A student asks:
With all of the recent violence and hateful rhetoric going on in our country, how do we avoid being overwhelmed with passionate feelings of sorrow, grief or anger?
The situations you are referring to are driven out of anger and fear. Through the Law of Attraction, our emotions are drawn to or repelled by these energies, and our bodies and physical minds respond accordingly. This is the dynamic of “mob mentality.” Elements of fear or hatred can inspire strong fearful and hateful responses from people who would never ordinarily bring harm to anyone, or to react in other ways that don’t feel “normal” to us. Similarly, when we are around people who are having strong emotional reactions of grief, remorse, guilt, or even joy, in response to a situation, we have a tendency to be drawn into those energies. Sometimes, we don’t need the inspiration of others – it is our own emotions responding directly to the situation. Empathy is a powerful process.
In any of these situations, the best response is one that comes from an objective, spiritual nature. We can’t change the events that have already happened, but we can put our love and healing thoughts into a situation to help transmute the energies and possibly influence the outcome of future situations. Tragedy and death are sad, and it’s perfectly normal to feel sad when they occur, especially when it was preventable. On the other hand, allowing ourselves to be consumed by any emotions can be harmful.
Some things we can do:
- Pray for the victims. Their progression, whether in the physical or in spirit, can only be helped by our loving thoughts.
- Pray for the victims’ families. Their grief can be lifted up by our love.
- Pray for the perpetrator. A person with hate or fear in his or her heart needs our love, possibly more than anyone else involved.
- Forgive all parties, including yourself, for any response that is not coming from a spiritual, uplifting place. It is normal to have these feelings, but we can also work on replacing them with more constructive energies.
- Love thy neighbor as thyself. Just as importantly, love thyself, despite anything that has happened.
- Ask yourself, “What am I doing (or can I do) to transform the situation into a more positive experience, even in a small way?” Follow the answer.
- Don’t feel guilty for feeling the way you do, or for not feeling a certain way. By acknowledging our emotions, and then consciously focusing our attention toward constructive, loving, uplifting energies, we are becoming part of the solution in a responsible way, instead of perpetuating the problem or making it worse. In the process, we are healing ourselves and our circumstances in the process.
It is important to remember that strong emotions do not come from the situations we experience. They come from within us in response to those situations. As unlikely as it may seem, each of us creates our own fear, our own anger, our own compassion, our own grief, and each of us have our own responsibility to resolve these emotions, whether by making peace with our feelings, forgiving ourselves, or even seeking professional assistance in understanding where the emotions are coming from. There are many paths to peace.
Any prayers and meditations we offer should be for the highest good of all concerned, without specific expectation or desire of outcome. It is not our part to impose our will on others’ spiritual path, for they may have lessons to learn (or to teach) that require the situations we are concerned about. Our loving, healing thoughts helps them, and ourselves, along our mutual spiritual path, to make the best use of the lessons that come our way.
We can’t solve all of the world’s challenges with one prayer, but each prayer does its part, in however small a way, to steer the ship of discontent to a brighter, happier destination, for ourselves, and for all concerned. You can make a difference.
It is not a mother’s kiss that makes the cuts and scrapes feel better. Her loving gesture simply inspires us to rise above the pain and realize our own strength and potential.
Thank you for your question.