Humanity has been developing a great deal, and, in that process, its character has broken down, and the natural environment has also been greatly damaged.
What is left then to leave to our descendents? Shall we leave automobiles? Shall we leave them airplanes? Shall we leave them the atomic bombs humanity has researched? Do you want to leave such things to them? What will we really leave to our descendents?
What should we do to allow the human race to truly recover its character? What must we do for the global environment to be restored? How do we recover our lost human character? Is there a reason to leave that to our descendents? What can recover character and restore the natural environment, ultimately, is the human mind. How can we leave that to them? What is something with which the entire human race can truly sympathize?
That something cannot be seen through the five senses. Humans engage in many conflicts and struggle with each other, but not over the truth. They fight over material things. They fight to gain more land; they fight to gain better houses; they fight to control more people; and they fight to possess and control things. Never in the history of the human race has there been a country that fought for truth. They fought to possess and control more.
What, then, can bring humanity peace and restore the global environment? Money? Knowledge? Or advanced weapons? If not that, then beautiful music? What about great paintings? Delicious food? No.
There is now only one thing that can solve the problems of humanity and the problems of the Earth: discovering the true value of humanity and the value of the global environment. This requires a sense . . . a spiritual sense. It is a sense you already have. It has just been paralyzed by your many desires and emotions.
Regardless of whether your spiritual sense is activated, regardless of whether you have enlightenment, your emotions do not disappear. They are always there, seeming as if they are the real you when they are not.
That’s the problem. Once you recognize, however, that they are just emotions, always present and always changing, and that beneath them, the real you exists, there’s no way for it to be a problem. With your enhanced awareness, they cannot enslave you. Then it becomes a question of whether you have a mind that can manage those many emotions.
Emotions are not bad things. There’s no fun without emotions. Emotions are beautiful and ugly. Just as there is night and day, there is light and darkness in the world in which we live. But what’s important is that, once you know the master of those emotions, you develop the mastery to control them.
Your true self is the master of your emotions, and it uses your mind to control them. Your true self has infinite and unconditional value; it is self-existent life without beginning or end.
Many people, most, are afraid. They want to be a master, but they also fear it. Why does that fear develop? It’s information. You’re afraid because you’ve been given that information: “You are a human, an emotional animal, an animal of your environment, so you must live as a slave of your emotions and environment. That is your fate, and it is your duty. Know your place.”
You’ve lived surrounded by such information and in such an environment. You cannot escape from those emotions if you continue to live in that dark environment. That’s why world peace doesn’t come, why human character isn’t restored, and why the Earth’s environment doesn’t recover. The presidents of many nations meet to discuss the environment, but they fail to find solutions because each has their own interests.
This is reality.
The level of knowledge is now similar for presidents, lawmakers, and ordinary people. The time when someone could monopolize information has now passed. What is democracy? It means that all power comes from the people.
That’s the law, but it’s not reality. Many people have no awareness of themselves as the masters of their own lives. And no one tells them that, either. You are the master of your life. You are the master of your emotions. And you create presidents and legislators because you, by your strength, create power. You are more important than countries, politics, or religions. Nations exist for their citizens, religions exist for believers, and all institutions exist for you. Isn’t that democracy?
We aren’t educated that way, though. We are continuously led about, trapped in the system. “That’s not the way; it’s not right . . .” That’s our judgment, but we are led away, unable to say anything.
Now it has to change. This is not something the government will change for us; it’s not something religion will change for us, either. It’s common sense. This is the new knowledge of the 21st century.
This recognition of your true self and its mastery of the mind and emotions is what we can pass on to our descendants. This change in consciousness is the way to change the world. It’s time to be a master.
(That is what participants are learning at the Earth Citizens School run by the non-profit Earth Citizens Organization (ECO). Learn more at earthcitizens.org.)