One only has to turn the pages of history to learn that every chapter is filled with stories of people engaged in violent behavior.  Today’s headlines, for example, scream of episode after episode of arson, murder, rape and mayhem.  We can easily claim that headlines are designed to sell newspapers or that those who govern what is covered during newscasts are keeping a watchful eye on the Nielson ratings. The reality stands, however, that the world can be a very unstable, inhospitable and unsafe environment. It has been so since the dawn of civilization.

     What and how are we to think when children die everyday from starvation, when AIDS is sweeping through the continent of Africa, when terror cells await their moment to destroy those whose values appear different and when insensitive industries pollute the earth?

     The world is a violent place not only from the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by some of its people, but also from tsunamis, earthquakes, climatic changes, tornadoes, hurricanes and rapidly moving fires.  Challenges face the rich and the poor, the young and old, the informed and the ignorant.  No one can remain untouched by the countless experiences that come to everyone living in the material world.

     Are many of the harsh realities listed above ours alone to solve?  If God is in charge of creation, does not our Creator bear some responsibility for allowing such violent drama to be a part of our experience?  Should we be haunted by such images when our lives are crowded with our own responsibilities?  Might there be a framework we can use for developing a creative worldview?

     There are no answers that will fit everyone.  For example, when the job of salvation needed to be done, leaders have always emerged, e.g., Abraham, Joseph, Jesus, Martin Luther, and Susan B. Anthony.  Leaders rise because human consciousness knows on some level that when one person suffers, we all do.

     Are we to assume, then, that God is in charge of how creation unfolds?  Yes, but we must remember that God is in charge of the matrix, the classroom, where all experiences are possible, not how people respond.  We have free will but not to the extent that we can establish the curriculum.  That process belongs to God.  The apparent chaos of the classroom is the perfect environment for those wishing to enhance their ability to expand their loving energy patterns.

     There are many distractions that have the potential to siphon our energies away from the tasks that lie before us.   To remain guilty and depressed because we cannot fix the ills of the world is to expend our energy uselessly.  Issues that threaten life are a permanent part of creation and only the collective of humanity can initiate change.  Each person can only alter how he or she responds.  Sometimes one person’s activity is enough to begin a ripple effect that will change the consciousness of humanity.

     Jesus, for example, sowed several seeds into the consciousness of humanity and one of them was sown while he was dying.  We forgive, or let go, for example, because those who engage in insane behavior do not know what they are doing.  Loving energy gains nothing by punishing those who are ignorant or uninformed.  Love allows others to remain where they are for as long as they wish.  Those who discover compassion within them, evolve.

     To reframe the world so that we can grow means that we must translate all experiences as metaphors, as illusions or as lesson plans for molding our processes for decision-making.  Everything we experience appears real and cannot be dismissed.  We have to make responses.  We have to make decisions.  Responses and decisions reveal our levels of skill.

     Even to the uninitiated, the basic themes found in our civilization have recycled in every generation for thousands of years.  When our world of solid forms and physicality is gone, so will be the reality that appeared authentic and real.

     Life is a stage and the dramas that unfold are designed to prepare, test, inspire and motivate us for one purpose – the transformation of consciousness.  Each person has a distinct role to play so that our earthly sojourn is filled with countless teachable moments.  A day will come when candidates who wish to become suicide bombers will awaken to a reality greater than the one they currently accept.

     When we understand the world as a kindergarten for our growth, we can develop a creative methodology for reframing it.  Just as the universe experiences enormous violence when a large asteroid collides with a planet destroying all life forms on it or when two stars pull each other apart by their gravitational fields, so we experience everything even though ultimately none of us perish.  Remember, the earth is only a matrix, perhaps one among many, whereby our genderless spirits may evolve through our choices and thought patterns.

     The game is evolution or the transformation of our consciousness.  Only when we leave our forms will we understand the nature of the reality from which we transitioned.  We will understand that nothing was as it had appeared.  But, we grew, we loved, we mourned, we suffered, we longed for freedom, we questioned God’s existence, we searched for our identities, we sought guidance among our Scriptures, we laughed and cried, we seduced and were seduced, we conquered and destroyed, we felt guilt, pain, joy and contentment; and we justified our actions because we understood ourselves as being among the righteous.

     When we conclude that every experience is part of a grand design, a vital aspect of Creation, a model for the evolution of spirit, we will humble ourselves in thanksgiving and gratitude that all our mistakes in judgment and perception are forgiven and that we will always be alive to create again in another day, perhaps in another classroom.