COVID-19, racial tensions, economic insecurity and political differences have generated tremendous stress. I have been invited to address thousands of people around the world on creative resilience in VUCA times (an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity).
More than ever, we have to become an “enlightened presence” so that the light within us can shine forth and heal us all.
Inspired by the works of the Indian mystic Osho, who left behind a legacy of over 2,000 books to help us cope with life’s challenges, I will explore a few paths to being an “enlightened presence” in these difficult times.
Find inner happiness
Many of us insist that certain conditions must be fulfilled for us to be happy. We have made our happiness dependent upon something external, like the standard of living, alone time, socializing, activities, sporting events and concerts. The VUCA world may take away our external crutches, forcing us to rediscover sources of joy within, often in the simple pleasures of daily living.
Cultivate emotional solidarity
What makes America psychologically fragile is the shallowness of its people’s relationships. Mother Teresa reportedly said: “In the West, there is a loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways, it is worse than (the condition of) our poor in Calcutta.”
Without experiencing alternatives to dominant U.S. norms, many people may not understand how our individualism has crippled us. Our survival will depend upon healing racial, class and political divides and reopening our hearts to feel each other’s sacredness.
Renounce cosmetic positivity
Insisting on staying positive as a way of avoiding the realities of pain and suffering reflects a cultural vulnerability. As Osho reminds us, life is made up of both peaks and valleys, which appear like opposites only because we view them as such. In reality, they are connected. Every peak leads to a valley.
Similarly, success and failure, happiness and sadness, and pleasure and pain all are two sides of the same coin. Our attitudes create peaks and valleys, not the objective shape of the event. Osho states that if we start dancing in a valley, the valley becomes a peak!
Spiritual liberation comes not from compulsive national positivity based in avoidance, but from our willingness to stay present with our own shadow and fear, while still seeing the rays of light present even in the darkest night.
Celebrate the dance of being
Some people living in abject poverty may be happier than others living in opulence. Being happy is not dependent upon what we do and what we have. We can be miserable in a five-star hotel in Paris and we can be joyous in a traffic jam in Cleveland!
Children playing by garbage dumps with milk cartons as their only toys can be more joyous than children with a room full of playthings. Osho asked: “Why is poverty the problem and not greed? Have you ever seen a bird that is poor?” We can celebrate the pure joy of just being if we liberate ourselves from our greed of endlessly having and doing.
Whereas an invisible virus -- COVID-19 -- has crippled the world’s largest military-industrial complex and economic superpower, could love, compassion, acceptance and empathy be an invisible vaccine for a VUCA world? Being an “enlightened presence” will help us develop herd immunity to life’s challenges.