I have been exposing myself, failing and learning, as a bystander of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

From my Jewish ancestors who died in the holocaust, I learnt how important it is to stand up to oppression. From my German ancestors who were in Berlin during the second world war, I learnt to be an Active Bystander, not a passive one. From my English ancestors I learnt about the sins of being a coloniser, oppressor and unconsciously racist.

I try to stand in the world as an active peacemaker, but as well as trying (and failing sometimes) to express love to all parties, I also need to speak to the truth about injustice. I am learning how to do it in a way that people can hear, rather than closing and shouting back. If people cannot hear me, why speak at all? So I am on a journey of learning how to have a voice and to be heard.

Do you fight (argue), flight (keep quiet), freeze (ignore/dissociate) or fawn (be the nice guy/gal) when engaged in or watching the Middle East conflict?

How can you centre yourself?

What do you stand for?

I love the quotation below:

Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity.
It is the act of interrupting injustice
without mirroring injustice,
the act of disarming evil
without destroying the evildoer,
the act of finding a third way
that is neither fight nor flight
but the careful, arduous pursuit
of reconciliation and justice.
It is about a revolution of love
that is big enough to set both
the oppressed and the oppressors free.”
Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove 

The world is in hiatus – the cost-of-living crisis, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East; populist far-right governments and loss of democratic rights, the potential escalation of conflict in a divided world and the pressing needs of the environmental emergency.

How do we live with this? How do we stay resilient? How do we bring our best to the world?

Psychology develops psychological resources.

Now, we need more of:

The resources of our community – local and global. We need sangha (people who see our souls), we need deep conversations, we need to draw on positive role-models who inspire peace, compassion, non-violence, and connection across cultural boundaries. How do you increase this support for yourself?

Groundswell of support of mother-earth – the trees, winds rivers, lakes, fresh air, grass, animals, birds, and don’t forget, your own nature, your body. What can you do? How can you have more?

A felt sense of spirit in everything: perhaps from archetypal figures who inspire and guide us, but also from the underlying luminous presence, present everywhere, in every moment. What is your practise? Are you ready to meet this underlying luminous presence waiting for you?

There is so much more available to you than you know.

If you spend more time connecting with your community – personal, local and global; with nature, which you are; with spirit, which is your essence; then you will have all the resources you need for the challenges of this life and for this epoque in human history.

The world needs us to be the best we can be at this time.

Change will not come if we wait
for some other person
or some other time.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
Barack Obama

I alone cannot change the world,
but I can cast a stone across the waters
to create many ripples.
Mother Teresa

The greatest glory in living
lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
Nelson Mandela

Dilts Logical Levels can be facilitated as a deep meditation that aligns:

• what you do
• with your skills and strengths
• with your core beliefs and values
• with your sense of who you are when you are at your best
• with your inner, half-hidden, knowledge of the essence of existence (which you know secretly, because it is implicit in your being)

However many times you do this exercise, it is incredibly inspiring. I once did it with a friend everyday for a month!

On Thursday 5th October, we will do this, both individually and, as part of the Generative Citizen community:

• What do we want to do as a generative community?
• What are our skills and strengths?
• What are our values and beliefs?
• What is our sense of identity as a community?
• How do we hold space for the ever-present origin?

Alone we can do so little

together we can do so much.

Helen Keller

You are not alone.

We are all together

in this journey of life.

Lailah Gifty Akita

In community,

we find the courage to be vulnerable

and the strength to be compassionate

Henri Nouwen

The best way to find yourself

is to lose yourself

in the service of others.

Mahatma Gandhi

With the almost unimaginable scale of the impending catastrophe 1 for humanity with climate change, why aren’t people taking action to mitigate it?

Research on the “Bystander Effect” shows that 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩.

𝙒𝙝𝙮?

There are two factors:

●︎ 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: the more onlookers, the less responsibility an

individual will feel to take action.

●︎ 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: individuals watch the behaviour of those around them to determine how to act. If other people are doing nothing, then maybe it is ok to do nothing.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝘽𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧:

●︎ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: say “𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰?”

●︎ 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: use personal conversations, social media, networking, your public behaviours, to influence others to act with you. Use your influence.

There are two further reasons why people don’t take action:

●︎ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱: individual change is needed, but also political and international change. How can we influence this? One step and one person at a time: if we fund environmental groups and volunteer our skills to them, post on social media, go on demonstrations to Parliament, this will be noticed by the political parties. If your government changes its policy, other governments will notice and be influenced.

●︎ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲: your personal, family and work

commitments seem more urgent than climate problems.

Yet if we have runway global warming, there will be no future for your children and grandchildren. When you are old, and your grandchildren say, “𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?” , what will you answer?

Let’s hold our heads high and safeguard the lives of future generations and our grandchildren.

 

The Earth should not be

a worse place after my life

than it was when I was born here.

𝘙𝘰𝘣 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵

You are not helping the planet,

you are not helping nature,

you ARE the planet,

you ARE nature,

you are helping yourself

𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢

The climate crisis is both the easiest and the

hardest issue we have ever faced.

The easiest because we know what we must do.

We must stop the emissions of greenhouse gases.

The hardest because our current economics

are still totally dependent on burning fossil

fuels, and thereby destroying ecosystems in

order to create everlasting economic growth.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘨

 

 This is a the third in a series of blogs, the previous ones were:

1. Do you know how Nature talks and thinks?  https://www.lifetalent.com/do-you-know-how-nature-talks-and-thinks/
2. Do you know the path to freedom?   https://www.lifetalent.com/do-you-know-the-path-to-freedom/

To read the next in the series, click here: https://www.lifetalent.com/do-you-feel-seen-heard-and-loved-just-as-you-are/

 

 

We have a WhatsApp group for psychologically minded people interested in protecting nature called Generative Earth Protectors – click here to join it.

𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 “𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴”¹.

𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘵 .

An ancient forest, like the Amazon, is not just the trees and plants, but also the animals, and the people who live and hunt there².

Once a year in the Amazon, at an unpredictable time, plump winged ants fly from their nests to mate with other colonies, usually following rain, lightening and floods. Somehow the colonies coordinate with other colonies, and many other species watch and wait for this hour-long migration, including humans, bats, birds, foxes, snakes, and small felines. All the creatures of the forest watch the signs, and when the short migration happens, they feast on these savory delicacies.

All the beings involved in this process are recognizing the signs and habits of the forest. Signs give us information about past and future.

Nature talks through signs. Any change that happens in nature is a sign³.

Signs are the language of nature.

A change of temperature or season, rainfall, a falling tree, birdsong, a human looking at an animal or an animal looking at a human. Signs only become useful when recognized by another being. The sound of a deer moving in the undergrowth is useful if you are a predator or hunter. Some signs are repeated – “habits” if you like. For example, the change of the seasons and the flowering of a plant. Creatures learn to predict these habits, and what’s more, to make a habit of predicting these habits.

Noticing the signs of nature and the repeated activities (habits) is thinking.

Beings that think have Selves.

When the village women hear their dogs barking, the tone of the bark tells the women that they are hunting an animal, perhaps a deer. When the barking turns to yelping, the women know that the dogs have now become the hunted. The dogs have misinterpreted what they saw in the forest and the deer they were hunting has turned out to be a mountain lion. They have become the victims of their own mistaken thinking.

𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵.

Look deep into nature,
and then you will understand
everything better.
𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘌𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

The clearest way
into the Universe
is through a forest wilderness.
𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘪𝘳

Nature is the true revelation
of the Deity to man.
𝘌𝘥𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘦

 

 This is the first in a series of blogs

To read the next in the series, click here:

https://www.lifetalent.com/do-you-know-the-path-to-freedom/

 

 

 

 

________________________________________
1 Kals, E., Schumacher, D. and Montada, L. (1999) ‘Emotional affinity toward nature as a motivational
basis to protect nature’, Environment and Behavior, 31(2), pp. 178–202.
doi:10.1177/00139169921972056.
2 Kohn, E., 2013. How forests think: toward an anthropology beyond the human. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press.
3 Peirce, C., 1998. What is a Sign?. In: Peirce Edition Project, ed., The Essential Peirce: Selected
Philosophical Writings. Vol. 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

The divine is everywhere, all the time, if we slow down enough to notice.

When I gaze in a baby’s eyes, or look at flowers growing out of a stone wall or take time to notice the little cues that hint at the lives and history of people on the underground in the rush hour; or wonder at the beauty of swan, or a large moon in a night sky, I have a sense that life is sacred.

For me, this mainly happens when I slow down enough to appreciate what is around me, and in me. When my intellect is racing away – the mind disconnected from my body – spirituality can only be thoughts and theology.

When I slow down and experience my senses: what I see, what I hear and the feelings in my body, then I feel more in touch with the wonder of the great mystery of existence.

Why bother? A survey of the scientific literature[1]^,[2]^,[3] shows that spirituality:

• increases well-being
• increases resilience in the face of suffering
• reduces onset of physical and mental illness
• reduces mortality (the likelihood of dying sooner rather than later)
• increases the likelihood of recovery from physical or mental illness

 

The American mystic James Finley, student of Thomas Merton suggests this experience of the divine can happen in many ways:

1. Nature
2. Human Intimacy
3. Solitude
4. Art
5. Meditation and Contemplation
6. Prayer
7. Spontaneous moments of awakening
8. Suffering
9. Healing Process
10. Philosophical reflection
11. Scientific Enquiry

 

When have you had experiences in your life that might be described as sacred, holy or of a transcendent reality?

1. Nature
   Have you had moments in nature, or having been in mountains or by the sea at the end of a long holiday, of being connected to something greater than your own life?
2. Human Intimacy
   Has there ever been a moment of love, or in lovemaking, when the feeling of opening or union has transcended the mundanity of everyday living?
3. Solitude
   Have you ever found great peace in solitude on a retreat or in nature?
4. Art
   Have you ever had a transcendent experience in making art of observing art?
5. Meditation and Contemplation
   Have you ever meditated and found a great sense of joy or peace?
6. Prayer
   Has your calling out in prayer, either the great longing toward the divine, or the feeling of being listened to, given you a deep experience of being connected to something greater than yourself?
7. Spontaneous moments of awakening
   Have you ever had a heightened experience of joy, bliss or being one with life?
8. Suffering
   Have you ever had such a great suffering that you knew you could not change this on your own, and felt the urge to put yourself and your life in the hands of a transcendent power?
9. Healing Process
   Have you ever experienced a healing process when you felt some spontaneous grace, or divine gift was at work in the healing process?
10. Philosophical reflection
    Did you ever have a break-through asking intellectual questions, such has the philosopher Heideger’s questions:
    ‘Why is there anything at all?’
    ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’
    ‘Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing?’
11. Scientific enquiry
    When you think scientifically about nature and the universe, do you ever get a sense of awe or wonder?

 

Buddha nature is our true nature.

It is the pure, luminous awareness

that is always present,

guiding us on our path.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

In every particle of creation,

in every aspect of life,

we can witness the presence of God.

His divine energy flows

through everything, connecting all beings.

  Eckhart Tolle

God is the everpresent,

eternal force that sustains the universe.

His love and grace surround us constantly,

guiding us on our journey.

John O’Donohue

You can read more about the spiritual in the second blog in this series: A new dating app for Gods, Goddesses, Teachers, and Saints?

__________________________________

[1] George, L., Larson, D., Koenig, H. and McCullough, M. (2000). Spirituality and Health: What We Know, What We Need to Know. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), pp.102-116.

[2] Seybold, K. and Hill, P. (2001). The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Mental and Physical Health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(1), pp.21-24.

[3] Carmody, J., Reed, G., Kristeller, J. and Merriam, P. (2008). Mindfulness, spirituality, and health-related symptoms. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 64(4), pp.393-403.

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