Who is Responsible?

Recently there have been several incidents in the newspaper that evoked the question: “who is responsible?” A 15-year-old teenage girl was gang raped within a group of onlookers cheering the assailants. The crowd watched and twittered details of the events, while never standing up to stop the assault from happening. A few weeks prior, a young boy walking home from school accidentally found himself in the center of a gang war. The two warring gangs displaced their rage onto the boy and beat him to death in the presence of silent onlookers. No one stopped the descent into madness. When reflecting on these incidents, who do you believe is responsible?

Children are abused and experience incest and molestation within family systems that deny the incidents or fail to confront the perpetrators who live within their midst. Addicts thrive within systems that unwittingly allow the dysfunction to continue. When this happens, who is responsible?

The Earth has been profoundly impacted by ongoing pollution and misuse of resources. Her climate is changing, wildlife is disappearing and resources are either toxic or eroding. Who is responsible?

The other day my friend Rochelle spoke of our mutual friend’s distress. Rochelle is a compassionate individual and as she shared her concern for our friend’s dilemma she boldly stated, “her problem is not my problem.” And our group of friends easily concurred. A friend is in trouble: her heart is aching over a recent loss, her financial circumstances are serious and employment eludes her. Who is responsible?

Our mind easily buys into the thought that “her problem is not my problem”. The ego believes this concept and will boldly offer evidence for its foundation. Because the ego exists in a state of separation from soul and therefore life, it sees all issues as separate from itself and creates effective defenses to support its position. The soul however, does not exist in isolation from life. Soul lives in complete oneness with all life. It lives in constant awareness of us as one unified energetic reflection of source connected to every other soul and all life. Soul is fearlessly responsive and willingly responsible whatever it encounters. When you breathe deeply into your true essence, beyond your thinking mind, you will not need to search long for the answer “who is responsible?”

The Dalai Llama says, “ ‘we’ and “they” no longer exist. The planet is just us. The destruction of one area is the destruction of yourself. That is the new reality”. This statement is founded on the universal truth that we are interconnected beings - not seperate individuals having unique experiences. When we remember who we are – souls, not bodies or personalities – we access all the power we need to respond to whatever life presents. We do not feel overwhelmed, we do not avoid life's struggles or percieve any one's suffering as though it is that person's problem alone. And we do not try to fix or cover up what we encounter. We don't step into a mess or avoid it. When we are fully connected to our soul, we know we have the innate power to respond to life effectively.

If you are like me, you have masterfully created defenses that have you believing you are separate from life. All humans have these defenses in place. When faced with suffering in some form, whether it’s a friends anguish, the economy’s decline, twisted news events, global unrest or environmental imbalance you may shut down, feel overwhelmed, become overly responsible or wish someone else would “wake up and get it.” The defenses are limitless but none reflect your soul's innate power to responsively act. Defenses live within the ego. The human ego is very clever and well equipped to remain as the pilot of your life and to do so it needs your cooperation. By believing in your separateness, smallness and powerlessness, it convinces you to keep out of touch with your infinite power. And then soul remains in the deep recesses of your being, feeling elusive. And so do the answers. But neither is true or inevitable.

You are not your body or your mind. You are not your beliefs or circumstances. You are not confined to live in the struggle. The world's problems are not too big for you or me or inevitable. But in your mind’s belief system, you will feel trapped by the defenses that you learned in early life to cope with life's challenges. You can shift from defensive posturing into a soulful response.

Start by remembering your true essence. This is not something you can know from intellectual awareness or abstract understanding. Your soul is YOU. It has to be experienced directly. Start by breathing deeply into your being. Slow down your breathing and feel into your eternal nature. Set the intention to know YOU as a soul. Discover your true identity. Learn the truth of who you are, beyond all other pursuits. Breathe deliberately into your body, elongate your exhale and set the intention to recover your innate connection to your soul. You were born fully awake. Your mind did not hold defenses to your soul at birth. You can recover this innate connection.

Quietly breathe in and out and listen deeply to your soul. Go beyond your thoughts, beliefs and all of your ideas of self. That mind chatter will flow. Choose to notice it without judging its noise or following its call. Simply observe its stream while you seek to discover your essence of being that existed before you became this person that you see as "you"; the you that exists beyond your physical birth and death. Reclaim your birthright and power. Know who you are – truly. Within you is the infinite power of source energy. By knowing your soul, when the world presents challenges, you will access powerful solutions to life. Your soul will tap into the resources of infinite power within you that can creatively respond to whatever is presented. You will fearlessly know you are able to respond.

Whatever exists in my path, I am responsible. Whatever you see in life, you are responsible. We are all able to respond. From within your soul, the answers arise. From within your soul, the power lifts. From within your soul and mine, we create a whole new world.