There are those who believe that there is nothing that can be done to create change in the world, and so they suffer, surrounded by problems and sorrows. Others believe that they can avoid suffering by hiding from the truth, only to make the problem worse. But those who see that everything is in constant change, can let go of sorrows and rejoice at the endless possibilities to create beauty and happiness in every movement.
I´m now going to talk about the problems we are facing today in our society that need to be dealt with in order restore balance to the earth and it´s inhabitants, and I will focus on the issues that seem most urgent to us.
To understand the problems is the seed that brings change, and with the right conditions it will grow and break through every obstacle in its way.
Environment and Resource Management
Uneven Distribution
Today we can see that a few percent of the population have claimed ownership of the majority of the land, resources and wealth of the earth. Meanwhile most of the people have to spend the majority of their lifetime working hard to be able to get a share of the resources and to eventually own their own house.
In a similar but more extreme way the resources of the third world countries are being taken away from their people and are shipped away to the rich countries leaving many millions of people in poverty, without the basic necessities for survival.
The great injustice and suffering this causes for us all is clear for everyone to see.
Depletion
Forests are being cut down all over the earth in a fast rate leaving the ground bare, dry and unprotected which causes the springs and rivers to dry out. Monoculture farming and forest plantations depletes the soils and modern agriculture poisons the earth with herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This is causing the earth’s resources to diminish and makes it harder and harder for the earth to regenerate. This is clearly a great threat to us because we depend on fresh water and fertile soils for our survival and they are becoming scarce resources.
Pollution
Every day our environment is being polluted with huge amounts of industrial waste that is full of toxins and this enters our eco-system and causes great distress for humans, animals and plant life.
We also see other disturbing threats like nuclear power, genetically manipulated crops, seed sterilization, radiation from mobile devices, and pollution from airplanes, all that have a negative effect on life of unknown proportion.
Waste
And maybe the saddest thing of all is that our resources are in the end being wasted. They are turned in to products that are not created to last and often break quickly after they reach the consumer. On top of this our culture encourages us to buy new things and replace the old ones, even if they still work. This creates another problem of enormous amounts of trash building up and releasing toxins into our environment. Our beautiful green planet is being exploited and slowly turned in to wasteland while our precious resources are being turned in to mountains of garbage.
Mental and Physical Health
Low Food Quality
Our food that is coming from the industrial agriculture is polluted and have a low nutritional value. This food is then processed and refined which further takes away nutrition. Then additives like flavor enhancers, artificial sweeteners and preservatives are added which can be very difficult for the body to process. We are also subjected to hazardous substances like chloride in the drinking water, fluoride in the toothpaste and chemicals from all kinds of beauty and household products. This leaves us with a lack of important nutrients and at the same time creates a buildup of toxins in our bodies which can only lead to serious health problems.
Dangerous Medicine
Then we try to resolve our health problems with medication. But our modern medicine is also using high amounts of chemicals that are hard for the body to get rid of and that are sometimes highly dangerous, like in the case of certain vaccines. And even though they may temporarily relieve the symptoms, they often leave us in a worse state of health than we were before. At the same time natural medicine is being regulated and can be difficult to come by, and when it comes to one of the most powerful natural remedies, medical cannabis, it is now illegal even though it is an incredibly potent and safe medicine that has been used for thousands of years.
Unhappiness and Suffering
It is clear that our modern way of life is not providing the quality of life that we seek. Many people feel unhappy, sick and without purpose, trying to comfort themselves with temporary pleasures. Our communities and our cultures have been shattered and people live lonely, isolated lives working with routine jobs or sitting in front of their tv´s and computer screens. People do not treat each other with love and kindness, but instead often talk maliciously behind each others back or treat each other with disrespect and violence.
We can also see that the animals in the meat industry are living under terrible conditions and are treated with horrifying cruelty.
Discrimination and Cruelty
Throughout our history and still to this day we can see how people have been turning against each other in ruthless acts of violence and cruelty. We have racism, where whole groups of people are being treated like second class citizens or are persecuted, harassed and murdered. We have many other forms of discrimination, like in the case of the suppression of women who have been abused, forced into submission and kept away from positions of influence. Slavery still exists today, where even children are forced to work long days under bad conditions for little or no payment. Even more horrifying is that women and children are being forced in to a nightmare of prostitution. And history is filled with examples of genocide, where whole populations are murdered. These and many other atrocities have been going on for thousands of years and are still occurring today in many places all over the world.
Problems with our Governments
Control and Surveillance
For thousands of years kings and dictators has ruled their countries, where the people have little possibility to influence the political decisions. But even in our democratic counties we can hear more and more people from all over the world saying that they are loosing trust in their governmental institutions and that they do not feel that the leaders and the political parties are representing them. The laws and rules do not benefit the citizens, and instead the laws restrict our natural rights to live our life the way we want to. Many people even feel afraid of the bear sight of our own police officers because of the risk of being mistreated and penalized. We can also see how our governments are constantly implementing new surveillance methods that infringe on our privacy and integrity.
We are forced to follow a complicated system of bureaucracy where we regularly have to reveal personal information, fill forms and pay fees for almost everything we want to do. Then we are taxed on every service which makes trade both complicated and expensive.
And if there is as much as a suspicion that we do not follow the norms of society we risk having our children taken away from us to be put into foster homes. This is not just something that happens to dysfunctional families. There are many examples of how healthy and happy families have lost or been threatened to loose their children for not following rules and regulations or just living an alternative lifestyle. It is the ultimate fear of every parent and child to loose their loved ones and it is deeply traumatizing for the affected families. These inhumane and cruel actions have become a method to force people to comply with the system, and punish those who misbehave.
For a long time now the power over our societies has been centralized away from the people as well as our nations and transferred to privately controlled organizations. The democratic process does not give us the power to influence our situation and does not serve to protect life. Today´s democracy has failed us.
Warfare and Occupation
Maybe most urgent issue of all is the unbelievable suffering caused by war. We can see how democratic countries directly engage in warfare or indirectly supports extremist revolutionary groups in resource rich countries all over the world. These wars are often justified by terminating threatening governments and spreading democracy, but in the end we can often see how these threats turn out to be lies and that the new governments become servants to the perpetrators and their resources get exploited.
All wars create severe trauma for the people involved and we can see how these countries are left in misery and ruin with problems for generations to come. These immoral and cruel actions have to come to an end.
Extro
The solutions grow from the problems as the lotus flower rises out of the muddy water. Let us take joy in our work to create great beauty and freedom. As soon as you notice yourself getting caught in negative thoughts, tell yourself to let go and remember that your love and positivity will make this world a better place. We are many and together we will succeed to restore balance to the earth and bring freedom to our people.