Aloha friends,
My name is Cindy Palos and I wanted to talk about integration.
Now,
I know that these days everyone thinks integration was talking about,
Well,
What you might think of when you hear the word integration.
It's like,
Well,
Let's integrate what's going on with the different minorities or the different religions or the most like different races,
Right?
But there's more,
There's more,
There's more.
In our lives,
Integration can also mean bringing in that higher part,
That deep part of ourself into the other parts of ourself or the other parts of the world.
Now,
What has happened is it seems to me that there's been more separation in between what's going on in the world between people,
As I can see it in my particular view,
More than I've ever seen it before in my life.
And this can be a dangerous thing.
It's like,
Okay,
This side is for this and this side's for that,
And never the twain shall meet.
And especially when people double down on their point of view.
And some of the points of views are definitely to me very clear to choose.
However,
What we have to do is figure out how to be able to see all those points of use within ourselves and why some of those exist.
Why are they there?
And that takes integration to a degree because you know why you believe what you believe,
You know,
You can understand why you believe what you believe.
And some of it may be influenced by the way you were raised or what you watch or what you read.
Now,
The same is true for people who have a different point of view.
But possibly,
Just possibly,
When I'm observing this,
I'm seeing that there's fear,
A lot of fear,
A fear of losing what people have or losing what they want or losing a power base.
And the fear factor in life is always a strange thing,
Isn't it?
When we're afraid of what might happen if this goes this way,
If there's a change like this.
So there's a lot of fear and division in the world now more than I've ever seen before.
Now,
There's been times of fear before in this world,
No doubt about that.
And my gosh,
Between the wars and the Great Depression,
There's been lots of times of fear.
And it's raising its head up again.
It really is.
There's a lot of things that are going on that have people upset.
Now,
To add to that,
I've seen,
You know,
More fires,
More temperature change,
And more things that are getting people on edge as well.
And as things become more expensive,
And there is more separation in the world,
That causes more anxiety as well.
So I think it's really important that we do our part in integrating what's going on inside us as well as we can.
So we can understand more of what's going on in the world.
How is our inner self and our true self and our inner soul connecting with the outer world?
And how would we take that?
How would we take what we find within ourselves,
What we find at the core of our very beingness,
Into the world outside that may be working very differently than the way you might be when you're in meditation.
There's a skill involved.
And you know,
It's interesting,
We learn a lot in many ways,
But I don't see a lot of people talking about how to be able to bring that inner self out.
And if we could do that,
Maybe that could include understanding how we can also allow what is inside of us and what we believe to understand that there are other people that are working on a different way,
That are working for whatever reasons,
Whatever reasons,
To promote what they've got.
And there was this great,
And I'm sure you've heard this song,
Pink Floyd's song,
Us and Them.
You know that great song,
Us and Them?
And in the end,
It goes,
In the end,
It's all the same.
And in the end,
Us and them,
We really will have to see more of us and them communicating and understanding and seeing the bigger picture,
Just like we see ourselves in the inside and the outside,
And understanding the bigger picture,
The bigger picture,
So important.
Now,
How would you begin to take what you get that's so valuable in meditation,
Take that inside part of you,
How would you take that and bring that out?
Now,
There's many who have worked on this and looked at this,
You know,
In their lives.
And some of the ones who looked at it were the great teachers of our time.
You know,
It may have been thousands of years ago,
But isn't it interesting,
Even if it was 2,
000 years ago or more,
It's still the same basic principles throughout time.
The words of the teachers that talk about harmlessness,
That talk about kindness,
That talk about understanding,
That talk about,
Well,
Even in Buddhism,
You know,
The great precepts of Buddhism,
Very,
Very,
Very helpful still to live in our lives.
And there was a reason these great teachers saw what they were doing in that time is extremely important,
And it is still important.
However,
I think that perhaps it's intensified,
And intensified has become more tense inside,
Intensified.
And so,
As it becomes more tense,
Because there's more people and there's more situations coming up more and more between us and them,
That we're starting to see that this separation becomes a very dangerous thing,
You know.
I see it in,
Well,
In America,
You know,
We see the people who are killed by guns and violence.
We see all of that issue of what the people are going through coming out in really bad ways,
You know.
And of course,
We're seeing this in the Middle East.
There's no way to avoid what we're seeing in the Middle East.
So,
It's not like we can ignore it,
Really.
It's going on there,
But how do we deal with the same inside-outside situation within ourselves,
And how do we use that as a tool for harmlessness,
For non-violence,
For being an example,
For being able to inspire others to also look within and try to heal themselves rather than separate themselves.
And you will often find that people who have gotten or seek absolute power can be corrupted absolutely.
I mean,
This has happened throughout time.
People who've gotten very powerful get controlled by their greed and the power,
And it can be dangerous.
And we've seen this again throughout time from the Nazi situation when absolute power in that case was going to try to destroy and control the world.
So,
We have to always look at what is going on from an outer point of view of what the world situation is and from the inner point of view with what's inside us and how that us and them and that inner and outer can be connected.
How is that thread of what we wish the world to be and what the great teachers taught us,
How can we make that our life?
And a lot of times it just goes back to the very simple things,
You know,
Being loving,
Being kind,
Being understanding,
Helping when we can,
Being generous.
And it's so interesting that we have gone so far and we have so much we get with what AI is doing.
But are we able to take everything we're getting now that is so deep and put it to work in our lives?
I don't know if all of the stuff we're getting from the teachings of AI,
Etc.
,
Etc.
,
Is getting us to the point where we still can learn the basics of generosity and kindness and goodness and understanding.
That is,
It's going to always come back to how we can live in the best way possible.
And I swear by meditation.
I'm meditating every day of my life since I've been about 13,
14 years old.
But what I find is,
You know,
I always learn more and more and more and doesn't end endlessly.
I learn when I go inside myself.
And sometimes it's what's brought out by what's going on in the world outside.
And it's amazing how much you meditate still will guide you into what you have to do as far as the basic precepts.
And that's,
To me,
Amazing.
To me,
It's absolutely amazing that you can practice all your life and the basic precepts of Buddhism,
The basic concepts of being a Christian and the Christ-like way of viewing things,
How that is still at the core of being a good person,
Of trying to live in the best and kindest and most productive way possible.
So I'm just bringing this up because it became pretty clear to me,
And it's becoming very clear,
How it's more important than ever for each of us to be able to use some of that really great inner teaching that we get in meditation and use that to make ourselves really good people.
And how important this is as we look at the world changing and we're looking at the beginning of a new era,
How that foundation is so key that is there within you and understanding in the way you live every day,
Every moment,
In every way,
Trying to do something that's helpful and positive in your life.
And I think that's something that we all can work at.
And I really appreciate everyone that's here and understands and appreciates and learns and does their wonderful kindness.
I've seen so many people that are kind and giving and caring in this group.
So I'm bowing to you in gratitude,
Really,
Because you're more important than you might know.
What you're doing in the world is more important than you might know.
I think we're laying the structure for the salvation and the solution to what the world problems are going to be.
So thank you.
Thank you.
And thank you for doing what you're doing.
And I appreciate you.
And I bow to you in gratitude.
