We are world citizens. We are guardians of the Earth. We are one human race. But today it is painfully evident that we are a people at war with each other and perhaps also with ourselves.

As yogis we must ask ourselves: How can we make peace in times of war? How can we keep the faith while crippled with fear? Where is the glimmer of hope amidst the fields of loss and despair?

There are no easy answers. There is no simple solution. There are no words that truly speak to the depth of immeasurable suffering and tragedy.

A path to peace through diplomacy seems untenable while standing on the rubble of battlegrounds. The desire for revenge is a real temptation, but follow it and we end up  in the cycle of suffering. Caught between pain and fear, between raw emotion and ethics, there is just a state of shock. You stand at the center of your life staring at the shattered pieces of your broken heart. And somehow you must gather up the remains of the day and put your heart back together. It would be considered your right to pursue retribution until the end of the world, but vengeance never really belongs to us. So where do we go from here?

One thing is certain: We, as yogis, must find purpose and meaning in our suffering. It has to make us stronger.

As individuals and as nations we must find the strength to do the impossible—to make peace in times of war. We must walk the narrow road of enlightened action, guided by a calm mind and a heart full of faith.

If our actions come from fear, if the fuel of our life is defense, then we have lost the war already.

If instead we can pause before taking action long enough to feel it all, long enough to meditate and breathe, we may just find a place of imperturbable peace within us.

Tragedy can skew our sense of perception until we only see the negative. But the accumulation of action on Earth is full of love, full of moments of extraordinary kindness, compassion and bravery.

We, as yogis, must be strong–strong enough to believe in ourselves, strong enough to wait for the miracle of peace and strong enough to never give up on the power of love.

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Relephant:

Brussels is Under Attack, & There’s Nothing We Can Do.

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Author: Kino MacGregor

Editor: Katarina Tavčar

Photo: Author’s own