Battlers, Builders, Change World

picture: yin-yang symbol from ~KES


How Battlers and Builders Both Change the World

I've been intending to write this particular blog topic for six months, and today it got evoked from me by a question on the Great News Show pod/Group, so I am copy-pasting that post here.

The link to the thread is

http://pods.gaia.com/great_news_show/discussions/view/267807#267807

I had said

While I can see some value in anti-war, I resonate more with pro-peace. Spending time and attention on what you DO want, rather than on what you DONT want. But, the Shiva-Kali function is necessary too. Division of labor, I think, both needed to accomplish the Divine Purpose of a peaceful, loving, respectful, world of goodwill toward all.

and Amazume said

Are you mentioning Shiva Kali as in the destruction of the unreal, liberation from the ego? And what exactly do you mean by division of labor. Please share more, if possible.

so now I respond: [slightly edited from posted version]

That is one aspect of what I mean by the Shiva-Kali function, yes.

Hindu cosmology points to three fundamental processes at work constantly in our universe, making it what it is. They give each force a masculine and a feminine side or angle.

There is always creation going on, on every level and in every area of the universe: Brahma-Sarasvati. There is always development, maturation, thriving, flourishing, flowering, fruition going on: Vishnu-Lakshmi. And there is always dissolution, destruction, decay, death, dissolving, cessation, disappearance.

These processes are at work in galaxies, in solar systems, on planets, in nature, and in ourselves. Nearly anything that happens, can be classified as one of these three processes.
It's clear they form a cycle, and that all three are necessary to existence.

So, with respect to all human systems, institutions, societies, etc. these three also pertain.

I believe there are two kinds of people working today in our world, fostering the changes we all want. The Shiva-Kali folks are the opposers, the battlers, the ones seeking to STOP things, to END the bad stuff, to make the bad stuff go away, cease to exist. The Brahma-Sarasvati people are the builders of the new. They design, develop, invent, create, teach, implement, the BETTER ways, the NEW ways of living and relating and educating and doing business and ........

These two kinds of folks often disdain one another, but I see them as a DIVISION OF LABOR, both working toward creating a new world, doing different kinds of things, but both NECESSARY for the creation of a new world, a loving world, a peaceful world. Each has a different but necessary function.

The only glitch in this lovely analysis is the truth that energy and attention are creative, "What you resist, persists." "You get more of what you focus on, even if your focus is on getting rid of something." Thus, many spiritual teachers teach that when you focus on what you DON'T want, when you give it your time, attention, and emotional energy, you actually empower it, enlarge and amplify it, and perpetuate it !!!

The only way out I see is for the Shiva-Kali folks, the "battlers," to be super-careful and be totally aware of their ROLE IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS, so they see dismantling the old as a PHASE OF creation of the new. Many of them don't. They don't see beyond their noses. They don't see beyond the project of defeating this bill, or stopping this practice, or saving the seals from destruction, or stopping global warming, or picketing this company that does bad stuff, or protesting the war, or stopping pollution, etc. etc......

They think, it seems to me, that if they can just stop all the bad stuff, the world will be great, perfect, ideal. [That's why they don't look ahead, don't see themselves as a phase of creation.] But I don't think so. Stopping the bad stuff just creates a vacuum. It must be filled with new and better stuff. That is the role of the Builders.

Thus, I have to conclude, many Battlers are actually having the opposite effect on the world from what they wish and intend. This is very saddening and distressing to me.

Builders, like Battlers, operate in every area of life, each with their own special expertise and interests. Each person just does what they do, but it all adds up to a new world.

Is this making any sense? Thank you Amazume for evoking this from me !! I hope it was interesting and helpful to someone !!!

And comments, feedback, more than welcome.