It is so easy to lose ourselves when we are bombarded with the thoughts, opinions and attitudes of everyone around us. Is it so easy to forget who we really are and get carried away by the things we see and hear through the media. It is so easy to find ourselves responding with emotion and self righteousness when we challenged by those we choose not to respect. Its all too easy to loose connection with the essence of who we are, the loving, caring, compassionate, understanding parts of us, when it appears the world is being split into pieces.
And yet this is the perfect time to take stock and pull ourselves together and ask the age old question, Who Am I? And I don’t mean what is our role or our function in life. I don’t mean who are you the daughter, the brother, the teacher, the fighter. I mean who are you at the deepest part of you. What do you love? What makes you cry? What sends shivers through your body? What would you do if nothing stood in your way?
This is the perfect time to courageously speak up, but with love not anger. To bring the very meaning of courage, that which comes from the heart, into the world. This is the perfect time to stand beside that person you chose not to respect and ask, “What do you hope for? What do you want? What do you need? I want to understand. I want to understand you.”
This is the perfect time to share with others your hopes and dreams. What is your dream for yourself? For your children? For the world?
In times of separation, war, distress and pain we often forget to dream. We forget to fantasize and to use our imagination. There is no better time than now to reconnect to the heart of who we are. To feel your heart beating and to listen to the words you heart is trying to tell you. The more we connect to our heart the greater chance we have of making our dreams come true. Simple? Actually yes it is.
Let’s look at a spiritual truth.
It is not humanly possible to threaten, insult, injure, maim or kill another human being, and still be connected to your heart. No matter how much you believe in your cause, how much you are protecting, defending or shielding the ones you love, as long as you react in violence, you are not heart centered.
The hundredth monkey effect can change all this in a flash. That’s why I love this story
The 100th Monkey
A story about social change.
By Ken Keyes Jr.
The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.
In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant. An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.
This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.
Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes — the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let’s further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.
THEN IT HAPPENED!
By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!
But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea…Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.
Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.
Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.
But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!
From the book “The Hundredth Monkey” by Ken Keyes, Jr. The book is not copyrighted and the material may be reproduced in whole or in part.
Now is the time to connect to the heart of who you are. Ask yourself every day the question, Who Am I? And listen.
And if enough people connect to their hearts we will reach the tipping point together.