some thoughts on meditation and world peace

....Meditation is one way to change ones intolerant attitude to feelings of compassion and loving kindness. The Dalai Lama says that the kindness we express must cover all sentient beings—in particular, our enemy. If you feel anger and cannot think about kindness toward the enemy, this attitude must change if you are going to resolve the conflict. To develop true kindness, you must have a strong tolerance. Without tolerance and patience, you cannot find the means to generate a sense of love.

Whether you meditate or not you can each begin to practice tolerance and patience, with the tyrant boss who demands you work overtime, the neighbor who is always complaining about something, the co-worker who is angry and ill-tempered, actually with any individual who upsets your life and causes anger and resentment. In truth they are providing you with the opportunity to develop and practice patience and tolerance. A fierce enemy is our best teacher, and once we have learned these virtues by honing our emotions on an enemy’s ruthlessness, we are on the path toward developing infinite kindness and altruism toward all beings, and in addition, we have begun to open our heart to the world.....

from http://www.care2.com/greenliving/world- ... -take.html

Royal Yoga, tolerance and patience are great virtues that need to be nurtured and developed by everyone, but those virtues will not bring world peace. Evil will always succeed if it is tolerated. Patience only prolongs the agony.

bootlegger wrote: Royal Yoga, tolerance and patience are great virtues that need to be nurtured and developed by everyone, but those virtues will not bring world peace. Evil will always succeed if it is tolerated. Patience only prolongs the agony.

That is true a long as intolerance and impatience exist in others. If everyone possessed these virtues, world peace could reign. Now this is not saying I believe it will happen. Religious extremists will see to that.

I believe that if everybody starts in their own family/community eventually people will change. In my yoga classes at RRCC I have kids from all kinds of faiths - Muslim, Catholics, Christians, Buddhists, Native Americans... - and it is a wonderful experience for all of us to be in one room together peacefully (for 15 weeks) simply accepting each other and having an open mind. I agree most of them are a little skeptic at first but it is part of my lecture to put them at ease that Yoga is NOT just another religion but rather embraces everybody regardless of their belief system and for all of them it shows that it is possible to have peaceful relationships with people of different religions (or no religion at all for that matter). There are lots of friendships that have developed throughout the semester and we all have learned a lot from each other - most of all respect. It is very rewarding for me (and makes my "job" fun and a passion) to see that in my small way I can contribute to peace and understanding just a handful of people at a time. It shows that peaceful coexistence IS possible.

Yes, peaceful coexistence is very possible among a small handful of people. Even if you got the majority of the world to join in your happy group, there will always be people that don't care about tolerance or patience. They want power over you and they want it now, and they aren't to concerned about what they have to do to get that power. I suppose you think you could have taught Hitler, or Stalin, or Attila the Hun tolerance and patience. I would be willing to bet you wouldn't survive a week in their environment. The meek shall inherit the Earth, or whats left of it.....

"Peace in oneself, peace in the world."

in many eastern religions and in yogic philosophy it is believed that in EVERY being no matter how "evil" one perceives them there is a divine, holy spirit in them and we don't know why they "behave" the way they do and what we would receive as "bad", here are some examples:

1. a young boy was routinely beaten by his father. Two of his brothers and a sister died in childhood. The boy's father died when he was fourteen,a nd his mother died when he was eighteen. He did poorly in school and was homeless by the time he was twenty. He grew up angry and unloved. It is not a big stretch to imagine that had Adolf Hitler's earlier life been more loving and supportive, he would have been incapable of perpetrating his crimes against humanity.

2. another boy's father died while his mother was pregnant with him. A few months later, the boy's brother also died. His mother attempted suicide by throwing herself in front of a bus, and when that was unsuccessful, she would pummel her abdomen with her fists. she is quoted saying "after losing my husband and child, what good can this baby do for me?" When her son was born, she would have nothing to do with him and sent him away to live w an uncle. again, it is not hard to envision that had this life begun differently, Saddam Hussein might not have become a brutal dictator, responsible for the death of thousands.

(quoted from "Free to Love - Free to Heal/ David Simon)

of course we are responsible for our choices and there a many examples of people with similar histories and they turned out into wonderful beings; still understanding the experiences of others, helps us move forward to forgiveness and peaceful co-existence.

[Raven] wrote: "Peace in oneself, peace in the world."

great saying, Raven

Thanks. I'm trying to learn to live by it.

Royal Yoga, I wish you the best of luck with your meditation, tolerance and patience exercises, really hope it works for you. Not my style.