QUESTION
Dear Robina
I find myself reaching out to you once again for some guidance. Everyone knows about the war in the Ukraine and the devastation it is causing.
All of my life when major conflict has occurred, it has sent me into an absolute tail spin of anxiety, I find it crippling and overwhelming. It sounds ridiculous to say it out loud, but for some reason that I have never been able to fathom, I have a deeply held belief that in some way I have a responsibility to stop the conflict. Yes, I do know that is an insane belief, it’s like compassion over load.
After listening to your teachings, I am beginning to understand that in some way, it must be my aversion and attachment that must be driving these deluded thoughts, and also my ego.
Once I get myself into this state it is supremely difficult to get back out again. I understand that doing practice every day will slowly, start to make a difference. Can you suggest anything else that I could do address this problem?
Thank you again. Deep bows.
Your friend,
Y.
ANSWER
Y dear one,
Yes, there are two things going on. First, of course, your compassion, which is wonderful. On top of that there is even your wish to do something about that: that is excellent, and that’s called great compassion: very special.
But the other part is the attachment, which desperately wants only nice things, so it freaks out when it doesn’t get it. It pollutes the compassion, drags it down, limits it.
So, good to have compassion, and even more amazing to want to do something about it. But instead of the panic, the next thought has to be something like, “I can’t stop the war in the Ukraine, but I want to continue to never give up developing myself, developing compassion, developing the courageous attitude of the bodhisattvas” and then continue to do whatever you can, day by day, to help others.
It’s one step at a time, Y.
But the other thing is understanding karma. When you see the war playing out in the Ukraine, you remember that they collectively, all these people, the Russians and the Ukrainians, have got strong karma from the past with each other. Because I think a big part of our suffering is we have no idea why it’s happening. With the view of karma – which takes time, of course – we have such compassion not only for the victims but for the oppressors as well. They’re in this together.
The anxiety won’t go away overnight, but we need to argue with the misconceptions, stay steady, keep practicing and, as I said, keep doing what we can. And continuing to do whatever we can to help whoever is in front of us gives us confidence. Otherwise we sit there feeling hopeless.
Love to you,
Robina
QUESTION
Dear Robina
Thank you once again, your explanation of patience, attachment and karma has helped.
I will continue to try and keep moving forward, step by step and keep an eye on my attachment, not believe what it’s telling me.
You talk of courage, I have felt for a long time that I had lost the courage of my youth.
Slowly, through practice it seems to be edging back.
Deep bows.
Your friend,
Y