Euro Crisis: Greek Debt
Barely 18 months ago the US was reeling from waves of panic, fearful the stock market would enter free fall, giant banks would fail, a Great Depression was swallowing us, the collapse of the entire economy was imminent….Yet today we are told we are on the way to recovery, and much of the money the government used to bailout banks has been paid back. Was it a miraculous recovery? Did the bailout really make that much difference, purely through economics? Many economists don’t think so. What shifted?
Today it is the turn of Europe to gasp for air amid increasing waves of panic over the Greek debt, which has been reduced to junk bond status, and the debts of Spain, Portugal and Ireland, which are not far behind. Iceland still teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, with a separate currency, but the countries of the Euro Zone are tied to one another and fear being dragged down into widespread depression by the debt ridden economies. What is the common denominator in all this?
Panic arises and quickly spreads when debts are called in and cannot be paid. One major element in the turn-around in the crisis of the US housing market was a return to traditional accounting practices in which mortgages on houses did not have to be labeled as bad debt on bank books just because the value of the house had declined. This simple change of procedure shifted the balance – and perceptions, slowing down the rate of foreclosure and helping to chill out the panic and restore some confidence. The present Euro crisis and potential future crises in the US, Asia and Latin America can be are crises where panic can swell into a torrent of fear, or – we could envision Armchair Travel imagery.
To restore confidence we can deliberately take the long term view that “all will be well”. Refusing to be swept away in the panic helps put brakes on the contagion of fear. Deliberate calm breathing can be contagious also, and take the wind out of the sales of panic, so that people come down to earth, do what belt tightening needs to be done and even rediscover each other and enjoy simple activities together. Another application of win-win Armchair Travel Healing.
ICELAND VOLCANO
What can Armchair Travel Healing do about the volcanic eruptions in Iceland, or anywhere else?
Did you ever play the child’s game of seeing the shapes in the clouds: a sheep, a tree, a snake, an alphabet letter, a clown face, etc? Did you ever play at bringing two clouds together, and then separating them again? At first maybe it didn’t work, but then it started to happen, and you were amazed? Maybe you thought it must be a coincidence, but it happened repeatedly…
Why did it work? If you laid back at ease somewhere, to better see the sky without neck strain, you may well have drifted into a light trance…and the sense of play frees the mind to send out resonant energy…images connect us with our intuitive right brain…these elements synergize to produce the effect we see.
Of course, the clouds spewing from volcanoes are dense with ash, and don’t dissolve so easily. But if several people lightheartedly play at magnifying breezes that dissipate the clouds, and perhaps even call in rain clouds that bring the fertile ash to earth wherever Mother Nature can make best use of it…Potash from volcanic emissions is a valuable and disappearing resource, a prime ingredient in natural fertilizer. This ash cloud has a silver lining, and the temporary disruption of life in northern Europe invites us all to step back and examine priorities…
Where would YOU like the valuable potash to go?
See a great display of 30 photos from Iceland http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull
Part 6 Amazing Results Using Ho’opono’pono
Dr. Hew Len, a practitioner of ho’opono’pono, had amazing results using this process. He was a psychologist employed at Hawaii state hospital for the criminally insane from 1982 to 1986. When he started at the hospital, there was a great deal of violence on the wards, poor patient compliance and low staff morale with high turnover rate due to attacks by patients. Dr. Hew Len had trained under Kahuna Lapa’au Morrnah. Dr. Hew Len disappeared into his new office with the files of the patients and went through the files one by one doing ho’opono’pono. Soon things began to improve at the hospital – the violence stopped, staff morale improved, patient compliance improved and patient health improved to the point where many medications could be reduced or eliminated, and one by one over a four year period most of the patients improved enough to be released. What had happened? The psychologist had not even had appointments with the patients. Dr. Hew Len used a process which changed the energy in the individual patients and in the hospital itself. Every day he would look at the picture of each person, and say mentally to the person represented by that photo, “I am sorry…please forgive me…….I love you.” How could this simple process have had such an effect?
In a lecture at Johns Hopkins University, Kahuna Mornah Simeona described doing ho’opono’pono: “All that is required is an appeal to the divine creator of our choice through the divinity that is within each person … who is really an extension of the divine creator.”
Her appeal goes like this:
“Divine creator, father, mother, son as one … If I, my family, relatives or ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives or ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds and actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, we ask your forgiveness … Let this cleanse, purify, release, cut all the negative memories, blocks, energies and vibrations and transmute these unwanted energies to pure light … And it is done.”
Mornah pointed out that this appeal can be identified with just about every religion, because “in every faith there always is a portion (of the liturgy) in which we ask forgiveness of those we offend … But we go beyond that … to family, relatives, and ancestors … because possibly some of the problem stems from a grandfather who chopped off somebody’s head in another century.” That which we expel is transmuted into “pure light,” she said, because otherwise, “we would pollute the atmosphere” with our discarded garbage. “But as pure light, it does not contaminate.”
At the instant that she utters “and it is done” the transmutation takes place, she said, and “the computer automatically erases” the garbage that has been stored for … who knows for how long?”
http://www.hooponopono.org/articles.htm
Also see ho’opono pono (two words) as taught by other Hawaiian teachers.
Part 5 Using ho’opono’pono for individuals
Restoring awareness of our spirit and healthy core can be done on an individual basis. One person can hold another person in thought or gaze at a photograph in front of them and say sincerely to that person (image): “If I or any one of my family or my ancestors has in any way offended you or anyone in your family or any of your ancestors, I am sorry. I ask your pardon. And I send you love/aloha.” Doing this process with a clear mind and heart means first releasing any negative thoughts or feelings you might have toward that person or anything or anyone associated with them, by appealing to Divine Love to heal you. In the Hawaiian view, negative thoughts or feelings come from memories, either of something you have heard or something you have experienced, or something you have picked up subconsciously because it resonated with some thought or feeling you had. In the Hawaiian view, it is not necessary to sort everything out; it is sufficient to realize we are all pure beings at our core, no matter what distorted thoughts or feelings we may have picked up through our life journey. We can appeal to that core purity that is our essence, and ask that the power of Love/Divinity/(any similar term) operate through our core purity to release any negative thoughts or feelings we might have, conscious or unconscious, toward the person we are trying to “make right with”. We might say, “May Divine Love flow through my Essence to release any negative thoughts or feelings I have toward name of person.” In some instances, for example with a great healer, one time doing this practice is enough, although more often the process needs to be repeated many times to fully clear ourselves.
In my next post I will tell you about a wonderful case of how ho’opono’pono helped empty a psychiatric hospital, putting nearly all the patients on the road to good health. Powerful healing imagery and practice!
Part 4 Ho’opono’pono
The power of forgiveness is also at the base of another transformational practice that can shift energy in powerful ways: the Hawaiian practice of Ho’opono’pono.
Ho’opono’pono or “making right” is a traditional Hawaiian healing practice. It was often used as a kind of family council meeting moderated by an elder, at which family members aired their viewpoints, grievances or issues. Then the family worked together to resolve any issues that were interfering with family unity, which was considered part of the Aloha spirit of the greater unity of all things.
A different approach to Ho’opono’pono was taught by Kahuna Lapa’au Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, who was designated a Living Treasure of Hawaii in 1983. Her mother had been a member of the court of the last of Hawaiian royalty, Queen Liliukolani. Morrnah taught that we are all One, in our connection with our own essential being or Higher Self, and we are all united in Divine Love. We simply have to remember that and confidently appeal to that to heal any situation. It is not necessary to explore the negative beliefs and feelings in a situation. It is enough to show you sincerely want to restore awareness of that Unity with the Divine, which always exists but gets forgotten. This is a powerful imagery practice, of visualizing the person you want to help heal, and sending them love by a formula I will explain in my next post, condensed from my book, Armchair Travel to Heal the Planet, available at www.amazon.com and my website, www.imaginehealingandawakening.com
Part 3 The Practice of Tonglen
Hearing and Feeling the Cries of the World (see wikipedia: Tonglen)
Breathing in, we allow ourselves to feel the inevitable suffering that occurs in this life. Our heart’s natural response to this suffering, while breathing out, is compassion. We breathe in the pain and suffering of this world like a dark cloud, letting it pass through our hearts. Rather than bracing ourselves against this pain and suffering, we can let it strengthen our sense of belonging and interdependence within the larger web of being. Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) is the Bodhisattva of Universal Compassion. His name means “One Who Hears the Cries of the World.” Long ago he vowed not to return to nirvana until all living beings had been liberated from suffering. Avalokiteshvara listens to and feels the pain and suffering of the world. He breathes in, receiving the cries and anguish of the world and responds with the greatest care and compassion. In Buddhism, the traditional vow made by the Bodhisattva is to alleviate the suffering of all sentient beings.
Suggestions for the Practice of Tonglen
Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your
personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.
In Tonglen practice, through our compassion, we take on (embrace without resistance) the various sufferings of all beings: their fear, hurt, frustration, pain, anger, guilt, bitterness, loneliness, doubt, rage, and so forth. In return, we give them our loving-kindness, happiness, peace of mind, well-being, healing, and fulfillment.
1) Sit quietly, calm the mind, and center yourself. Reflect on the immense suffering that all beings everywhere experience. Allow their suffering to open your heart and awaken your compassion. You may also choose to invoke the presence of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and enlightened beings, so that through their inspiration and blessing, compassion may be born in your heart. In this way, you are resting in bodhicitta—the enlightened nature of the mind. Bodhicitta, is an inexhaustible source of purity, generosity, and compassion.
2) Imagine in front of you, as clearly as possible, someone you care for who is suffering. Although this may be more challenging, you may also imagine someone you feel indifferent toward, someone you consider to be an enemy, or those who have hurt you or others. Open yourself to this person’s suffering. Allow yourself to feel connected with him or her, aware of their difficulties, pain, and distress. Then, as you feel your heart opening in compassion toward the person, imagine that all of his or her suffering comes out and gathers itself into a mass of hot, black, grimy smoke.
3) Now, visualize breathing in this mass of black smoke, seeing it dissolve into the very core of your self-grasping (ego) at your heart center. There in your heart, it completely destroys all traces of fear and selfishness (self-cherishing) and purifies all of your negative karma.
4) Imagine, now that your fear, self-centeredness and negative karma has been completely destroyed, your enlightened heart (bodhicitta) is fully revealed. As you breathe out, imagine you are sending out the radiance of loving-kindness, compassion, peace, happiness, and well-being to this person. See this brilliant radiance purifying all of their negative karma. Send out any feelings that encourage healing, relaxation, and openness.
5) Continue this “giving and receiving” with each breath for as long as you wish. At the end of your practice, generate a firm inner conviction that this person has been freed of suffering and negative karma and is filled with peace, happiness and well-being. You may also wish to dedicate the merit and virtue of your practice to the benefit of all sentient beings.
It is not hard to see how Tonglen echoes the goal of Christian transformation. The Crucifixion-Resurrection is often seen as the ultimate symbol of the power of forgiveness – to raise the forgiver from the dead and liberate the wrong doer from the bondage of their actions.
Part 2 The Goals of Tonglen
The theme of willingness to undergo suffering for others’ sake is not limited to Christianity. Tibetan Buddhists have a practice called Tonglen, which in Tibetan means ‘giving and taking’. In the practice, one visualizes taking onto oneself the suffering of others, and giving one’s own happiness and success to others. (wikipedia) The function of the practice is to:
1. reduce selfish attachment
2. increase a sense of renunciation
3. create positive karma by giving and helping
4. develop loving-kindness and bodhicitta
This theme is similar to the willingness to “take up one’s cross for others.”
H.H. The Dalai Lama, who is said to practise Tonglen every day, has said of the technique: “Whether this meditation really helps others or not, it gives me peace of mind. Then I can be more effective, and the benefit is immense”.
From a Buddhist site on “The Heart Practice of Tonglen”:
In this way of practice, in this way of being, we transform our tendency to close down and shut out life’s unpleasant experiences. In accordance with Buddha’s First Noble Truth, we acknowledge, touch, and embrace our personal and collective suffering. We do not run away. We do not turn the other way. Touching and understanding suffering is the first step toward true transformation. Rather than avoiding suffering, we develop a more tolerant and compassionate relationship with it. We learn to meet and embrace reality—naked, open, and fearless.
Although the idea of developing a relationship with suffering may sound somewhat morbid, we must remember the teachings of the Second and Third Noble Truths as well: when we touch and embrace suffering, we can finally understand what causes it. When we understand the cause of suffering, we can eliminate it and be liberated. There is an end to suffering, however, we must learn how to meet it in a new way. Tonglen practice can help us accomplish this shift of awareness, this training of the mind.
Tonglen effectively reverses our usual pattern of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. In this process, we finally liberate ourselves from a very ancient prison of selfishness. With this radical shift of awareness, this new way of embracing our life experience, our heart becomes more tender, open, sensitive, and aware. We naturally feel more alive; more loving and caring, both for ourselves and others. By practicing Tonglen, we connect with a less defended and more open, spacious dimension of our being. The all-embracing compassion of our true nature begins to shine through and we are introduced to a far more intimate and grander view of reality. With this sublime heart of love, liberated from attachment, aversion, and indifference, we gradually recognize and feel the absolute interdependence and preciousness of all living beings. This is true intimacy with life. This is the cultivation of bodhicitta—the awakened heart of compassion and wisdom.
Armchair Travel Healing – using energy and imagery to project healing toward others – is in some ways akin to non sectarian prayer. In the next series of posts, I will be exploring three imagery practices which Armchair Healers in various parts of the world have already been using: Crucifixion-Resurrection, Buddhist Tonglen, and Hawaiian Ho’opono’pono . These cross cultural practices have parallels which are not commonly realized.
This Easter season is a good time to explore the powerful healing image of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
The usual interpretation given to the cross is that Jesus of Nazareth died to redeem humans, who had disobeyed God’s laws and fallen into evil ways of treating one another. Because Jesus was seen as pure, and seen by many as the Son of God, his offering his life as a ransom was seen as a fit sacrifice to regain God’s favor, or to balance out the negative effects of sin and set humans back on track to evolve toward heaven. A newer interpretation of the Good Friday – Easter Sunday story might be that Jesus “shifted” the energy on the planet, from a negative spiral downward to the beginning of a positive one that we can all travel at our own pace. The Crucifixion can be seen as an act of love, being willing to give one’s life for others – which leads to rising above your present state. To become completely loving, forgiving even the deepest wrongs and hurts, and willing to give of oneself for others, can be seen as literally or metaphorically leading to Resurrection.
Humiliating and painful death on a cross can be seen as the ultimate suffering, bearing Jesus’ promise “I will be with you always”. Reflecting on the image of the cross, anyone in pain can see that Jesus has been there before them, leading the way through a nightmare of suffering. By accepting it with openness and forgiveness, Jesus points the way toward personal transformation and resurrection, rising above the human condition, the cycle of hurt, pain, retaliation, more hurt, new pain, etc. Those who meditate on this find it powerfully healing for themselves, and many who pray for others using Christian imagery report all kinds of improvement.
Volcano of anger toward Roman clergy
The news from the Vatican has a parallel in volcanic eruptions in Iceland, of Mt. Etna or Vesuvius: an eruption of anger is blowing the top off more and more secrets in the handling of clergy abuse of children. Whether our inclinations toward the Vatican are positive or negative, for the good of all concerned we might hold the image of the volcano melting and blasting away whatever is best burned off, and depositing in its stead volcanic ash and lava that are fertile soil for the growth of a new, cleaner spirtuality.
The earth has need for climate changes in many areas! Use healing images like the volcano to help bring positive changes. Learn how in my book Armchair Travel to Heal the Planet, available at www.amazon.com or my website, http://imaginehealingandawakening.com
Volcanoes erupting in Iceland…major earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Japan and Turkey…the safety valves of our planet are opening to let off pressure. These massive adjustments cannot be attributed to global warming, so what is happening? Our planet seems to be flexing its crust, breaking up knots of tension. This could be a portent to us to be more flexible and adaptable in our own lives as individuals, and as a human community in responding to the needs of our cousins in all the areas affected. Haiti especially continues to experience massive crisis. Crisis also means massive opportunity for growth and change, if enough people hold that intention and social media attention is focused on supporting agents of positive potential. That could be re-development projects that provide local employment, Habitat for Humanity helping people build new homes, and Partners in Health, a relief agency with an established network in Haiti. Or, what is your preferred mode of helping?
Remember, along with whatever monetary assistance we can provide, we can all send healing – that is, in a state of deep calm, sending positive energy through intention and imagery, to a target hot spot, for example, seeing Haitians building new buildings. This is Armchair Travel Healing, explained in depth in my book, Armchair Travel to Heal the Planet, available at www.amazon.com
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