Can Meditation Save the World?

 Did you ever feel you were missing something in your life? If so, what is it that would make you happier?

We can make it a saner and happier world if we just slowed down and had less focus on wanting or needing more stuff. If stuff made you happy, there would be nothing but happy people living in Bel Air and unhappy people living in Fiji where they have nothing, but I have been to Fiji and there are plenty of happy people there. I have never seen a hearse with a luggage rack on top. We have got to get away from stuff and appreciate what is here. Ed Begley, Jr., from Be The Change.

Meditation is now the IN thing. Cross-legged yogis and Buddhist monks can be seen in advertisements for everything from computers and credit cards to herbal teas, major newspapers and magazines carry stories on the benefits of meditation with tips from famous film stars, and no self-respecting bookshop is without a how-to-meditate section. But can meditation do more than just make us feel good? Can meditation change us enough to save us from further suffering, both individually and globally?

All of the pain and pleasure that we experience stems fundamentally from the mind. So when we say we want peace on earth, what we are really talking about is reducing the conflict in our own minds. Sakyong Mipham.

We have tried many ways to bring peace to the world, creating organizations like the UN and NATO, we have had treaties and summits and endless meetings, but still there are difficulties and disagreements. Egos battle, greed for power dominates over humanity, and old hatred divides one against another. What will it take for us to come together in goodwill and to generate genuine peace? Could meditation be the missing ingredient?

 Who makes problems? We humans. And who is the controller of the human? The mind. And how to control the human mind? Through meditation. If you can control the pilot, then the pilot can control the plane. Mingyur Rinpoche.

To make changes in the way we live our lives and how we treat each other means being aware that everything I think, say, and do affects everybody and everything else, just as they affect me. This is the turning of our energy away from being focused on self-centeredness, self-survival, and closed-heartedness toward concern for others, generosity, and open-heartedness. If we genuinely want to end war, inequality, and abuse, then we need to have kindness toward all equally. There will never be peace in the world if we are not at peace within ourselves. Such a deepening of understanding is essential if we are to end the disregard and violence that destroy so many lives and cause so much unnecessary pain and distress.

 The point of meditation is to keep the mind free of confusion. Meditation, past calming our nerves, past being good for our blood pressure, past allowing us to work out our own internal psychological dramas, which it does, past helping us to get along with our kin and our community, is a way of really deeply seeing the truth that the only way to ameliorate our own suffering and the suffering of the world is to keep our minds clear. Sylvia Boorstein

 The equation, therefore, is simple: The more meditation becomes a part of our lives, the more we change and evolve; the more we change and evolve, the more society is transformed and the world moves into a more sustainable, wise, and loving place to be. And all we have to do for this chain of events to occur is to be mindful!

What does meditation mean to you? How do you think meditation can change the world? Do comment below.

 All the above quotes are in our new book. You can order a copy of it at: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World.

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Ed and Deb Shapiro’s new book, BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors such as Marianne Williamson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Beckwith, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jane Fonda, Jack Kornfield, Byron Katie, Dean Ornish, and others is published by Sterling Ethos. Deb is the author of the award-winning book YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND. Ed and Deb are the authors of over 15 books, and lead meditation retreats and workshops. Enjoy their 3 meditation CD’s: Metta – Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi – Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra – Inner Conscious Relaxation, available on their website: www.EdandDebShapiro.com