As humanity heads into a dystopian future, it's not all bad news. If it lived in a utopia, the incentives for individuals to turn inward would be minimal. In a utopia, the lure of attachments draws the individual away from the inner life and makes detachment difficult. The growing dystopia that humanity is now entering poses the danger that individuals will actively shun the world and retreat into isolation, cynicism and misanthropy.
In our pre-Covid world, we were attached to travel, socialisation and an illusion of freedom. Suddenly that was taken away and severe restrictions were placed on travel and socialisation. The illusion of freedom was cruelly shattered. For some, this was accepted as the necessary price for combating and controlling a dangerous pathogen. For others, like myself, who understand what is really going on, acceptance is not easy.
It's tempting to be drawn into the great divide that is opening up within humanity between those who accept what is happening and those who do not accept it. Amongst the former is the belief that governments and the medical establishment are doing the best they can for us. If we just cooperate, we'll get through these trying times and, while things will never return to the way they were, things will at least get better.
For those who do not accept what is happening, reactions are mixed. Some want to resist. Others are resigned to the "sound of inevitability" as Agent Smith put it in the original Matrix movie. Whether an individual embraces opposition, withdrawal, resignation, acceptance or cooperation, there is in each case attachment. It's difficult not to take a side or choose a position. The powers-that-ought-not-to-be know this and exploit it, playing different sides off against one another.
It's not easy to remain detached. Retreating into "isolation, cynicism and misanthropy" is not detachment but instead it is a very powerful form of attachment. The fact that our former way of life has disappeared should remind us how illusory it really was to begin with. The freedoms that we thought were our God-given right were snatched away or willingly surrendered by the muzzled masses. These freedoms were not God-given after all but granted by our benign overlords.
Meher Baba, in his Discourses, has explained to us what is meant by complete detachment. If we can begin practising this as the Dark Winter descends on us, there is hope because then the tyranny that is being imposed upon us will not affect us. Here is what He wrote:
COMPLETE DETACHMENT
Meher Baba
The kind of detachment that really lasts is due to the understanding of suffering and its cause. It is securely based upon the unshakable knowledge that all things of this world are momentary and passing, and that any clinging to them is bound eventually to be a source of pain. Man seeks worldly objects of pleasure and tries to avoid things that bring pain, without realising that he cannot have the one and eschew the other. As long as there is attachment to worldly objects of pleasure, he must perpetually invite upon himself the suffering of not having them — and the suffering of losing them after having got them. Lasting detachment, which brings freedom from all desires and attachments, is called Purna Vairagya, or complete dispassion. Complete detachment is one of the essential conditions of lasting and true happiness. For the person who has complete detachment no longer creates for himself the suffering that is due to the unending thralldom produced by desires.
Opposites
Desirelessness makes an individual firm like a rock. He is neither moved by pleasure nor by sorrow, he is not upset by the onslaughts of opposites. One who is affected by agreeable things is bound to be affected by disagreeable things. If a person is encouraged in his endeavours by an omen considered auspicious, he is bound to be discouraged by one considered to be inauspicious. He cannot resist the discouraging effect of an inauspicious omen as long as he derives strength from an auspicious one. The only way not to be upset by omens is to be indifferent to auspicious as well as inauspicious omens.
Praise and blame
The same is true of the opposites of praise and blame. If a person is pleased by receiving praise, he is bound to be miserable when he receives blame. He cannot keep himself steady under a shower of blame as long as he is inwardly delighted by receiving praise. The only way not to be upset by blame is to be detached from praise also. Only then can a person remain unmoved by the opposites of praise and blame. Then he does not lose his equanimity. The steadiness and equanimity that remain unaffected by any opposites is possible only through complete detachment, which is an essential condition of lasting and true happiness. The individual who has complete detachment is not at the mercy of the opposites of experience; and being free from the thralldom of all desires, he no longer creates his own suffering.
DISCOURSES, 7th ed, pp. 391-392
1987 © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust
Baba left us with these words to ponder after He was gone:
Have courage and be brave.
If you thus lose your heart, how will it be possible for you to fulfill the great task which I have entrusted to you? Be brave and spread MY MESSAGE OF LOVE far and wide to all quarters, in order to fulfill My Divine Will. Let the words ‘BABA, BABA’ come forth from every nook and corner of the world and from the mouth of every child, and let their ignorance be reduced to ashes by the burning flame of My Love.
Come together in order to fulfill My Will by taking your stand on TRUTH, LOVE AND HONESTY, and be worthy of participating in My Task. I give you all My blessings for spreading MY MESSAGE OF LOVE.
Finally, he said:
Don't be lost, hold on to My daaman, never feel lost. Rely completely upon Me. I am always there.
Baba lovers will know what daaman means while others may not. It is an Urdu word meaning the "hem of ones garment". Baba often wore a sadra (a thin, ankle length muslin skirt) and figuratively He is telling His lovers to hold on to that, with both hands, and never let go. This is the only way to get through what is coming.
Baba is saying to take your stand on Truth, Love and Honesty and then rely completely upon Him. If a country were to mandate a vaccine for example that you believe to be dangerous, then simply refuse to take it whatever penalties might be imposed for refusal. Take a stand. If you're held down and forcibly injected, don't resist. If you do, more force will be applied and you'll be subdued. Speak the truth about what is going on and leave the consequences to Baba. This applies particularly to people with inside knowledge who have a responsibility to speak out and inform people about the deception and lies.
Baba knew what the future held and knew that it wouldn't be easy to remain truthful, loving and honest in the face of what is coming. All we can do is try. It's easy to hate our oppressors and to despise the sheeple who cooperate in their enslavement. While it may not be possible to love them, we can at least practise detachment and accept them for what they are. Returning to the start of my post, I wrote "As humanity heads into a dystopian future, it's not all bad news". By this I meant, we have an opportunity to reassess our attachments to the world. Because these attachments have been so easily disrupted, we are confronted with their fragility. We are encouraged to look within and seek an attachment that is more resistant to disruption.
The only attachment of importance is our relationship with Baba. Looking within does not mean withdrawing from the world, it means withdrawing our attachment to the world and replacing it with an attachment that endures. The lies, hate and dishonesty that have spawned the current turmoil provide a challenge for us to uphold Truth, Love and Honesty. As 1984 has belatedly caught up with us, we are reminded that:
Truth is Lies
Love is Hate
Honesty is Deception
It's impossible to fight the tsunami of lies, hate and deception washing over us at the moment. The global elite seem to have attained almost total control over humanity but this could disappear in an instant. A coronal mass ejection (CME) could destroy our communication infrastructure and with it any hope of a tyrannical world government. We would find ourselves back in the nineteenth century, technology-wise. In the meantime, giving up our smartphones might be the best way to approach 2021. You can't be made to put a tracking app on your smartphone if you don't have a phone. This indeed is a form of detachment as many of us have formed a very strong attachment to our smartphones.
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| Detaching from your smartphone |
With each "detachment", we move closer to the only important attachment and that our attachment to Baba. As He himself said:
God is Shy of Strangers
"God exists. If you are convinced of God's existence then it rests with you to seek Him, to see Him and to realise Him. Do not search for God outside of you. God can only be found within you, for His only abode is the heart. But you have filled His abode with millions of strangers and He cannot enter, for He is shy of strangers. Unless you empty His abode of these millions of strangers you have filled it with, you will never find God.
These strangers are your age-old desires your millions of wants. They are strangers to God because want is an expression of incompleteness and is fundamentally foreign to Him who is All-sufficient and wanting in nothing. Honesty in your dealings with others will clear the strangers out of your heart. Then you will find Him, see Him and realise Him."
The Everything and the Nothing by Meher Baba (page 6)
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