Poverty: Loss of freedom!

The last few days my mind has been filled with thoughts around this talk with Ken and Martin. My emotions go from compassion, to anger, frustration, and deep sadness. The mind, like a specter, acts like a phantom with all its haunting possibilities. But, those possibilites never satisfy. To live with belly hunger every moment, pain from a diseased body, or the belief there is no where to find resolution is what governs most choices for people in many regions on this planet. They're freedom to make better choices is not available for them. They live in a prison within themselves with no hope or faith that their life can change. Those few at the top, with the most, govern the choices of the many at the bottom, having little or nothing. Yet, when looking into many of these faces and bodies riddled with hunger and pain, one can glimpse something....what is it? It's as if they have found something....gratitude, surrender, acceptance? I don't know. But often looking into these faces there is a kind of peace and love not found through the external conditions. Yet, others don't find this, and instead use their anger to distract from their suffering, by hurting others. 

The Integral approach and understanding of poverty, whether internal or external, especially at the top of our leadership, is so needed to help this polarized condition we all face now on our planet. Great Integral thinkers and leaders can make decisions that give better freedoms and choices to those in positions of great poverty.Our planet is rich in resources and, I believe, within each of us is a reservoir of rich resources. At the higher structures we become greatly aware of this because we start to wake up and remember who we are and why we are here. And we mature and grow up, so to speak, and make BIG changes and choices how to best use our precious resources, internally and externally, to eliminate the gross poverty we face today.

All my love,

Mary Linda