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The sacred wellspring of love

The struggle between “hate” and “compassion” is an enduring theme of our human condition in this bipolar world. There never was and never will be a time when we all are equally happy so long as these opposites exist.There will always be those who hate others, and there will always be those who choose the opposite — people who are moved to compassion without self-righteous feelings of pride in their good-heartedness.The goal is NOT to rid the world of suffering or evil inherent in our planet, but to choose how we respond when those things happen.Getting in touch with our true essence — the perennial wellspring for love — will help cultivate self-compassion in our darkest moments.Self-compassion arising from connection with our true essence will serve as a healer. Not only that, it will — without any effort on our part — help uproot the hate caused by distinctions of religion, race, politics, nationality, and the rest.L

Our Inescapable Network of Mutuality

“We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”Martin Luther KingThe “inescapable network of mutuality tied into a single garment of destiny” that King is referring to is precisely our true essence — a One Consciousness.Separateness from this “network of mutuality” is what our ego, the antagonist, is trying to do by fostering a sense of superiority — the key underlying factor in today’s political division, violence across the globe, and climate change.When amplified by charismatic individuals or through mainstream and social media, the ego creates group identity — marked by willingness to ignore facts that challenge the group’s narrative — propelling the “us versus them” belief, or worse, “us versus the enemy” rhetoric.”We may contain the ego by learning to recognize it, u

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional

“Every storm the beloved [God] unfolds,Permits the sea to scatter pearls.”RumiHere, Rumi reminds us that by accepting our own personal “storm,” we can live through it and even learn some lessons (“pearls”).Pain is an integral aspect of the human experience. So long as we are preoccupied with “me” and “mine,” we are likely to take advantage of our power to justify any act, including inflicting pain on others.But while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.Rather than resisting pain, we may surrender to it. We do that by “observing” the pain without being overwhelmed by it.By surrendering to the pain, we naturally tap into our essence and connect with a deeper, divine reality. That connection, in turn, cultivates a sense of inner peace because it transcends the ego’s attachment to the illusion of a perfectly healthy body and an ideal life.And so, we can transform personal pain into

“Be a lamp.Or a lifeboat.Or a ladder.Heal someone’s soul.Walk out of your house like a Shepherd.”-RumiI’m still genuinely amazed that I survived my upbringing in Iran and was able to build a new life for myself in America. None of it would have happened without encounters with caring people.Using Rumi’s metaphoric language, they walked out of their house like a shepherd to be my lamp illuminating my lifeboat so that it could see opportunities and hidden risks.I am grateful to be in a place now where I can — in some small ways — — be someone else’s ladder and propel them to new heights.That sense of unity and cooperation is needed now more than ever given our collective vulnerability.Each positive pulse that emanates from a positive thought and goodwill can influence the entire universe, because the universal consciousness is unconstrained by time and space.

The Sudden Collapse of NCES: A Devastating Blow to U.S. Education

I barely slept last night trying to process what just happened: The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a key arm of the U.S. Department of Education, has been shut down.Yesterday, after work hours, my former colleagues — all PhDs from top universities, brilliant statisticians who dedicated 10, 20, or even 30 years to ensuring accurate educational data — were notified by email that they were terminated. I am not directly affected but watching them lose their jobs so abruptly is devastating!How did poor test scores — nationally and internationally — lead to the elimination of a statistical agency that merely reports the data? NCES didn’t dictate policy or curriculum. It didn’t govern schools, states, teachers, or parents. It simply provided an objective picture of our students’ performance in reading, math, and other subjects.The implications are far-reaching and deeply concerning:Students, especially the most vulnerable, will

The physical world and consciousness

The simplest way to explain the difference between the physical world and universal consciousness may be this. Think of the universe as having two separate but complementary dimensions. One dimension is the material world of existence — the physical world. Our five senses, for example, give us ample information.The other dimension, the universal consciousness, is beyond our five senses and everything else that is confined within our secular dimension, including intellectual, psychological, and emotional.Like an AI global server, the universal consciousness stores vast information; processes incoming requests; provides answers to anyone, from everywhere, at any time; and it does all of that in a fraction of a second.Affirming the understanding that the universe is intelligent, purposeful, and whole need not oppose what science tells us about the nature of reality. As a scientist myself, I have great respect for science.At the same time, the astonishing richness of the un

Climate existential crisis

Author Sheida White is pictured as a college student, walking across green grass with lush green trees in the background.This picture was taken in my first year of college. I could not get over how green and beautiful America was! This awareness of nature’s beauty has since propelled me to treat not only all living things but also our climate and our environment with tender respect.When I carelessly burn too much fossil fuel, especially when I travel by plane which releases massive carbon dioxide into the air, I am within the field of ill will. That’s because carbon dioxide causes global warming (among other things) resulting in rising sea levels. Rising sea levels threaten human and animal communities, pushing them into poverty — thereby increasing income inequality within and between countries.I view climate change as an expression of a deeper condition, a manifestation of a spiritual crisis. I use the term spiritual crisis to encompass the feelings of those wh

Where there are roses, thorns abound

Brokenness is just the way of the world we live in — and Rumi says it best with this playful poem: In the grand bazaar of life (our universe), roses (joy) and thorns (sorrow) always coexist.If we stop and think about it, that makes perfect sense. If the Creator of the universe were to prevent suffering from happening, humans would no longer have free will. All our events would become predictable. We would be stripped of our greatest gift — the opportunity to experience the results of our free will and to create ourselves anew. That would be an extremely boring way to live.If we can accept that joy and sorrow coexist in this “grand bazaar” for our own growth, we can live a more peaceful life. We won’t be taking an adversarial stance toward the Creator, and we won’t find fault with the chief lawmaker, the Universal Intelligence.Not every day is good, but there is something good in every day. Seeing the stars is a miracle of its own. It helps

No human being is separate from all the others.

The image features author Sheida White as a college student, riding in a car with fellow members of the Association of International Students, of which Sheida served as President. A sign hanging from the car reads “Join Hands for Peace”.In our essence, we are one. A change in one of us, however slight, reverberates throughout all of us, either uplifting or degrading humanity.Long-lasting peace transcends words and even physical actions. It is rooted in the state of oneness and unity — regardless of race, religion, nationality, and all the rest.That’s where we enter the realm of compassion. When we transcend our superficial separateness, we naturally want to uplift rather than harm others. We watch each other’s backs and care about what’s in each other’s best interests, rather than only asking ourselves, ‘How can I get what I want?’

How to navigate uncertainty

For me, a key to navigating uncertainty is to watch my thoughts and not let them trap me in a negative state with the “stories” they are trying to tell me.Not getting trapped in a negative state is not the same as passivity or indifference to the challenges in our world. Instead, it keeps me closer to connectedness. The positive stream of vibrations flowing from our state of connectedness to each other can help heal the divisions in our world today.Those positive vibrations can’t be seen nor measured — and therefore they’re impossible to articulate. How can qualities that can only be experienced — such as compassion — be explained in terms of color, size, shape, or volume?Attempts to make our underlying connectedness explicit through intellectual analysis wouldn’t make it easier to understand. It would merely mean that we understand something other than what we are seeking to know.

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