why two important things?

I'll give you two answers.

The first is because the world needs fewer strangers. The mind is designed to survive and part of survival is a "healthy fear" of the unknown.

You're walking home from a party. You've never taken this route before. You kind of know your way home but you don't know anything about this neighborhood. Just to be safe, you walk on the bright side of the street so you can see where you are and you can see who is coming up on you or behind you. Or maybe, you choose the exact opposite. You walk on the dark part of the street and try to stay out of sight, ready to run if you are startled. Both choices, although leaving you on opposite sides of the street came from the same source - fear.

Unfortunately, unless you have achieved a high level of self awareness, that fear drives you in all areas of your life. No need to deny it - it is a natural part of being a human. You lump innocent things into the category of "things I must fear". Well, YOU don't lump them together, your automated survivor's guide to the galaxy does. Your mind is a wonderful invention - AND - it invents things all the time. An invention that invents. Fascinating!

The true you is able to slow things down and properly analyze situations without fear. However, low self awareness may have you feel like you have no choice in the matter - like there is NO other alternative to think about a situation or person other than the way YOU (your guide) is thinking. You have collapsed a mechanism designed to keep you safe in EXTREME situations or in GENERALIZED situations with situations that are remotely or absolutely NOT related.

Here's an example. There was a time when resources were scarce. They are still scarce in parts of the world. Food, water, land - you get the picture. If you weren't aggressive in obtaining these resources, your physical body suffered. To combat that, the concept of "you versus them" came about. YOU were going to get that wild fowl before THEY could. Then, once that fowl was defeathered and eaten, it was on to the next combative situation with "them".

Groups of people got together to protect the group. Some hunted. Some gathered. But it was still "us versus them". The "us" just got larger. Being involved in large groups tended to help people survive. This may be why some people blindly follow a political party regardless of the actual platform. They may disagree (in their heart) with many of the party's beliefs, but if they went with someone they truly believe in, they know they won't be represented in government. Our two party system is a crippled and inauthentic way for our people to vote. Today's very complex society of specialized labor is an extreme example of people getting together to assist with living. Yet, still people have the "us versus them" mentality. Being social creatures, being ostracized from the group would historically be a death knell. Now, it is a quiet vacation (at least in the Western world). Yet we still strive to follow norms that keep is in good standing with the group.

Some examples of the old way of thinking:

Gay marriage is a threat to our well being. How so? Really. How so?

People of color are a threat to our well being. How so? Again. How so?

People that follow that God (or believe in God) are oppressive and judgmental. All of them? Or did you get that from a news story or a particular experience in your own life that you've projected on to all of them?

Serial killers are a threat to my family's well being. OK, now that is true. Serial killers kill. The killer could be a straight, caucasian man (they usually are!) - so let's band together against straight, caucasian men! That will solve the world's problems. But no, generalizing against a group of people isn't how you combat "evil" - it is how you profile and stunt relations. Acting to control and identify SPECIFIC threats to you and your people is done through a court of law by their ACTIONS not by any fictitious POTENTIAL action.

So, get to know more people. Go out and ask them questions. Once you get to know them, you may find they are much like you. They have loved ones, fears, dreams and aspirations. You aren't so different. The road to world peace is through minimizing or eliminating this fear of the unknown and meeting strangers and finding they are much like you will help deflate that fear.

The second is because I say this is how world peace comes about. Talking about it isn't worth a damn. Unless I go out there with the INTENTION to cause something powerful to happen in the world, nothing will happen. Words repeated long enough become beliefs. Beliefs lead to thoughts. Thoughts precede action and action yields results.

So my hope in this blog will produce nothing short of world peace.

Read along further of my exploration into the land of strangers. You may read about someone much like yourself or even yourself! I plan on approaching at least one person a day until the day I die.

I encourage you to read about a few of my interactions then go and try it yourself. If you are like me (and we are all more alike than we like to admit sometimes) you will feel a sense of wholeness and connectedness to others that allows you to feel their feelings even if you don't agree with them. When people can validate each other's feelings and mutually agree that there is room for all of us to thrive, we can stop this "us versus them" malarkey and create a truly beautiful world where things just work.

If we were to ALL AGREE that we would do this, world peace would actually happen right now. That is the amazing part - it is available right now, and in each new moment. Keep choosing world peace.....please....because without YOU choosing it too, we still aren't there yet. But we are already one more person (me) on the way to it.

Namaste and all that good stuff.