Where to Now?

Given all the daily reports about terrorism and the levels of threat that have become part of our daily lives, "How do we learn to live without fear?" We live in protected neighborhoods, arm ourselves with more guns per capita than most nations of the world, and have built the most sophisticated domestic intelligence-gathering networks that presently exist. Yet, instead of feeling more secure, we appear to be in greater fear!

Is fear an inherent part of living in the 21st century? Or is there any hope, at all, that we humans have the capacity to tuly resolve our differences? If we had knowledge of the solution would we be willing to implement it? We know, as a given, it will not be simplistic. We know it will be challenging. We know it will require us to begin rethinking our strongly-held beliefs about the solution to our fears.

From a personal perspective, what sphere of the world can we control? Ourselves! And only ourselves. So, I wonder what would occur if we, as individuals, began to live compatible, growth-producing lives based on adaptation to the divergently different people, cultures, and worldviews we experience. Would that make a difference? Suppose a majority of peoople in our neighborhood began doing the same thing through community-based groups, churches, and foundations. Would somethning of significant proportions begin to happen--without the formal declaration of any organization or movement?

How many of us are willing to try? I really don't know. I do know that most of my friends are frustrated about the condition of the world and how little impact they appear to have on creating something different. I guess what I'm suggesting is that we try "being a difference" rather than focusing so much on "making a difference." In fact, there's no reason why we can't do both!

However, being a difference requires us to first focus on our contributions to discord in the world--in our relationships with family, those with whom we work, and those we avoid at all costs, because we know they view, believe, and experience the world differently than we do. Here are three ideas of how WE might collectively begin being a difference:

1) Count the number of times during a day you did something that was uplifting to
someone and made a positive contribution to their lives--both family and others.

2) Count the number of differences you encountered that challanged your way of
thinking and doing--and you found a way to integrate both.

3) Reflect on the things that didn't go so well involving differences and consider a
different approach where wrong and right are not involved in the solution.

Try these ideas for a week and see what happens to life in terms of fear. These are really the lessons in Animal Kingdom. If you have found this blog site valuable in your life, then you might visit our bookstore and purchase some of the books and CDs there.