Lee ji,
First, thank you for expressing such provocative thoughts. We need to think and come to consensus about such things and that means we need to communicate about them.
You ask, ‘How do we counter this, how can we speed up such integration so that these problems simply cease to be important? By rocking the boat, by offering what you would say is rash advice.’
From my perspective – and I do mean this space and this time I occupy and observe from – I perceive the ‘emergence of convergence’ already. We are integrating now and however long the process of integration takes is exactly how long Ik Onkar designed and determines it should take. Thank God that the All-Knowing God is managing this process! It means we are liberated from having to force others to get enlightened.
Sure, we all look like a bunch of slam-dancing egos and it would be so much more graceful and elegant if we would all just learn ballet, but let’s face it, the puffed up chests of egos need to go home feeling a little crushed and sore from clashing encounters before they aspire to a better way.
We don’t need to participate in the fray and really shouldn’t until we have achieve self-discipline and can confront injustice with saintly equipoise. By this, I don’t mean go practice and come back in 10 years. Instead, I mean take a few hours or days to meditate and understand the situation and return to it as soon as you can with the best and most appropriate approach.
Finding and adhering to the fundamental root and core of the Universal truths and doing our best to ensure that loving kindness and selfless service to the Will and Command are always the impetus behind what we do and say and the way we live, will likely aid integration better than aiming to rock boats without contemplated purpose.
Sometimes – rather than rocking the boat – when we feel the need to do something to redirect it, it is better to lean upon the ones who seem to be causing it to veer off course, gently prodding their conscience to consider why they think, believe and act the way they do. At times, just making it known that their actions are acknowledged with a simple question or two is enough. Slowly dipping the oar into the waters of another’s consciousness changes direction without raising debate or conflict. Subtlety can work wonders.
Feeling repelled by conflict is instinctive. Feeling compelled to venture into conflict calls for self-analysis to determine if it is ego or Divine Will governing the motivation. Making the distinction is critical. Ego will never be supported by the Divine and the conflict will likely not result in mutually agreeable terms, nor ongoing harmonious relationship. With Divine support and in fact hukam orders, even a clumsy Dodo bird would be successful in achieving harmony from even the most intense conflict. Ahhh, I have witnessed this, that’s for sure! Hahaha! (Note the qualities and fate of the Dodo bird.)
You wrote, ‘In all cultures individual freedom of expression trumps anything else, or does it?’ Not all cultures. Anything that has a duality of potentiality, and individual freedom of expression, definitely does, is not a Universal truth. For instance, we don’t want murderers, paedophiles or extortionists to think that what they do is right because it is expression of individual freedom, correct? On the other hand, unconditional love doesn’t have a downside and is a non-dual Universal truth.
I do believe that expression and equality of diversity within creation is a Universal truth, but we are a long, long way from the innocence and purity that would permit such without distortion and aberration. We’re neurotic and psychotic, as a species because individual freedom of expression has been suppressed and repressed for such a long time. We’ll have to correct the psychological and social diseases before we can fling open the doors and declare freedom. Through integration, we are definitely doing that, but we need to retain clear and conscious intent.
Sat Sri Akal,
ikonkaar
