•
Q & A WITH THOM KNOLES •
How
Can Meditation Help World Problems?
August 10, 2005
Question:
Today there was a report on the front page of the L.A.
Times, hundreds of children starving to death in Niger.
I was quite upset by this. In lectures you speak publicly
about various operators. i.e. construction, maintenance
and destruction operators that govern our physical universe.
You say if we are not changing progressively then we invite
in destruction operators. Could you help me understand
how a 6 month old baby has invited in destruction operators?
I have to say Thom that I am enjoying this meditation
very much. But it does seem doubtful that meditation can
do anything to help save these children. Sitting around
with our eyes closed repeating a mantra. Can it?
A second part to this question, which forgive me, may
sound trivial in light of the above, but I hate my job.
I have also heard your talks about following charm. See
Thom I would like to follow charm but what guarantee do
I have that I will survive if I do? If God will let a
6 month old baby die, then what hope do I have of his
support in following my charm? If I knew I'd be supported
I'd quit my job straight away.
Could you or Will please shine some light on this. Please,
I know you are very busy but your response to this is
very important not only to me but to my friends whom are
also your students.
Thom's
Reply:
Your enquiry is a cogent one; the world (outside the comfort
zones of a few developed nations) generates appalling
levels of suffering of every kind imaginable— children
dying of starvation is one of those— affecting thousands
of millions of people every minute that we sleep, wake,
and eat. Occasionally the media will pause its program
of celebrating trivia and non-entities to give you a snapshot
of what is happening in one place outside the bubble of
safety in which you live --and it is shocking. But you
have seen only a snapshot, Penny.
Unfortunately,
the response of the majority of people in developed nations
is merely to continue to ignore the suffering of others.
This reaction is unsustainable, and invites destruction
to itself. The real problem in the world is the chronic
failure of people in developing nations to correct their
priorities. In a suffering world, a nation that is fascinated
by trivia and wallowing in ignorance is, in fact, engineering
its own demise. Stress accumulation in the people is the
main cause of this, followed by obsolete education.
Penny,
I invite you and your friends to help me realise a world
plan of bringing a new age of enlightenment to this suffering
world by popularising meditation and thereby decreasing
ignorance.
But
first, let me congratulate you on meditating regularly.
For more than 35 years, hundreds of studies conducted
at the world’s top research institutions and published
in the most prestigious scientific and medical journals
have established that people who practise our system of
meditation rapidly become healthier, smarter, more creative,
and more ethical than the average person (who accumulates
increasing levels of stress daily). By meditating regularly,
you have joined a growing cadre of people who can see
the reality of the world around you. You are no longer
one of those averaging 2% use of your available brainpower.
It is a good beginning that, as a consequence of meditating
regularly, you are beginning to challenge the assumptions
you previously made about the world and about your work.
Stress makes you ignorant. Congratulations for choosing
to lose your stress and for becoming more enlightened.
You
write that --on the face of it— “sitting around”
meditating apparently does nothing to ameliorate the suffering
of others at a distance. Of course, in our tradition we
only practise meditation for 20 minutes twice daily; after
meditation we should seek the most dynamic, effective
and useful activity in which we can engage.
Dynamic
activity stabilises the deep inner silence (Being) that
we locate in meditation. When Being is stabilised, then
one is no longer meditation dependent, and 100% of the
brain’s organising power is unleashed to become
available fulltime for the big, important and urgent projects
in the world that deserve high-quality attention. We cannot
help the world by joining the majority who use only 2%
of their brains. We must continue to develop our fullest
potential to make a difference.
Penny,
you should not continue to ignore the aversion you have
to your job. When charm is ignored, aversion takes its
place as an unambiguous message that it is urgent to make
a move. There can be no guarantee that by following charm
you will experience a particular preconceived outcome
in within a particular preconceived timeframe. However,
it can be guaranteed that if you continue to ignore an
aversion nothing but stagnation can result. And stagnation
invites destruction.
You
need to be doing something that will bring more awareness
to the world consciousness. I invite you to join me in
achieving that by becoming a teacher (an “Initiator”)
of meditation. Initiator Training begins in January 2007.
Failing
that, you should embrace the unknown. Make a leap with
a view to finding a productive outlet for the compassion
that is strengthening in you day by day. Remember, the
unknown is the safe place compared with the ever-repeating
known that brings stagnation.
What
I teach is that ignorance and weakness attract destruction.
A starving child is a symptom of a world that is ignorant
and weak. The child is not blameworthy. Blame lies with
those of us who do nothing new to get rid of the world’s
capability to ignore its children. Don’t wait for
others, especially don’t wait for governments. Address
what is being ignored. Take that brilliant meditator’s
brain of yours and put it into action!
Jai Guru Deva
-Thom-
Back to the top
Back to the Q &
A page
Back to the Homepage
