The world has gone from a slow simmer to a full burn. The pretext of politics is falling away, revealing the insatiable greed of the corporate machine and the endless desire to control, control, control. This game of impermanence has played out before, always ending in self-destruction.
The Enlightened Ones delight in the wonder of appearances of existence and nonexistence. They tell the suffering people, “Awaken! Awaken! Form is Emptiness. Emptiness is Form.” The teachings are ignored by most as the world falls to pieces in utter destruction. And then it begins anew.
A fresh Golden Age, built on the ashes of the old, rises like a phoenix. Survivors, recognizing their interdependence, vow to always honor one another and the indefinable principle which is both what we are and what holds us together as existence.
Old monuments decay as the earth swallows the past. And we live in peace, building a new world, sharing all we have and all we learn.
Invention and technology increase. Our interests take us in different directions. We self-segregate to concentrate deeply on our subject matter. The artists, the farmers, the builders, the merchants, the healers, the spiritual seekers all develop their own societies. To facilitate communication, emissaries are created. They work together serving the greater good, to ensure a smooth flow and continued growth, governing the world.
The sorrow of sickness, old age, and death plague the world, but most are joyful in their daily lives until they are personally impacted. The Enlightened Ones delight in the wonder of appearances of existence and nonexistence. They tell the suffering people, “Awaken! Awaken! Form is Emptiness. Emptiness is Form.” The teachings are ignored by most.
Diversification continues. Artists specialize in various mediums. Farmers branch into the endless food options. Builders explore the concrete and abstract sciences. Merchants develop complex systems of trade. Healers branch into countless modalities. Spiritual seekers split into all possibilities of religious practitioners and philosophers. The number of emissaries grows exponentially, creating layers of government.
The unavoidable inequities of any large system are noticed and discussed. To maintain order, rules and disciplinarians are created. Wealth is measured and tracked. People suffer as they want more than their neighbors. The Enlightened Ones delight in the wonder of appearances of existence and nonexistence. They tell the suffering people, “Awaken! Awaken! Form is Emptiness. Emptiness is Form.” The teachings are ignored by most as the world begins to be filled with strife.
The abstract number assigned to wealth now has value, not only to those who track and measure, but to all. Work is no longer done for creative expression and for the good of the whole, but to maintain and increase this arbitrary wealth and control of resources. Monuments are built. Divisions continue to grow deeper.
The people forget they have been here before. Yet, at any moment, they could remember.
Battles over belief break out, each side convinced of their righteousness. Wealth grows for some as a result of these skirmishes, and the war machine is discovered. Cloaked beneath layers of reasonable and passionate ideas of right and wrong, the corporate war machine tumbles on. People trample on each other as each one celebrates their special individuality.
Feeding on fear and lust for wealth, anger stokes within the frustrated heart who has forgotten the beauty of creation. Some remember and tell stories of a golden age, but most of the words fall on deaf ears. Trapped in a world which depends upon a measure of wealth for every act, they cannot help but cling to conditioned ideas of justice. The Enlightened Ones delight in the wonder of appearances of existence and nonexistence. They tell the suffering people, “Awaken! Awaken! Form is Emptiness. Emptiness is Form.” The teachings are ignored by most as the world falls to pieces.
The world simmers, then burns once again. And the cycle repeats.
Until the dreamer WAKES UP.
Global Samsara is an excerpt from my book Unreasonable Joy: Awakening through Trikaya Buddhism
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