The real battlefield is within the self. Externally a situation may demand involvement with the motions of physical battle, even if it is just speaking your mind externally, but nothing will change if that which is within the consciousness of the individual does not changes. Yet one person’s change can affect thousands, even millions, because his or her consciousness determines the responses of all around. Imagine then if a hundred people genuinely change their consciousness.

There are places and times where we are confronted with a physical manifestation of the internal conflicts in the consciousness of the mass mind of humanity. The individual wanting peace, wanting to live a spiritually founded life is in turmoil as there seems to be an attacker. What must he do? Gandhi taught us nonviolence. A non-violent battle is one where there is no violation, meaning the person engaged in it sees he is just acting out manifestations of unconsciousness in a field of illusions, yet created in oneness with all. He sees no otherness, thus is not violating other. There are no victims and no attackers. Yet at the same time he sees that those he attacks are his own self projected, and those who attack him are his self projected, and that the root of these manifestations is his own consciousness.

And so that is where he turns to make peace, and brings it forth in his words and actions wherever possible, seeing others not as other but as extensions of self into the world of manifestation. Where it seems he must fight externally he does so with wisdom, love and compassion, remembering the suffering of all “others” is his own. He strives to survive externally so that he may live another day to bring by intention yet more light and the dawn of awakening to himself and his fellows everywhere. He strives to have mercy on his brothers and sisters, to give them a chance to awaken, and in battling them do what he can merely to prevent their harm of others, remembering that all combatants are merely magnetized to each other’s inner issues, and that if it were not for those issues, peace would reign.

What goes around comes around. What you are will be reflected back to you in the world of manifestation. There is no escaping this, which is fortunate, or else you would never have any motivation to change and become a brighter light in the world. Ignorance is not bliss, it is hell. Just look around you. All the world’s troubles are born of ignorance of self, ignorance of others, ignorance of real value, ignorance of the price we pay for not caring, for not loving, for not forgiving. That is the core issue: worth. Outer conflict comes from inner conflict and ignorance of worth – of self and all. The battles it produces inevitably always diminish the world around us, manifesting that inner desolation outwardly.

Another distinction to make is how spirituality and materialism relate to this issue. When we blame others and material events and conditions we are being materialistic. When we take inner responsibility, heal and change with an uplifted spiritual position, we are basing our lives on spirit. This is the technical crux of the issue: what creates your reality, and what reality do you want. Either it’s someone else’s fault and a cost to you (materialism), or it can be to your (spiritual) credit and a gift to all.

Gandhi had it right. Just look at the most basic of human instruction: a little child, unhappy with something, will strike out physically. What do we teach them? “Use your words” to resolve it. Talk it out. Listen. Give and take. Don’t hit. God yes, Gandhi had it right. So did Mom. So simple, so basic.

Ultimately we come to a realization that even to think of others as separate is an act of violence. Non-violence thus must begin within the self, both spiritually and in one’s external actions wherever possible. Only then will violence be ended in the outer world. Only then will we bring the heaven that is available within our hearts into manifestation for ourselves and all.

© 2010, Eric J Tischler. All rights reserved.

Anyway, during this visit of about 5 days, as time progressed I found myself running into these same old and new frustrations and getting more and more impatient and bothered, and as much as I tried to behave myself my irritation was becoming an irritation to her as well. I didn’t want that. She couldn’t help being as she was, whether due to personality or age, and it wasn’t my job to change her, even if I could. Being the sort of person who always wants to become more at peace and loving, I naturally questioned my behavior and found a solution.

I observed that my irritation was not about my mother’s behavior but about my “needs” and as a result I was denying her a comfortable experience of my presence. I was there for both of us to enjoy each other’s company, but what was happening was I was complaining about what I was not getting. It was about me, not us. I was being selfish and grasping. I’m sure that there was some element of my child self that was still trying to get the kind of ideal mother experience that I had not quite had all those years. Overall, she was a good mother, and still, I wanted her to be a certain way. I also wanted her not to fade away into old age and become even less of the perfect mother I had dreamed of. But that’s not life.

Life is how you are in the world, not how others are to you. The child self is all about getting things and experiences for itself, for it survival and growth. As we grow up we need to transition to self-sufficiency and learn to give. Giving is what builds the world. “Getting-ism” is the world’s big problem. People grab and complain and take and hoard. And if they are “generous” it is too often to get something in return, even if it’s only a thank you, and then they complain about not getting a thank you. That’s not giving. They complain about others because, like a child, they are not getting what they want. As a result they themselves add to the world more irritation, yet another who is not a giving person but a getter.

So what did I do about my mom? I did nothing but to stop trying to get an experience just for me, and was mindful of what I was giving her. What did she want? To be loved as she is. What do I want? To love her as she is, and to be that kind of person who is myself not an irritation, which is what I was becoming over the course of those five days.

I’m not perfect myself. I’m sure there are things I do that are not another person’s ideal, but that’s me. They may be just personality traits or actual imperfections, but I’m me, and I do my best. So does my mom. So do we all; and what we can do better is offer to each other peace and patience, and not just mere tolerance.

Gandhi said to be the change you want to see in the world. I changed myself, but not to change my mother. Yet I did change my experience of her. While she was still the way she was, and I still have to experience her limitations and personality quirks, they are no longer irritating. I love her. I let her be, and I am a better person for it. And she in turn has a better experience of me and of life. I gave her something: peace. I have grown up.

© 2010, Eric J Tischler. All rights reserved.

I just got an email from a wonderful friend of mine reminding us this is Poverty in America Awareness Month. I applaud her for her continual efforts to act on her heartfelt vision for the betterment of the world. She is far above average even in the world of spirituality.

Her email urges the reader to donate to those in need of food and other things, and I am inspired to add to what she forwarded. The email reads:

January is Poverty Awareness Month.

May we all do what we can this month (and all year) to be more aware of poverty in America and the rest of the world, have compassion and assist in any way we can to help the poor and hungry. I will make myself available one day a week to go around collecting food to give to the homeless. If you would like to donate food, and aren’t able to deliver it, please let me know and I will do what I can to drop by and pick it up for you.

As you participate in any way you can this month, may I suggest that you also give thanks and gratitude for what you have. Although it may be tough for many of us right now, remember that there are others that are in a more difficult space now and when we help others, we help ourselves.

For more information on poverty in America, please click on:

http://www.educationforjustice.org/files/PovertyAwarenessMonth2007.pdf

As usual, I felt compelled and inspired to expand these ideas:

Every Month is Prosperity Awareness Month…
May we all do what we can this month and all year to be more aware of the limitless supply that the Creator offers us all for the asking, and to be grateful for that and for what little we have had the vision and courage to accept thus far in our lives.

My we all find ways to share our bread and clothing with our brothers and sisters, that they will know and experience the Creator’s generosity through our giving, and by witnessing our Faith in Limitlessness demonstrated in our consciousness, may learn to embody that themselves.

May we be mindful that our brothers and sisters, though outwardly they may seem to suffer and cry, that they have from on high chosen to witness from within what lack is like, perhaps to clear karma, perhaps to deepen their compassion, perhaps to be at the side of those who lack such vision or faith and give them strength through their abiding with them in these times.

May we accept our brothers and sisters as they are in their apparent lack without, knowing their limitlessness will bloom when they are ready, and having faith that their seeming variation on reality and practice in life are not lacks in who they are but experiments in Being that they will complete someday.

May we, in giving to them, not see them as lacking but as powerful in their choice to manifest what they need, and be grateful we can serve them in this way.

May we ourselves accept more and more of the limitless supply our Creator offers for the asking, that we may pass on both the supply and the consciousness of our abundance.

May we recognize that it is not what is supplied to us by the Creator but that the Creator provides that is the whole point of the exercise; that we are not finding our security in having things but in knowing the Source, and that in our acceptance of such providence the Source is glorified, not ourselves.

May we recognize that how much we have accumulated to ourselves in the material world is not the measure of who we are, but how much we give spiritually, and that even if it seems we are not affluent enough to give materially what we would like we can give limitlessly in love, in forgiving, in a positive view of all, including ourselves.

I believe this is what the Creator wants most: that we be at peace with ourselves, our lives and our fellows in this world. Ultimately I believe life is not just about ending material lack but about ending spiritual lack, as spirit is the foundation of all. We hear about efforts to end hunger in Africa and elsewhere, but I think the average person doesn’t see the cause of the hunger, and what the world really hungers for.

© 2009 – 2010, Eric J Tischler. All rights reserved.