Just the other week, under a starlit sky in Provence, with the mild night breeze floating amongst the olive trees like a seductive whisper, one could for a moment think that the world is a beautiful place. This world, us humans playing out our experienced existence under the watchful eye of Mother Earth. But I think she is unimpressed with us; want, greed, gluttony, otherness is throwing the human experience into chaos, and the planet is burning and drowning at the same time. Conflict, war, and a climate in distress, all because we have lost the ‘oneness’ that is the only way to live harmoniously on this beautiful planet. Instead, we think what we need to own, possess, be right, be superior and fight whatever battle it takes to get to a place where we have what we think we need to be…. what?  Happy? Satisfied? Fulfilled? Powerful? Loved….?

It is easy to sit in our relative comfort and look at what is happening in other parts of the world with horror. But then, in a group of people, perhaps we say something demeaning about another person. Why? To be interesting, to please the group with an entertaining story? It seems trivial, but our karma is born out of intention and if our intention is rooted in a desire to serve ourselves, the ripple effect will soon be less than trivial. Whether we are arguing over land, power, food or popularity, we are fragmenting the Oneness that Yogic spiritual teaching is trying to show us.

Fair enough, in the Sastras we are told we just entered the time of Kali Yuga, a period of ignorance and loss of spiritual connection (Oneness) and moral integrity, and a rise of dominance of materialism, leading to exactly what is pretty much the state of the world at the moment. And we have more than 400000 years to go of this era, in which it will get worse and worse (before it gets better). But at least the scriptures suggest there will be a time after this.

But in the meantime? Live with good intentions, before we say something hurtful about, or to, someone else, think about it – what is my intention, what will I ‘loose’ if I don’t say it? Before we buy more ‘stuff’, think about it, do I need it, why do I think I need it, what will happen if I don’t get it?  Before we walk past someone in distress, think about it, what would it take to offer a  moment of my time, a kind word,  to someone I don’t know? Live with the wisdom that all actions – karmas – have an effect and a consequence.

In this experienced reality (of individuality) we are on our own karmic journeys so we try not to base our actions on others. To argue that ‘my efforts are pointless as others are not making the same efforts’ is not going to wash with the law of karma – no excuses! Under all the layers of external influences, we know what is right, so live a life in honesty and truth (even if it can be uncomfortable at times) and light will glimmer on the horizon.