defences of peace

Through quiet sitting a mind settles and the illusion of a worldly me and mine is readily appreciated. The appreciation can be gradual or sudden. After the dis-illusion (which rarely lasts 24/7) the mind is less inclined to workaholic busy bee-ness and more inclined to the ‘practice’ of meditation that may involve sitting, standing, or lying down for a few minutes to several years.

But there is an issue of balance. How much time should be spent sitting and how much time doing? This begs the question of “What is to be done?” 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Needs have to be met. These can be personal needs, but there are also the needs of the family, the community, the village, the country, of humanity and of the other animals and plants and of the planet. 

The needs can also be thought of as being on a hierarchy with basic needs (food, clothing and shelter) at the bottom, social needs (belonging, security, earning a living) in the middle and spiritual needs (peak experiences and cosmic consciousness) at the top.

People in different parts of the world will have different patterns of need. The priorities will be set by geo-historical happenstance. And this will manifest as thoughts and feelings in the minds of people. These thoughts and feelings can be more or less wholesome and desirable. 

When the thoughts and feelings are driven by restless, self-ish workaholic busy bees the results are likely to be less wholesome and desirable.  When the thoughts and feelings emanate from calm, self-less, and compassionate people, who make a practice of peaceful sitting, the results are more likely to be wholesome and desirable.

The UNESCO constitution includes the thought that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”.  So how might the minds of which key men (and women) be shaped so as to construct the defences of peace?

Sitting quietly doing nothing
Spring comes.
and the grass grows
By itself ...
Then the lawnmower!