At the time of writing, July 2020, the world has become a very different place. Human beings, creatures of sociability and conviviality, have been locked in their homes — some with their families and some totally alone. The reason for this is that a life-threatening virus, on a par with a medieval plague, has raced across the globe, killing thousands and spreading fear and anxiety on an unparalleled scale. For once we can all relate to what is happening everywhere. It’s not happening out there somewhere, in some country we have no identification with — it’s happening here, it’s happening now and it’s happening for everyone.
Who’s to blame? No one and everyone. Why has it happened? The answer is at the same time very simple but also requires some subtlety of thought. We are beings of thought. Most of us do not realise how powerful our thoughts are. In actuality, all that is happening around me is a product of my thought processes over a long period of time. Most of the world in the last little while has been chasing after wealth as some kind of security, and in so doing may have ignored the importance of honesty, kindness and truth in our business dealings and with our employees, and even within our families. The result has been great wealth and even greater poverty, universal suffering, sorrow and often despair. The suffering generates anger; anger at the injustice, anger at the inability to do anything. Research shows there is a connection between anger and stress and pulmonary function. So, from worldwide anger and stress to a virus that attacks the lungs, is not too big a stretch of the imagination. Our thoughts, uncontrolled and uncontrollable as they may have been, have brought about our current reality.
If we continue to think as we have been doing until now, then we will continue to live the lives we are living now. It’s time to think in a totally different way. We need to make our lives those of honesty and integrity — no matter what provocation, kindness even in the face of cruelty, peace even in the face of anger. We know, deep down in our hearts, that it is the only way to think and behave. Putting that into our practical reality is not an easy thing to do, despite the desire to do so. However, with understanding and help from a powerful source, it is possible. It is possible for ordinary human beings to transform into human beings that are so completely in harmony with themselves, with nature, and with others that the world in which they live is also transformed completely. A world where sorrow is not known, viruses do not exist and there is only joy.
We start with the understanding that although we are living in a physical dimension or world, we are not only physical. We are human, yes, but we are also beings. If we were only physical, why do we all do different things, have different beliefs, think in different ways, have different ideas? Those beliefs and thoughts come from the being. The being is spiritual, not physical. The being is subtle, not gross. The being is light, not dense. It is the being that thinks. The reason that all of us beings want to have justice, health, peace, love and happiness is because those qualities are the very essence of our being — and every single one of us desires them, no matter how we pursue them.
This understanding leads to a further awareness — that there is not a single human being on the planet who can bring about such a world. For such a total transformation, an outside power is needed. Power from a being who is totally benevolent, who is outside of what is going on and going wrong, who can, with love, orchestrate this transformation.
When there is the understanding that through thought a human being can connect their mind and heart to that Super Being, then transformation can begin; because as I think, I become; as I become, I behave; as I behave, my world is formed. In this way, through a loving connection with a supreme being, an ordinary human being can transform into what could be termed as a divine human being, an extraordinary human being — for these extraordinary times.
Jane Kay is a university teaching fellow in the UK, and a Rajyoga teacher.