The World We Want is Within Us

  Many people are feeling shocked about the election results in the U.S., and as of now, the votes are coming in. I believe that it is a close race, and in some sense, it's meant to be a disappointment for a lot of people. But I had two thoughts as I was heading home tonight from class and a very late dinner. The first thought I had was a very cynical one. It was something like: no matter who is voted into power, the machinery of power is going to keep going. In other words, power is power, and it is going to be pretty much the same hierarchical order regardless of who wins. But then I started to reflect that this is not necessarily the case at all. I think that the world a person wants to have is already within themselves, waiting to ripen with education and cultivation of some kind.  So this second thought is a lot more hopeful.
    If you think about it, nothing can stop a person from creating a pure land. All it really requires is a pure intention and a method to which a person remains loyal. This is not about collecting spiritual slogans on Facebook. It's more like a consistent practice that one can and does always return to, such as a deep listening to one's breath. If the heart is pure, how can the world be impure? If the intention is pure, one would never see an ill intention in anyone else around them. This is so because everything we experience is only a reflection of the mind. If what I see is 'despicable', then I need to consider: what am I rejecting about this situation, and why? What is it about me and how I am moving that makes me reject one thing and seek another?
    Even in the worst kinds of adversity, the mind need not see this as terrible at all. It is a kind of crucible for one's soul or one's practice (depending on how you call or to what spiritual tradition you belong). Sometimes, difficult people are in one's life just to help them overcome some blockage or discrimination in their mind. Once a person sees through the label, is there anything that is to be rejected? The only real discrimination is simply created by the mind.
    This is why, quite simply, one should never give up their wish for a better world. Look at your state of mind closely, drop all the clinging to thoughts, and you will find the better world, both within and outside.