PRAYING FOR THE WORLD

I just saw a serious article arguing that leaving the EU will compromise UK economic growth, and that will be disastrous. Now I can think of lots of good reasons for staying in the EU, and I don't want to get into that argument, but the above reason is not one of them. The idea of continuous economic growth is insane, literally, it does not need arguing. And yet otherwise intelligent political leaders from the 'developed' world act as though this is not the case. And it will lead to our destruction.

There is a Buddhist quote that “The worldling is like a madman”. You can see what is meant. Not so long ago our leaders were caught up in the nuclear arms race, another grand insanity that does not need arguing.

I think it is important to be able to stand outside these torrents of madness. They will always be there, in big ways and small. A shaman/healer/medicine person is in the world, but not of the world. It is that insight, that refusal to accept conventional wisdom of any sort, but to work everything out from first principles and from our own experience and authority, that means we have something to offer. 

The near enemy of this wisdom is the rebellious rejection of the world, an 'us and them' mindset, which is another form of foolishness. And in particular, I think we need to be able to stand outside one-sided political views that demonise the party we don't vote for. Everyone, even UKIP deserves our understanding. We act on behalf of everyone.

A Native American friend once told me that all some medicine people do is pray. I have a lot of time for that idea. If you have protest in your blood, fair enough. But the most powerful way to help the world, in its desperation, is from the Spirit World. We know that to be true with individuals, and it is the same with the world. And prayer and ceremony is how we can do that. An ongoing wish from our hearts for balance in this dreaming that is the world, a wish that deepens over time as we live it day-to-day. Prayer in this sense can be a way of life, a way of being.

It can be tempting to throw up our hands in despair at the state of the world and the magnitude of its problems. And I sympathise with that response, I think there is sense in it. How can we know what will help, and can the individual help in any meaningful way on a literal level? But what we can do is pray for the return of balance, and know that has an effect, though we will probably never know in what way. If we have a duty to the world, I think it is to be engaged with it on this Spirit level.