Pakistan Times!

By tommy schmitz
When I was teaching English in Japan, during the first class I would always ask, “Is America dangerous?”

The answer was always “yes”! lol

And this was the correct response, for these people.

But it’s useful to answer closed questions (yes or no questions) with “it depends”.

“Is America dangerous?” It depends.

The great puzzle for all human beings is our view that everything in all creation is separate from everything else. This is not a political problem. This is a spiritual problem.

Yes there is miraculous diversity in creation. This is what makes creation Divine, in my opinion. God is always creating new and different. Diversity in creation is God having fun.

And as my teacher, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “God loves fun.”

Each of us takes these “separations” quite seriously, no matter what social or intellectual or spiritual system is being considered.

Yet these separations are not real.

These do not exist in and of themselves.

Separations have no existence on their own.

Not people.

Not countries.

Not even the planet earth.

What we consider as separate and real: our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, other people, actions, intentions, results… even grace… all of these are no more real than any wave on an ocean surf.

Can we say that an ocean wave is real?

A surfer, pounced by a 10 meter wave, says yes! The wave was real.

But where is the wave?

Did the surfer bring the wave to the hospital or laboratory for analysis?

The surfer says, “but my legs are broken, my ribs are broken!”

Yes. But does this broken-ness have an existence of its own?

Isn’t a broken leg quite similar to the wave? Whether the injured surfer lives or dies, does the leg stay broken?

If we say “Pakistan is the most dangerous place”, are we not also completely separating ourselves from Pakistan and thereby increasing the danger?

This does not mean we cease the study of waves or the healing of broken legs (or broken countries).

But it is helpful to see first what is real and what is not real. What is lasting and what does not last.

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