About two years ago, I had the honor of featuring an interview with Colombian bestselling author and defender of children’s rights and peace around the world, Jaime Jaramillo, “Papa Jaime” (read it here).
Today, living in a fear based society, Papa Jaime shares a few words to strengthen the Love which is already deep within us.
Papa Jaime’s message:
Stop and ask yourself the following questions: During the last fortnight, what has been the thing which you have heard most, be it through the Internet, the television, the press, or in conversations with those around you? What have you seen and heard in the street? How has it made you feel?
I am sure that the great majority of the things that you have heard and talked about are based in fear and anguish. On letting fear invade and contaminate your mind, thousands of negative thoughts are automatically triggered. These thoughts repeat themselves unconsciously time and again, generating an internal imbalance that will be easily reflected in your emotions. Negative emotions are in turn externalized by the body and materialized by the mind. They trap the spirit in an inescapable vicious circle, which means you begin to attract illness, stress and all sorts of crises, both material and spiritual.
There’s an old tale about the impact of our own fears:
One day, Death arrived at a village and began to walk its streets determined to take all the inhabitants with her. The village priest, terrified by the sight of Death, asked what her intentions were. Death replied that she was going to inflict an epidemic upon the village to kill all of its inhabitants. The priest knelt and begged Death to have pity on them. Consequently, Death said that if the priest prayed fervently, she would not take anyone. And, if he continued to pray for many days, she might get bored, change her mind and move on to another village. The priest shut himself in his church and prayed tirelessly day and night. On the third day he opened the door and to his surprise he saw that Death had wiped out the whole village. Most angered, he went out to look for Death and upon finding her he demanded to know why she had broken their pact. Death smiled cynically, looked the priest in the eye and said: “Father, I did not break our promise. Everyone you see here died from their own FEAR upon seeing me.”
This tale is analogous to the society in which we live today, which is based on fear. We live in fear of being alone, of illness, of unemployment, of old age, of death and so on. So, faced with the economic crisis, climate change, and the paranoia and neurosis that exist in the world, we must realize that the problem is simply one of consciousness, because we are like robots connected to the television, radio or computer, through which we are manipulated, controlled and blackmailed in fear.
So starting today, let us no longer unquestioningly believe all the information or disinformation supplied by the media. And, although what we are told comes from manipulation, fear, or force, it will never resound in our lives if we are conscious of what we are hearing. We will inevitably ignite and strengthen the Love within us and let it guide us in living with compassion towards one another.
This reminds me of a proverb that I saw at the entrance to a monastery in the Tibetan mountains, “You can make someone eat, but you cannot make them feel hunger; you can make someone praise you, but you cannot make them admire you; you can make someone tell you a secret, but you cannot make them trust you; you can make someone lie down, but you cannot make them sleep; you can make someone serve you, but you cannot make them love you; you can make someone speak, but you cannot make them listen.”
