Have you ever walked by a homeless person and scoffed at them? They are dirty. They smell. They live on the streets. They are far below you on the scale of grace and etiquette. Why bother paying attention to them at all? They don’t deserve even a second look from you. Au contraire, mon ami. That homeless person is you. Maybe you don’t live on the streets. Maybe you are fortunate to have the ability to bathe every day. But, each and every one of us represents the cosmic whole. As such when you hurt another, you are only hurting yourself.

I have been told by some that I am kind when I offer food to the homeless. I have also been criticized for the same as I am merely perpetuating the homeless problem by offering food to them. This thought process leads me to only one question: why are some of us so afraid to help others?

I am not saying that one has to give money to every single homeless person they see. Knowing that many of them will spend it in all the wrong places, it's probably not a good idea anyway. Besides, one might go broke doing that. I am not even saying one needs to give food to anyone either. However, ignoring the situation certainly doesn't make it go away. Homeless or not, these people are people too. They are part of our human community. Instead of shirking your responsibility to be kind to others, how about offering a smile or a prayer for better circumstances for each homeless person you see.

It is a known scientific fact that prayers effectively aid in the physical, emotional and spiritual healing of people. Prayer doesn't have to be made under traditional circumstances either. One doesn't have to recite a memorized prayer in a religious center. One simply has to say in your mind what you are thinking. One might consider contemplating, "Dear God (or spiritual being of your choosing), please help this person have enough food, water, shelter and find whatever healing he/she needs. Thank you for listening." Voila, that's all you need. Nothing was taken away from your wallet and you spent a total of five seconds of your time helping this person.

What this also does is help the Universe recognize your kindness effecting the collective unconscious and thereby all of us in a monumental way; not to mention the poor soul you sent the prayer to in the first place.

It’s not just about the homeless either. What about young children who are left unattended in a car while they wait for their parents who are running errands; do you wait with them? How many times have we seen mishaps on the news with either heat exhaustion or kidnappings? It only takes a few seconds for the worst to happen. As a bystander do you take action and call the police, waiting by the car until either they or the parent returns? Or are you one of the many that doesn't want to get involved in someone else’s business? If you fit into the latter category, you might want to consider asking yourself why that is. These kids need your help. It is simply an opportunity to take charge in assisting those that can not help themselves.

As a shamanic practitioner, I often look at the Native American example of seeing all of life as a unified whole. Quantum physicists also see everything on an energetic level as one thing, but the Native Americans were doing it long before Max Plank and Niels Bohr ever did. Maybe the Indians didn’t know the math behind their beliefs, but they certainly had the know-how.

Native Americans cherished all of life. They saw the value of the water, the land, the animals, the plants, the sky and each person in their community. They didn’t hunt the buffalo to near extinction; the white man was guilty of that folly. Instead, the Indian hunted what they needed, not wasting anything. They honored each animal with prayer and ceremony. Every part of the animal was used either for food, clothing, blankets and other necessities. No one went without. Everyone in the community benefited from the shared gathering of supplies. There was no such thing as a homeless Native American. They took care of their own.

Then the white man came to the New World from the old one. As the “civilized” people, Europeans were on a quest to make the Native Peoples “civilized,” as well. What they did instead was vanquish an already Enlightened People.

Why didn’t the Europeans see the beauty in the way the Native People saw the Universe? Why did they conquer? And why do we today not offer aid when a helpless person needs assistance? Why do we live in our own worlds with tunnel vision instead of extending a helping hand to others? There is only one reason. That reason is fear.

The Pilgrims were afraid they would not have enough so they took what they needed from the Indians. People are afraid to come to people’s rescue because they may get hurt themselves. While I don’t subscribe to getting involved in a physical fight with anyone, does it harm anyone to take a few minutes to make a call the police? Of course not.

So, instead of learning the great lessons the Native Americans were supposed to teach us, the Europeans took the other route. Now, centuries later, our world is at war with one another. We have polluted our eco-systems to the point of near destruction. There is an astronomical amount of homeless people living in cities and suburbs alike. The drug and alcohol problem around the world has reached enourmous heights, not to mention the fact that fast food and other non-nutritious foods are dessiminating our physical well-being. And through all these problems we still don’t want to get involved. Well, ladies and gentleman non-involvement is no longer an option.

There is one certainty besides death and taxes that is a reality and that is change. Every thing in the Universe is continually changing. The Universe expands and then retracts and then expands again. The Earth’s land started out as one mass, broke up into the continents and is moving ever slowly, but moving nonetheless back to one mass.

People are no different. As Spiritual Beings we are meant to experience the journey called life. We are constantly creating our realities, both good and bad. We were never meant to follow the status quo and then die. We were meant to learn certain lessons and evolve not only physically, but on the spiritual plane, as well. When we are meant to make a change, but don’t listen to what our Source is telling us, the Universe will simply make it happen instead and by the time that happens the lesson is usually a hard pill to swallow.

That is what is happening now. Economic chaos surrounds nearly everyone on the planet. There is so much fear that people are tightening up their wallets even more, which only hurts the economy further; and thereby hurts all of us.

Our Source, whether you call that Source, God, Buddha, Alah, Great Spirit, The Universe or a long list of other names is forcing us to change. We are feeling the pinch, but He/She/It is saying on a grand scale, “Hey all of you…wake up and wake up now!” A lot of us are taking heed to the message and doing what the Universe wants us to do, listening to our inner wisdom. Some of us are a little slower at our response time, fighting each step along the way, but are making it nonetheless; and still others are checking out; saying maybe next time folks. This is too much for me this time around.

We are experiencing such a monumental shift that it’s sometimes not so easy to catch our breath. But if we all have trust that the Universe knows what it’s doing, we will feel a whole lot less pain along the way.

In the online daily lesson 13 of A Course in Miracles, it suggests that the reason why we are all in pandemonium over our thoughts is because, “A meaningless world engenders fear because we think we are in competition with God.” I nearly fell over laughing when I read this, because it’s true. Everything always works out if we allow it to, we just can’t fight God in the process.

On a personal level, this past Sunday, I needed a dose of spirituality, so I attended the American Church in Paris. It’s a non-denominational Protestant church. I admitedly am not a Protestant, nor am I even a Christian. I simply wanted to share a time of prayer with others. I do not agree with everything the church was offering, but when it came time to tithe, I hesitated for only a moment. I only had 9 euros in my wallet; which was pretty much enough to buy myself a meal. After carefully thinking for a few seconds what the right thing to do was I put in a euro in the basket nonetheless. I had it and so I gave it.

I was there sharing the experience and I appreciated that I was able to if nothing else look at the beautiful stained glass while I repeated my own prayers in my mind. If I tightened up my purse strings, the Universe would hear my “lack” energy and give me more of that. Instead it heard my “generous” energy and would at some point offer me the Universal pay back it always does. When you give with good intentions and without expectations of getting anything in return, you shall also receive...and it’s usually about ten times more than the giving.

The next morning I woke up to discover an email from a woman I didn’t know. She read both my expat and metaphysical blogs and enjoyed my writing. My last article was about my financial situation and the lessons I had to learn by being totally honest with my emotions. She in kind offered to donate $100 to me. My genuine tears of joy and appreciation ran down my face. I accepted her kindness, knowing full well that the Universe would offer her something from the Universal payback system too. Plus I offered her a free reiki session from me when she arrives in Paris in September and she gladly accepted. The Universal payback system is already working.

The Native Americans had it right. They honored all in the community, people, animals, land, plant life, water, air and elements and it is our turn to learn the same thing. We all must help support one another, if not with money then with donating our time, or simply by offering positive well wishes. The Universe is demanding that we change. We now have the opportunity to listen. We can no longer live in our own little worlds. The Universe is a much bigger place than that.

To read this and other articles such as this one, please visit www.lisatunney.com and click on the blog link.

Thank you for reading and Namaste! (The Light in me recognizes the Light in you!)

Author's Bio: 

Lisa Tunney is a metaphysical writer, reiki master, spiritual life coach, as well as a shamanic practioner. She just finished her first inspirational book and is working on her second. She is also working on her Master's Degree in Metaphysics. She is an American who is currently fulfilling a lifelong dream by living in France. She hopes to share her experiences to help others on their journeys to Enlightenment.