AmBud, Chasing Nirvana

Loving kindness

Am I crazy for missing the few months following 9/11?

Seriously, I miss that time. I miss it because people stopped for a moment and thought about each other. Everyone seemed to take pause and earnestly attempt to care about and respect each other. I noticed it most driving on the highway on my way to work, and in the grocery store during its busiest time. Everyone was polite and courteous and smiling, it was almost eerie, like I had been transported to some alien planet, but it was also incredible, the overnight transformation was nothing short of miraculous.

The sadness, outrage, and fear of our worst nightmares brought everyone closer together in sync, en masse. What was it we felt in our hearts that freed us from our normally narrow world view? We had a true national moment of connection; perhaps it was even international with the exception of a few countries.

I believe it was the gross equivalent of a massive loving kindness meditation. We were all filled with compassion and empathy for the victims of 9/11 and the result was a tremendous outpouring of Love, and if just for a short time, we were all Buddhists practicing Love and Kindness.

Moments like this give me great hope for the future of our world. While we have since regressed to behavior similar to or worse than that of pre – 9/11, we have the capacity to love. With this notion in mind, we can find our way to peace. Imagine the implications of a society that, like a beauty pageant contestant, wished for world peace. If every heart felt emotion was directed toward that end, a tidal wave of compassion and love would lift the world to the next level, a level never before imagined.

Maybe I am crazy, this does seem very idealistic to me, but what happened once can happen again, right? I’m not suggesting more earth shattering violence or other catastrophes to soften the collective heart of our world. What I am suggesting is that we are capable and we only need to find a way to ignite this intention. We can create the cause that will later manifest as peace and harmony for our world.

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