Connections

Close your eyes and try to stay with your breath. Notice where you feel the breathing as it comes in, as it goes out. Focus your attention there and try to keep it there. You’re trying to develop some stability and solidity in your own mind, because you need a lot of that.

We live in a very unstable world. Just think about the weather. Right now the weather here is really nice. Unseasonably nice. But over in Thailand they’re suffering from a heatwave. Down in Brazil there are historic floods. The weather is an interdependent, interconnected system, but it’s not good for everybody. There have been times in the past where our weather has been miserable, and other people have had really fine weather. So the simple fact that we’re interconnected doesn’t really mean much, except for the fact that anything interconnected like this is very unstable.

However, we can create good connections through our actions. And for our actions to be good requires that we have a really solid, stable mind inside, so that we’re not blown around by the events of the world. There are people out there who want you to believe all kinds of things. And you have to ask yourself, “Is it really good to believe those things?” Just because a lot of people believe them doesn’t mean they’re true. So where are you going to find a place to take your stance?

First you look inside and you create a good, solid mind state inside. That enables you to see things as they move. Otherwise, we’re like people who are born on a train as the train’s running along the track. They look outside: Everything is moving. They have no idea what’s solid and stable and what’s not. But if you let the train stop, get off the train, and stand on solid ground, then you can see: These things move, and they move west. Those things move east. Houses don’t move. Mountains don’t move. You see things clearly for what they are, because you’re stable and solid inside.

So interconnectedness is not something to celebrate, but it is something you can take advantage of. You can use it as an opportunity to contribute some good to the world, because we do create connections through our actions, through our choices. Those are the connections that are really important.

So. Create a good mind-state inside, and you’ll be producing better connections all around. And they all start with something simple like this, keeping the breath in mind. When you see the mind wandering off, just bring it right back. Get it used to staying here, so that it’s not blown around by every little breeze. In that way, you’ll be making a positive contribution, both to yourself and the people you’re connected to.