Meditation in the time of war...

As Hamilton Hall is a spiritual venue and the only one that is MEN ONLY in the UK, we receive thousands of e mails every month - and a great many from spiritual organisations around the world and many have great messages and wisdoms to share while others, while some are just ego driven gay men grabbing attention for themselves and they offer no real heart and soul and it is all about fame and money - and one has to learn how to discern between the various things on offer.

Real or Bullshit. Genuine or a Con. Passion or Ego. Others or Self.

In the gay world there is, sadly, a lot of bullshit from those looking for attention. Oh, and money.

Recently I have received e mails from global organisations promoting peace during these war times through a ' coming together' and 'meditating for global peace' - and while I completely get the power and the passion involved in this, when your home is being blown up around you and your family horribly murdered by falling masonry :- or when your family has fled and you are struggling with Granny and grandchildren hiding in fields and caves and trying to escape the mayhem ;-and when you hold your 6 year old child in your arms covered in blood after being killed with shrapnel:- and when you face off your enemy and tell them to ' FUCK OFF' and then get shelled from a gun boat slaughtering everyone involved :- meditating - it would seem - is only any good for those NOT INVOLVED ;- as the victims run and hide and shit themselves with fear - while we sit in comfort and meditate for them.

This is universal problem and has nothing to do with LGBT, BLM, or anything else - it is humanity at stake. Churches up and down the country will be saying prayers for those involved on both sides, as Russian, Ukrainian or anyone anywhere involved in wars, are victims of something much bigger and usually misunderstood as to the reasons why.

I am not going in to the details of this war and who is right or who is wrong and so forth - just to say that people are living out their wildest nightmare - where house and home is unsafe, and nowhere is safe - and man, women and child, young and old are all at risk.

My personal ' safe place' that I go to within my head, is actually a real place and one where I always feel warm and comfortable, safe and secure, and that's my bed. Now - bomb my home and my bed is no longer safe and - where do I go ? Where do I feel safe as every safe haven is also being bombed. Where do I turn and where do I go - thinking about my friends and family and - WTF do I do with my dog. Fill the car with what we may need, warm clothes, money, valuables, food and water, blankets , - fill the tank and then find we are stuck in a 25 mile traffic jam as everyone else has the same idea. We are now going nowhere as the enemy comes closer. Leave the car, carry what you can, okay for the young and shit for the elderly who lag behind and do not want to hold the rest up. The young need to survive so you stay behind as you are old, disabled, incapable of walking too far - knowing as they leave that's probably the last time you will see them. Some man in Russia is destroying your family, your home, your work, your whole life and for what ?

The time to meditate is right now.

It is correct - as we meditate for ways out of this , in the hope that some great thought, some great wisdom, some way out of all this, comes through - and hopefully filters down to those in power who can do something about it and through meditation, a helping hand is offered from an energy we cannot - do not understand - but some Divine Power - some Divine Hand always reaches out to those in need and we may see death and destruction, whereas on a spiritual level, we see a release from the bonds that keep us in physical bondage to this realm - a freeing of the human soul from the physical and no one dying in this war will be reincarnated back into this reality and every soul lost - is ahead of the rest of us as they move on in their journey while we are - sadly - stuck here in a bloody war.

There is great power in meditation - and while it is easy at times to think it all a bit flakey and foolish, it does hold a power unexplained and is worthy. It is just REAL hard to do when bombs are falling and gun fire is close by and you have already soiled your undies.

These are the times when we are filled with doubt. How can there be a God when S/He allows this kind of thing to happen. Well - God is not responsible for the way the children misbehave in the garden.

God may give us the rules like a parent teaches their child the rules, but as we know, many children misbehave and disregard the rules and so do we as adults. No use blaming someone else when you fuck up and no use saying God is ignoring the situation when it is a man made problem and we must sort it for ourselves and stop expecting some omnipotent being to sort out our misdeeds. If that were to happen, then we would never learn, - mind you - we do seem destined to repeat and repeat the same problems over and over and humanity seems so foolishly slow at learning from experience. It is time for mankind to take responsibility and stop blaming God all the time.

I pray and meditate on this war and the insanity this planet is facing and I pray we - as humans - can rise above our ego's, our arrogance, our feelings of superiority or inferiority - our 'fuckedupness' - and offer kindness and consideration towards everyone and just as we would expect to receive in return - thoughtful consideration.