In selling the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the American public, Armed Forces officials described their war plan as employing ‘shock and awe.’
An interesting term, one that represents killing superiority and power beyond any expectations, or means to be protected from. But herein limited to the military arena – bullets, bombs and bloodshed.
Ordinary and commonplace – the language of a society that has selectively lost respect for human life . . . for those humans’ lives . . . and proudly so.
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Consider: the more one deepens their experiences with Buddhist philosophies and sensibilities, a truer, much more powerful – and authentically transformational – ‘shock and awe’ manifests.
THE SHOCK OF DHARMA
The ‘Shock’ arises with the genuine understanding of the dynamic relationship existing between ourselves and every other living being . . . leading to an awakened responsibility for each of our actions, words and thoughts.
This understanding is often referred to as wisdom.
Deeper wisdom then unfolds with the knowledge that every aspect of our reality is dependently balanced upon our actions . . . this is so for every one of us.
This leads to the (often Shockingly) undeniable conclusion that each of us bears responsibility for how the universe, and every moment within it, unfolds.
THE AWE OF DHARMA
To appreciate that nothing is too small or seemingly insignificant to be excluded from this responsibility; that no gesture is inconsequential, that everything has meaning, it all matters . . . a falling leaf, a rain cloud, a smile, each life, indeed everything . . . we can barely imagine the implications of what we are and must do.
To consider and understand this is how we cultivate ‘Awe’.
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In the Buddhist curriculum, experiencing this ‘Shock and Awe’ brings about what is referred to as Awakening.
It encapsulates the beauty of a realized life, a path of harmony and wholesomeness, and has nothing in common with death and destruction.
Pay attention.
~Neither grief or a broken heart, or fear, precludes you from doing this.