Turn and face the strain.

• Author: Vaishali
• Position: ON THE COUCH - Essay

EVEN IF YOU NEVER HAVE read anything by David Icke, or ever considered examining the validity of some of the most commonly questioned conspiracy theories, you most likely have held your head while rocking back and forth in your best attempt to self-comfort while chanting repeatedly, "What in the world is going on?"--whether it is kids suddenly disappearing from the security of their own bedrooms; predators of every sociopathic, sexual, religious, corporate, and political variety on the loose; Social Security benefits that you have funded but never will see; Medicare; benefits for Veterans and God knows what else, all lying at the sacrificial alter and whims of our elected officials in Washington. The global economy, meanwhile, is going down faster than the Chicago Cubs in the standings. Our health care system is more likely to kill you than cure what ails you. Then there are those who work to render the world's food supply forever poisoned and the planet terminally sterile and toxic. Modern-day existence is turning into a soup of life-destroying, greed-driven, unaccountable, and unchecked powers running an orgy of tyranny in epic portions.

Yes, I understand that people have been clamoring that the end of the world is imminent ever since there was language to articulate thought and a world potentially to end. Yet, something else is happening The amount of stress, anxiety, fear, worry, despair, and general feelings of hopelessness are reaching a fevered pitch never experienced before on such a systemic, across-the-board, universally acknowledged level.

What I value about the timeless Eastern philosophies like Vedas, Buddhism, and Taoism is that the life directional wisdom they offer is described as a life raft that we need to cling to in order to cross the Sea of Ignorance and Suffering to get to the Shore of Enlightenment. I do not know about you, but I could use a seaworthy life raft right about now.

The life raft is composed of what you give your attention to--how you direct your awareness either will sink you or keep you afloat. Focusing on taking your power back as a divine force of love and wisdom always is the unremitting central point of focus. This means you have to cut your attention loose from seeing yourself as disposable, as a helpless victim of a cruel and meaningless world that has more power than you do. You have to be willing to separate from the perspective that you forever will be fear's slave forced to dance mercilessly to...