early-early morning you do meditation, going deeper and deeper into the practice, after some time the “switch trips” and all of a sudden you feel exultation within your soul. You feel like the sky is the limit for you. This is a significant change in your life as well as in the lives of the people around you. This is that very small stone that you can throw.
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1 The Crab, the Swan and the Pike - the characters of a fable written by a Russian poet Ivan Krylov (1768–1844)
If early-early morning you do meditation, going deeper and deeper into the practice, after some time the “switch trips” and all of a sudden you feel exultation within your soul. You feel like the sky is the limit for you. This is a significant change in your life as well as in the lives of the people around you. This is that very small stone that you can throw.
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1 The Crab, the Swan and the Pike - the characters of a fable written by a Russian poet Ivan Krylov (1768–1844)
Apart from meditation, there are practices that also influence the surrounding. The vibration, which is created when you are singing the mantra, is especially favorable.
For example, Meditationsteps conducts the marathon, called “Million hours of Kiirtan”. Thousands and thousands of people join and move together in one direction with positive thoughts and proper effort; they practice every day and support each other. Kiirtan has 100% positive effect, so a person progresses while performing this practice. Any life crisis is a result of a problem in the causal sphere. If you are feeling depressed and unhappy for no reason, it means your inner source of joy is blocked. There is lack of resource, lack of inspiration because the spiritual hunger is not satisfied – there is a desire for something, but it is not clear what the desire is for.
For example, Meditationsteps conducts the marathon, called “Million hours of Kiirtan”. Thousands and thousands of people join and move together in one direction with positive thoughts and proper effort; they practice every day and support each other. Kiirtan has 100% positive effect, so a person progresses while performing this practice. Any life crisis is a result of a problem in the causal sphere. If you are feeling depressed and unhappy for no reason, it means your inner source of joy is blocked. There is lack of resource, lack of inspiration because the spiritual hunger is not satisfied – there is a desire for something, but it is not clear what the desire is for.
Construction of the century
It is very important to change the values in all of the society beginning with the personal attitude to what now is considered to be valuable. What attracts us in the people? Power and money or the good they do to the society? As soon as you feel respect to somebody, ask yourself a question: do I respect him/her as a fair and honest person? If he/she is really an honest person and makes a great contribution to development of the society, he/she can be put on a high pedestal. The people, who contribute most to the development of the society, should become our heroes.
It is necessary to dig up the riverbed instead of reproaching people for their conduct, since their behavior is determined by the society. When people commit crimes the society blames and hates them. But the crimes are committed because we are constantly being imposed the opinion that these precisely values are essential; from everywhere - television, books, from every corner they shout at us, that this is the most important. So, people are striving for this “the most important”. That is why we are to leave the water as it is and start digging up the riverbed. This is a large-scale undertaking. This is a construction of the century.
It is necessary to dig up the riverbed instead of reproaching people for their conduct, since their behavior is determined by the society. When people commit crimes the society blames and hates them. But the crimes are committed because we are constantly being imposed the opinion that these precisely values are essential; from everywhere - television, books, from every corner they shout at us, that this is the most important. So, people are striving for this “the most important”. That is why we are to leave the water as it is and start digging up the riverbed. This is a large-scale undertaking. This is a construction of the century.
It is possible to change the values. Gradually we will be able to get all the society involved into this process. It means the world will change.
It is possible to change the values. We are to get awakened today and start digging up the riverbed. Anyone of us can do that. Gradually we will be able to get all the society involved into this process. It means the world will change.
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The answer to this question is not lying on the surface. To understand the essence one should go deep inside and ask oneself: why am I living? Hence, all living beings have meaning and purpose of existence. What is mine?
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