Vedana, elections, luddites and xenophobia

There is a lot of horror among educated people about democracy and the way things are currently going. Clearly, as enlightened people we should be looking after everyone and making the world a better place. I don't think anyone would disagree with this. The trouble is that human beings are driven by a complex set of animal mechanisms that makes them abhor "otherness" and makes them want to protect a mythical state of "the good old days" even though those days were patently rubbish - people don't like change but they also don't like being left behind.

Now, it doesn't matter who we are, these things will always induce a sense of unpleasantness (negative vedana) in us. Unobserved this unpleasantness will attach itself into thoughts and opinions that get us into a lather and we become these rather unreasonable people. We may find ourselves consumed in fear and hatred and all these other emotions that attempt to deal with the unpleasantness within us. We may find these emotions being reinforced (or introduced) by the media or other people around us. We believe the world is making us feel this way.

I've probably lost most people by now, but if you find yourself getting sucked into this delusion of a poisoned, dark world consider these things:

- intrinsically, your idea of the world is in you. If you feel bad, it is in you not the world.
- life is not about suppressing the unpleasant aspects - they are part of the system. Trying to ignore them (which is what has been happening) does not work.
- when unpleasant things arise, we have an opportunity to examine them as a community and become ever more enlightened.
- you can't change reality - the luddites finally realised this and so will we - the world has moved on even though we might not like it

There, I've said my bit. There's a natural catharsis going on and it's how we move on as a society. Will the world be destroyed? Probably not.

Remember:

- the world is constantly changing, but the overall direction is towards the wholesome.


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