The idea of poverty

There is something that has been bothering me lately. It’s this whole idea of aid to under-developed countries… first of all, the question is what does under-developed even mean? Do we mean we are helping a physically/economically under-developed country when there is a greater need to develop spiritually? It seems that spirituality is at the bottom of the developed nations´ priority lists. This idea of aid has gone completely insane. I don’t know who had the idea of giving people money and things. I can personally say that donations are not helping the people in Africa. I will not generalize but I will specify. What I have seen when it comes to NGOs, is that all the money that is being put into these organization is not reaching the intended communities and individuals. The millions of dollars are slowly thinned out until there is little to nothing left. The thinning out process occurs in the various NGO offices that this money must pass through. The organizations that do reach the community are causing trouble as well. They come and are with a specific community for some amount of time; they give them things, services and resources that they would otherwise be without. When they leave, these things, services, and resources also leave. All the community is left with is the idea that “white people” give things. I cannot even begin to count the times I have been asked for money by children, ladies, neighbours, and even colleagues. What good are the donations doing? Honestly? When there exists a dependency, not just of money but of any-thing, both parties are in a lose-lose situation, if it were a win-win situation than we would call this collaboration not a dependency. The dependency the “white” people have caused for the majority of Africa and other under-developed nations is making the under-developed nations think that they need these “things” to become a developed nation. This observation also shows the harm it has already caused the “developed” nation. A nation that thinks that things are what develop others; because what is a nation is not a group of others? There is a need to surpass dependency and move towards collaboration. With this a world in which poverty is non-existent will be discovered, because until now it is under-cover. Both parties will develop because both parties will give of their riches and realize the illusion of poverty that has engulfed us all for far too long.

Seeds

“In his view the earth is all equally cultivated like a garden. Therefore we should receive the benefit of his light and heat with a corresponding trust and magnanimity” Thoreau

The past week I occupied myself with planting a garden in my backyard, since it´s almost summer in Moz the timing is perfect. I never thought I would become as interested in gardening as I am, but now I continue to see the importance of it. Gardening is the essence of all life but the current method will make of it an extinct art if it isn´t improved. The soil can be used and reused but it isn´t. the training we had about gardening through Peace Corps showed me how important it is to prepare the soil before any seed enters it. I usually wake up, do yoga and go swimming, however, the past week I postponed swimming so I could finish the soil preparation. The resources I used to plant are “double-digging,” and a book called “How to Grow More Vegetables.” There is also info on growbiointensive.org.
It makes sense to prepare the soil so thoroughly before planting, the seed needs rooms to grow and develop to its potential. It also makes sense to perform a thorough preparation of the self before attempting to bring any other being to this world. It´s this lack of preparation that has created so many bad seeds in our history. Parents do not have a prepared bodymind (spiritual, physical, psychological, and emotional self). I am not only referring to those historical bad seeds, but also to those bad seeds that are among us. The self-haters and disturbances of the peace. Bad seeds is not meant as a judgement but a metaphor to the importance of the preparation of the soil. All the “bad seeds” have as their core the lack of preparation by the previous generation that birthed it.
There is a quote I love that I make reference to a lot, “Leave the busy commotion of the mind, and abandon the desires of the ego, and enter into the silence of the heart” This lead me to think about HIV and how it´s related to the essence of a human being. The #1 form of transmission of HIV is through sex. In 1980, when it was first “discovered”, there were 100,000ppl with HIV as of 2004 the number has risen to 39,000,000!! At the rate it´s increasing it could destroy humanity. But why has it managed to be so deadly? I believe it´s because of an irrational obsession with sex; just look at the media that we are viewing daily…because of this busy commotion of the mind and desires of the ego. HIV has physically and metaphorically entered the self in disguise and has slowly taken over the cells to remove their immunity. I mean physically because this is what it does to the cells but metaphorically because sex is part of our survival as humanity. When there exists a dis-ease that enters the core of our existence, there is nothing left for us to do but evolve to a higher consciousness. As I see it HIV is the physical manifestation of this busy commotion and the only true cure I envision is the peace that arises from entering into the silence of the heart, this is how we must evolve