Is Humanity Polarising?

After writing my blog last week about the inspiring attitude of the Palestinian and Israeli parents, and feeling uplifted by their attitude, I was sent an article about one of the fastest growing sports in the US amongst children - called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)  I found it so distressing that I've pondered for a week about whether to blog or not about it...but decided to go ahead...So what is it all about?    It's a sport where two children are put in a metal cage to fight each other - some as young as five years old - and it's popular on television.

This is so barbaric on so many levels, it speaks for itself. To me,it's promoting sub animal behaviour in the young with parents and adults encouraging it.

It makes me ask the question - Is Humanity polarising?  Some trying so hard to mindfully bring more kindness, understanding and compassion into society and others who mindlessly career towards cruelty and barbarism?

If so, then every kind act, every mindful decision each one of us makes really counts towards what sort of world we live in, what sort of life we are building.

Breaking the Circle of Blood - Parents for Peace

I listened to a very inspiring conversation this morning between two parents who had both lost children. One was an Israeli woman whose son had been shot by a Palestinian sniper and other a Palestinian man whose ten year old daughter had been killed in the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Both had come to the same conclusion - that peace can only come to their countries when individuals say enough is enough. The lady movingly described how when she was told of her son's death by the army, her first response was "You may not kill anyone in the name of my son"

They are visiting the UK to talk to Tony Blair and on radio she made the point to people here that if they say they are pro either the Palestinian or Israeli cause, then they import the conflict to this country. The only cause to be pro is 'RECONCILATION'

Apart from being uplifted by their personal stance, I was caught yet again at the growing trend which looks to solutions to big problems, coming not from the 'top down' in society, but from ordinary people - from 'the bottom up' - taking a position together. The base of any pyramid is very much larger and broader than the tip!

Importance of a Framework

I heard a fascinating radio program this morning on the way to work by an academic paleontologist.
He was describing the archaeologists who were finding fossils in Elgin near Aberdeen, way back on the 1830s. At one point he said something which to me was quite riveting...that even if  they had  found a tiny piece of a dinosaur bone, they couldn't have recognised it, as they had no framework or language reference within which to place it, as it was pre the major discoveries which lead to our understandings about the lives and time of the dinosaurs.

To me this is such an important statement..not so much about the understanding of 'old bones', but about the way in which we perceive the world. Without the necessary framework or template , it is very hard to see life in brand new terms. It reminded me a lot of our current times, when those people who have embraced the concept of living in times of change, find it far easier to see the symptoms and signs of the change, even when quite subtle ....and yet  those who live  with the framework of 'no change', miss things which to me are staring us in the face.

I guess it has always been like this through the centuries when small groupings forefront new arisings and understandings, like early astronomers such as Galileo,  flying in the face of the Christian view of the Creation and facing the wrath of the old thinkers!

The Survival of the Kindest

Loved this link I was sent this morning !
http://wakeup-world.com/2013/08/06/evidence-that-humankind-is-evolving-to-become-more-compassionate/

  All about how evolution would naturally lead a person to more empathy, compassion and kindness.  Lots of powerful  examples eg how anger is detrimental to health. Well worth a read!

'Little Big People'

Strikes me it's often the 'little big people' who make the world a kinder, nicer place to live in. Think of the countless generations of parents who have worked hard to make life better, safer and sweeter for their children. The mothers who have gone without to ensure their children grow stronger and healthier? What about in a hospital where the doctors may get the acclaim and have greater skill, but so often it's the nurses who bring the humanity and tenderness to those in need?

Apart from those who know them personally, they may never go down in history as heroes, but those countless millions of people throughout the world and throughout the ages have MADE A DIFFERENCE! And all of us alive today who also care and are concerned about some of the current trends, can also make a difference simply by deepening our values and living our lives in accord with them. So many people I talk to are horrified by features like corruption and self-interest in politicians, religious wars, growing terrorism, break down in families and the list goes on and on.  In the face of that growing tide, many people feel their lives can't do anything to stem it.

So this blog is just to say, that there are an awful lot more ordinary people at the base of a pyramid than those who are in the limelight at the so called top! And every kind act, especially deliberate conscious acts of compassion, can make a huge difference! And when the base moves, it all moves as we live in an inter-connected world!

Serendipity - bottom up!

After work last night, I spent an hour in the sun with a friend, mulching over some of the apects of our current times...and what we had been observing. One feature which we dicussed was the way people here in the UK ( and elsewhere) are becoming so disillusioned with leadership from the top down. Whether one is talking about religion, politics or health issues  - there is a growing lack of trust in those who are supposed to be offering leadership. .. a  growing sense that they do not really have the interests of the people at heart. Nowhere is this more clear than in politics...where self interest and keeping themselves in power seems to be a major driver. We were talking about the possibility of change being effected from the  'bottom up' rather than 'top down' - not as a revolutionary, reactionary sort of force which history has often shown to be destructive, but as an evolutionary pro-active participation in finding genuine new ways forward.

This morning I opened an email from Avaaz...describing  "that across the planet, millions of people young and old are flooding the streets and mobilising online, to reject corruption and injustice and speak of a more beautiful world. A new Twitter hashtag in Brazil tells the story: 'OGiganteAcordou' Translation: “The sleeping giant has awoken" As one example,the Brazilian Senate  is voting to give any 500,000 citizen petition, the power to directly introduce measures to the government.

This is a fascinating area and one in which so much more could be explored but in true blog fashion - short is best ...more to follow!!!

Been Some Time ...

It's been some time since I've posted a blog ...so good to start again today! One of the aspects of living in times of change is that we are seeing  a massive breakdown in the status quo ...and it can be quite daunting watching the outplay of this as it appears on the news and media. One feature I watched actually prompted me to start blogging again. This was a news item saying that more young UK soldiers have died from suicide than they had from attack from the Taliban. Somehow this was a bit if a heart stopper for me ...and it struck me again how much easier it is to see the breakdown of the old rather than the appearance of this brand new human possibility - which like all newborn life appears small first...and therefore is more difficult to detect than the avalanche of things going askew.