The path with heart

I believe that all of our problems are based on our disconnection from our hearts. Several years ago, I worked with Milena, a Bulgarian woman who was researching for a PhD on violence. She was very active in an organisation that was working with Eastern European women that had been trafficked and forced to work as prostitutes in this country. Milena once said to me that she decided to pursue her PhD studies because she simply could not understand violence. When I asked her as to why she thought violence such as the trafficking and exploitation of human beings existed, she thought for a while, and then said, 'You know, there are so many theories about violence. But ultimately, I think it comes from a lack of empathy with others.'
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I often remembered her words since, and I believe them to be true. If we believed, and felt that everything, every being on this planet was sacred, how could we treat them with anything but love, respect and reverence?

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If we saw the Earth as a living, interconnected organism consisting of sentient human beings, animals, plants, would we engage in the actions that we so often do? There is so much talk now about the environmental state of the world, and the urgency to take action. Climate change, energy, waste, the short supply of water, food, consumption, land management, ecosystems, endangered species.

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If we truly lived from our hearts in a state of awareness, would we be able to close our eyes to these issues? Would we buy goods in shops and supermarkets that supported unfair working conditions? Would we continue to buy and use plastic if we loved the Earth's body as our own? Would we continue to fly around the world and use cars if we were fully connected to the consequences of climate change? Would we deposit our money in high street banks that directly sponsored warfare? Would we buy and eat animals that had been reared in horrendous conditions?

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It is this disconnection from Nature, our true selves, our hearts, that we need to heal. In some way, I feel that the current environmental crises in the world are a positive shift in that they make us re-evaluate the way we live, and hopefully help us to find our way back to living in tune with nature again. A way of life in which we again respect everything inside and outside of us, in which we realise that we are all interconnected, and that every action has a reaction. A way of life in which we only use what we need, and in which the qualities of the heart, of empathy, of intuition are fully integrated again. A way of life in which we realised that everything and everyone is an aspect of ourselves.

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And although the situation seems bleak, I feel this shift is happening already in the world. Many of us are coming together to create a new world, through movements like Transition Town (http://www.transitiontowns.org/), The Work that Reconnects(http://www.joannamacy.net/), Terre des Femmes (http://frauenrechte.de/), and the work of many inspirational women and men like Amma (http://www.amma.org.uk/), Daniel Odier (http://www.danielodier.com/), and Cate MacKenzie (http://www.catemackenzie.com/) whose mission it is to open our hearts and help bring love back into our world.

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Take some time to connect with your heart today. Visualize the world you would like to live in. What small change can you make today that brings you closer to our vision?