World Affairs

World Affairs on Planet Earth

Individuals are searching during many millenniums for their own salvation, for their own particular happiness, to resolve their own many complex problems. They hope to find solution outside of themselves through all kinds of experts, specialists, scientists… They are expecting that charismatic politicians, who play tricks on human ego to win power, would deliver what people want via governmental programs. They are looking toward religious organizations, which promise after life rewards to their followers in the name of some image which thought has created, to fulfill their desire for everlasting joy. Should all this searching, competing, fighting stop for Life to begin?

When the mind seeks consolation, comfort, security, it cannot see Truth. We then become cogs in a system. We are merely machines, slaves to public opinion and slaves to the innumerable ideals that society and religion impose upon us, slaves to economic and political systems that we accept. Only through questioning that we discover True Values; and we sincerely question only when we are suffering. Suffering is a useful step in the process of understanding Truth which alone can bring everlasting happiness.

We build systems – Country, Economy, Society and Religion – and educate people to fit as parts into those systems. We build systems based on ignorance of Man and irreverence to Nature.

The world and its systems – economic, social, technological, political and religious – are becoming more and more complex. To understand something very complex, one has to be very simple.  “Simple” means fresh, innocent, unburdened, uncontaminated, unconditioned. We have to look at complexity quietly, without any judgment, and ask ourself seriously with full intention to understand.

We just have one Earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it, helping each other, not destroying each other. This is the actual fact. But man has divided the Earth, hoping thereby that in a particular country or group, he is going to find happiness, security, a sense of abiding comfort. Until a radical change takes place and we wipe out all nationalities, all ideologies, all religious divisions, and establish a global relationship – psychologically first, inwardly before organizing the outer – we shall go on with wars.

Most of us start life with a specialized education to go on earning a livelihood in the office or on the field days in days out, may marry and have the responsibility for children, a house, a mortgage, and be trapped in that for the rest of our life. We depend on a corporation or on a government for our pay check, our insurance, our health care, our sustenance. We are caught in this system which is more or less corrupt, always at war, if not open military conflict, then economic war. We should be wondering what is our place in all this? How are we going to live sanely in this chaotic environment?

To live sanely in this insane and brutal world, we need Intelligence, which means we have to be very sensitive to what is going on in the world, to be aware of the Whole.

Education is not merely to pass exams, to get a degree, to be qualified for certain type of jobs, to have some specialized knowledge. Education is to give us the capacity to look at the world objectively, knowing that we have to earn a livelihood, knowing all the responsibilities and the miseries we have to face in life.

And most importantly, we need Love, which is different from “like” or “dislike”. Love is not dependence on a person or an object of possession. Love implies compassion for all, people, animals, flowers… Without Love, we cannot be sensitive, therefore not be Intelligent.

More or less exists only in a relative defined value system. For those who live free in an unlimited and always renewed world, comparison, imitation and repetition make no sense.

A person who does not expect anything is never disappointed with whatever happens. He lives in the Present, always at peace with himself and in harmony with the perpetual renewal of Life.

If we want something that we don’t have now or in the future, we become frustrated and we suffer.We don’t enjoy Life as it unfolds. Human suffering comes from not having what they want to satisfy their individual self interest. External circumstances are not always cooperating. Even if we succeed in overcoming most external challenges to appropriate what we believe we need, we may create suffering and unhappiness for others, because we live in a competitive world where resources are limited and scarcity is the norm. No matter how wealthy and how powerful we stand, we are most of the time disappointed with someone or something, and we are unhappy. So why don’t we try to understand and manage our own urge and desires?

Everything that a person does has its reason. Even if we don’t understand why, it is perfectly right. Why do we assume that it should meet our personal standard, our own liking, our own judgement and try to change it or react to it with love, hate, anger? So, never mind!

However, there are National Laws and Universal Laws to maintain harmony in society and in the cosmos. These Laws are impersonal and everyone has to comply. Violation of those laws has its own consequences. Their enforcement is impersonal and natural.

In the temporal world of space and time, most people are motivated by their desire to go from a starting point in life to a future destination defined by their goal, via a sound strategy. Accomplishment of this traveling is called success.

In the world of Ultimate Reality, there is no traveling, no success nor failure because complete understanding fuses everything in the Present. The only motivation in this humane world is universal and unconditional Love. There is no attraction, no repulsion. This is the world where Christ and Buddha live. This is the world of our True Destination.

Laws and Rules

If we live in a country, we have to obey the laws of this country, whether they are perfect or not. If we violate the country laws, we could end up in prison. There are also other laws: law of nature, law of physics, law of economics. If we violate those laws, we will suffer the consequences. If we put our hands on the fire, we will get burn. Our society also depends on moral laws or laws of conduct.

Observance of those laws help maintain harmony in the society.
Many religions as well as political parties are based on doctrines and theories formulated in such a way to attract followers and members. Some use promise of rewards and threat of punishment to control the mass. If you follow their rules, then you go to heaven after you die, or you gain political power while you are alive. If you break the rules, then you go to hell.

Each individual has to discern what is True from what is not, and is free to choose his course of actions. The Purer our Energy, the better we can see the Truth. Seeing the Truth liberates us from confusion and enslavement. Otherwise we have to come back to Earth again and again to learn our lessons. And this is reincarnation. We all create our consequences. This is just the logical relationship between cause and effect.

Each human being throughout the world has created this society. This society is corrupt, immoral, and always at war. We are facing a tremendous crisis which can never been solved by the politicians, the scientists, the corporate or religious leaders because they are programmed for thousands of years to think in a narrow way. The turning point is not in politics, in religion, in the scientific or business world; it is in our consciousness. As an individual, it is our responsibility to bring about a critical change in the world. Can we initiate in the very essence of our being a total revolution, a psychological mutation, so that we are no longer brutal, violent, competitive, anxious, fearful, greedy and envious? We have to make the choice within the depth of our being. Electing or following any kind of leaders has no meaning whatsoever and won’t solve our problems.

The outer world is a reflection of the inner. We cannot have what we are unwilling to “Be”. Social change is not possible personal transformation.

1. On Politics and Government

Government exists because the Earth is separated into countries and nations then further subdivided into states, provinces, cities… The concept of citizenship is a consequence of this geographic separation. Governments are created to manage administratively common problems of such political entities. War and violence are used to protect common interest of a nation. Then we invent process to choose leaders of the government: family birth right, democratic general election, political party selection… Political systems are designed based on illusory assumption of separation.

The whole world is burning, and the world is “me”, not the American, not the French, not the Chinese… It is “me” with my conflict, my war, my ambition, my competition, my greed, my anger, my jealousy, my judgment, my nationalism, my religion, my god, my belief, my images… The “me’s” cooperate to fit in the current order (or disorder). Together we build the world. When we cooperate for patriotic or financial reasons, for vanity or self interest motives, we burn the world.

Most of those who seek leadership position expect to be served. Jesus was born “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many”. (Mark 10.45)

Jesus once said:
“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
All men are free! Their only oppressors are their own fears and their own ambitions, which they don’t fully understand. When a person is truly detached from the desire for possession, nothing could enslave him nor make him suffer.

World problems cannot be solved by clever political leaders. People suffering cannot be dissipated by religious authorities. Each individual has the freedom to choose his own deliverance path and the responsibility to act toward his own rescue. Only then, world illnesses could be healed.

Candidate selection using popular vote or restricted party choice relies more on greed based limited group interest or fear based short term emotional feelings rather than on long term reason and reality. Government lack of effectiveness is the inevitable result.
The true purpose of Government and Education is to work toward common good and unity of all people by providing equal opportunity for all. Unfortunatly, politicians are seeking power by promising special favors to one group or class at the expense of others. They tend to focus on egos and fears that divide rather than unite.

On Election:

Since most citizens want better life, more wealth, more special treatments for themselves or for their groups without considering the “whole”, without feeling for the suffering of others, candidates would come out with demagogic programs or flattering promises to win the election. Such plans, if put into practice, would create more chaos, more miseries for the whole society and would lead the world closer toward destruction.

To favor some interest groups while ignoring others is to breed an imbalance which would lead to greater chaos and misery. Man is a total process. To govern properly, the totality must be understood and taken into account, not merely a part. The sacrificing of a minority to earn the vote of the majority is insanity of those who are seeking power via demagogy. They are the new priests who take to themselves the right of human direction.

Reflection on US Democracy:

The United States has a “Democratic Political System” of public government, but an absolute “Corporate Dictatorship Authority System”.

Within a Corporation, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is the King. He answers only to the Board of Directors who represents the shareholders (owners of the company).

Political power is supposed to be conferred via a fair election process which gives authority to the party which wins majority of electoral votes.

In reality, the winners depends heavily on money spent for campaigning activities and media coverage. “One man one vote” does not prevent special interest power brokers with ample financial asset, with good connection to owners of mass media, with specific fund raising expertise, to help elect their preferred  candidates to the governmental positions. Campaigning themes mostly rely on wicked manipulation of greedy and egoistic motives of the voters.

The practical outcome is an inefficient and paralyzed power system controlled partly by divergent interest groups who could not agree with each others and who are not willing to consider the common benefits for all.

Beyond Democracy:

The most important service anyone could offer is to help others grow in consciousness. However, this is the most difficult task in the world because “true intelligence” does not provide comfort nor shelter, just complete understanding.

The ultimate function of a true leader is to facilitate each and every individual’s growth toward perfection in his search for truth. Those leaders cooperate with life energy flow by supporting individual progress. They coalesce forces that are already set in motion to assist in the manifestation of Heaven on earth.

No nation, no government, no religion, no social structure, no economic system could survive for long by blocking this powerful and universal life steam toward perfection and self discovery.

A true democracy exists when every member of the society is free to actively follow guidance of his internal light. There is no need for any form of external authority because this all powerful light within shines to reveal the Whole as all of us are really One. For true democracy to work, it needs to have foundation on awareness of the eternal life force within every human being.

2. On Economic Inequality

The Economic System is based on the concept of “Ownership”. Individual ownership where it is practical or possible and Government ownership where property could not be easily separated subdivided and assigned to individuals.

To facilitate this process, we invent “Money” and other tools such as banks, monetary reserves, corporations, investments, and savings. Property is associated with real estate, natural resources, and products. People now become “Human Resource”. To enable distribution of products and services, we invent exchange and trading system. Everything is designed with the assumption that human beings are separated entities, and happiness is linked to more ownership and more control power.

World Economic System

Our current worldwide economic system is based on “Appropriation” and “Exchange”. Since our greed has no limit, we feel and believe in scarcity. We fight to “Own” and “Control” more and more wealth in term of lands, properties, natural resources, products and services and those who are more knowledgeable, more clever or more powerful tend to design an “Exchange System” that give them a much larger share of the global pie. Through unfair distribution of resources and opportunities, they generate tremendous inequalities among nations and among individuals, thus creating undue and artificial scarcities.

We need to learn from indigenous people and their culture around the world. They carry great reverence for nature, and just take what they strictly need to maintain life. We should not kill indiscriminately plants and animals in the name of economic development.

The slogan that we currently use is “Sustainable Development” (Phát Triển Bền Vững), but the element of Sustainability is often ignored or forgotten.

Human Beings are not just means (Human Resource), but also ends.
“Now everything is subordinated to market economies, without taking into consideration the social consequences for the weakest. People say that in business there are no friends. Solidarity is out of fashion. We need to build a culture of Love, through the respect of the human being, of the whole creation. We must practice a Justice inspired by Love. Justice is the basis for true Peace”. (Catholic liberation theologian Gustavo Gutierrez)

“Some day, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love. And then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire”. (Teilhard de Chardin)

Most current economic theories promote wealth inequality so that those who have excess wealth could invest more to increase the size of the whole pie. The underlying assumption believes that people act only in their own interest.

Globalization and competition are the two issues that are in most people mind. Since there are few enforceable international laws to regulate these areas, the world must rely on ethics (or fairness). But there is nobody out there to enforce international ethics.

Interesting statistics on wealth inequality are shown on a world wide basis. What are its implications?

8.4 % of the world population control more than 83 % of the world wealth and lend money to keep the other 91.6% working for them to survive. Also, only 8 persons control 50% of the resources on this planet. There is something wrong with this world economic system. Those who control the money and wealth also control military power to perpetuate the system. This is the source of worldwide instability.

Global Capitalist System

“We live in a global economy which is characterized by free trade of goods and services, and by free movement of capital. Capital is more mobile than other factors of production, and financial capital is even more mobile than direct investment. It moves wherever it is best rewarded, and individual countries compete to attract it.
However, the development of a global economy has not been matched by the development of a global society. The basic unit for political and social life remains the nation-state. International laws and international institutions are not strong enough to prevent war or the large scale abuse of human rights in individual countries. Ecological threats are not adequately dealt with. Global financial markets are largely beyond the control of national or international authorities”.
(Quotation from George Soros on the Global Economy and the Global Capitalist System)

3. On Education

Our education system does not turn out real human beings but mechanical entities trained to accept certain jobs and finally die. It focuses on building perfect parts for a gigantic machine, which could be a corporation, a governmental or religious institution, a financial or economic system. We create stereotyped and standardized “human resource” for society and we forget the “human being” side of man. We glorify technical achievement but leave out creativity. We have learned techniques and we may know how to operate many tasks beautifully, but our hearts and minds are empty, we do not love a living thing and we are miserable all our lives. Should Creation or Technique come first for us to see the beauty of Life and be Happy?

Education is not just about transmitting information from older generation to younger one. It is rather about sharing knowledge, stimulating new ideas and developing critical thinking via close human interaction. Everyone should simultaneously play the role of teacher and learner. The Internet provides new and valuable tools. Traditional classroom is no longer the only venue. Education efficiency is tested in real time with professional success. Academic credential should not be used to protect teacher’s ego and position. Academic grading and degree based on teacher’s judgment should no longer be the primary evaluation criteria.

To learn is not to accumulate knowledge from past theories, past traditions, past experiences. Learning from the past may be useful for mechanical, repetitive, routine works days in days out, tasks that could be handled more efficiently by a computer or a robot, but learning from the past is useless for solving human issues in the socio-economic and political fields because Life is Movement, always changing, always new. To meet current challenges of human miseries and conflicts, we need a fresh, creative and unconditionned mind capable of immediate perception of present realities. Learning is a constant movement, constant renewal, always alert, always attentive and open to perceive what actually takes place, to be aware of “what is”.

Education is a tool to help us fit into the mechanism of current order or disorder. To fit in, we have to specialize, to become a technician. This gives us security of passing exams, getting a degree and having a specialized job to earn a decent living. Does it give us the capacity to look at the world objectively? Does it facilitate all the extraordinary capacities that we have as a human being to blossom?

When I was a child, I said to myself that when I grow up, I would send the PhD’s back to the field to care for buffalo and give opportunity to the poor buffalo kids to go to school. This kind of training would be useful since it connects the PhD with the reality of life. Many PhD’s get their knowledge through books and live in ivory towers disconnected from the living world.

Teaching and learning are two aspects of the same activity, two facets of the same coin, two external manifestations of the same act, because there is no real difference between the teacher and the student.

How could someone teach without first learning then putting into practice what he has learned? The act of learning comes from from obrservations, critical thinking, listening to insights from others, watching real life experiences of all unfolding in the present moment. Learning becomes real, effective when there is no longer difference between the observer and the observed. At this moment, the student becomes the teacher. Once awakened, Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ shared naturally, just not only through words, but also through life acts, their wisdom to all. Those who accept and understand those wisdoms are now “One” with them. Everything is just Energy. There is no separate energy field once we know who we really are. Everyone is interconnected with each others through Life, which may also be called God.

Current educational and religious systems based on separation between the teacher and the learner, between God in the sky and disciples on earth, are just illusion of the human mind.

The authority, governmental, religious or corporate authority is trying to mold the citizen, disciple or human resource to fit certain patterns or expectations, to make people better parts of a bigger and more complex machine. This is what we normally call education or learning through books, experiences. The knowledge that we acquire is stored in memory, and used later to solve problems we encounter.

However Life is always dynamic, changing. To face new challenges of life, our mind needs to be alert, free from past authority, from accepted dogms and norms. That is why we need curiosity, openness, critical thinking, or just common sense. We need a new kind of learning not focused on memorization, on repetition, on accumulation, but on self awareness and awareness of life as it unfolds in the Present moment.

In brief, we need to be free of the known to cope with the unknown. We need to move from static intellect based knowledge to dynamic intuitive, direct knowledge to perceive reality of life. This is only possible when the mind is quiet but alert, unconditioned, unencumbered by greed and egoistic desires.

Closing remark: However, we have to graduate ourselves from “Education”, either academic or religious education. The only Instructor who is always with us is our Light Within.

4. On Religions

It does not make any difference that we are Christian, Buddhist, Hindustan or Confucian: We are all Human Beings, and that’s all which matters. As Human, we just need to follow the Light Within from our True Self.

I realize that religious powers are much more oppressive, cruel and harmful than political powers. Fundamentalism fanatics are killing, beheading people and raping, selling women who are not conforming to their religious view. Pope Francis recently told the Catholic Church curia and priests to focus more on loving care of the weak and poor rather than on amassing wealth and power under Christ name. The thirty-year Christian Reformation war in Europe between Catholic and Protestant had killed more than half of the German population. After the war, much of Northern Europe became Protestant and Southern Europe Catholic. Those who were minorities in their area suffered persecution. Many immigrated to America to create the United States of America. In the 16th century, those who opposed the Vatican were burn alive. The next world war could be a religious war rather than ideological war.

All religions are man made organizations created to separate mankind. More than 3000 years ago, there was no religion. Every human being has the same Creator, call Him Life or God or “No Name”… He resides deep within every one of us, otherwise we don’t exist and we have no life. This Light Within is all what we need to guide us through existence. We have no need for religion.

Truth (Chơn Lý) is very simple. It is always there, but we have to Live it. We cannot just describe it. However once we learn something, we have to express what we just learn to help our learning grow. If nobody listens, we can talk to our dog, our cat, or the tree in our yard. This is why Buddha or Jesus came out to talk once they were awakened. People mistook their intention as to create separate religions.

What is the best way to revere and follow Jesus Christ? To emulate his spirit of love and service in our daily live or to blindly obey some kind of worldly religious authority created by man? If Christ is now coming back as predicted in the Bible, I wonder what would be the reaction of multitude of church denominations built in His name. Would they follow Him or would they fight Him fearing lost of their worldly power over the populace?

Gospel reading (Mark 2:23-28). Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” . Similarly, governments, church and corporations are made for man, not man for those worldly institutions. However, small groups of so-called “elites” are using them to control, exploit and enslave people around the world.

“A human being is part of the whole…. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness…. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures, and the whole nature in its beauty.”
Albert Einstein

When people ignore their roots, they loose connection to the world. That’s why “Filial Piety” (Hiếu) is the cornerstone virtue of all men and women. Without it, people cannot have compassion for anybody. The end results are increasing robbery, drugs, drinking, violence..
To the Catholic Cardinals and clergy who offend people with their attitude “I am holier than you”, Pope Francis has the following message: “The cardinalate is a service — it is not an award to be bragged about. Vanity, showing off, is an attitude that reduces spirituality to a wordly thing, which is the worst sin that could be committed in the Church.”

According to Hindu belief, we are currently living in the final age of Kali Yuga, when society reaches a stage where property confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, and sex the only means of enjoyment… The evolution cycle will lead back to the first age of Dharma when moral order should prevail.

Gospel reading on one of the cornerstones of Christianity:
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Current society is built on judgment and evaluation of others. The prevalent economic system relies on exchange, not gift, not unconditional love. Everyone is trying to give out the minimum possible in exchange for receiving the highest value. The difference is called profit, gain revered and admired by all. In the process, the weak, the sick, the poor are left out or exploited to the extreme to support wealth accumulation of the few. The law may be circumvented, ethics and fairness ignored.

Is not Judgment part of the craziness of this world? We are not talking about judging the physical dangers so that we could avoid them, but judgment on the character of another person. Judgment is based on image about oneself and others. Images are always illusion, not reality. Judgment implies vanity, which prevents us from perceiving what is true. We need great humility to understand and to love.
My meditation on why we should stop judging: Because we are living in a world of relative reality. Ideas of “right” and “wrong” (thị phi) are quickly followed by thoughts of “us” versus “them” which separate us and lead us to conflicts. Our purpose on earth is to learn God ultimate reality in which we are all united as “One” in His Presence.

5. On Social Trends

In the United States, children born within a married family decreased from 65% to 56% between 2002 and 2012. Now close to one out of two babies born in America are born out of wedlock without a stable father. Sexual encounters are more and more viewed as recreational activities, and no longer seen as part of the procreation process. Researcher are trying to use SPSS and other statistical tools to look at the causes and to predict the trends, dividing demographic sample by age, race, income, religion… Children born out of a loving family environment are more inclined to drug, violence, crime, and perhaps they are prone to be recruited by terrorist groups around the world. Is it the price that we have to pay for economic development and for wealth accumulation?

Could it be that more and more American men just want sex without responsibility for raising children, and American single moms have enough public assistance from the US government? Also, in a divorce, the law requires the man to pay for the support of his child until he or she is 18 years old. Could it be that many men avoid marriage so that they are not required to pay when they decide to change sexual partners?

Various studies on US rate of divorce show significant differences when a comparison is made in 1st, 2nd and 3rd marriage breakups in America. The marriage breakup rate in America for first marriage is 41% to 50%; the rate after second marriage is from 60% to 67% and the rate in America for 3rd marriage are from 73% to 74%. Reports also say that couples with children have a slightly lower rate of breakup as compared to couples without children. This is due to the fact that being childless is one of the prime causes behind divorce in America. Also, the children of divorced parents are prone to divorcing 4 times more than the children of couples who are not divorced.

6. On Other Issues

The Earth axis had changed many times in history. However current axis shift would be disastrous in light of nationalism and separation mentality. In the distant past, people could move freely in search for habitable land. Today, Donald Trump would put a fence around the United States. Other countries would do the same. China would fill up the sea and put a fence around it.