Question: “How do you find inner peace with all the horrible things that happen in this world like terrorism, war, starvation, etc.? It brings me down and I want to know how you cope with it.”
It’s saddening and depressing, yes. But it’s also something we can’t do anything about. Life is full of things we cannot control; our birth, getting sick, aging and eventually dying. Life and everything in it, including war, terrorism, starvation, etc. are impermanent. There will be moments and times of liberation and there will also be moments and times of suffering.
The best we can do is advocate and pray for the world. We meditate on compassion and loving-kindness and pray that all beings’ suffering will end and that they will live happily. We cultivate an altruistic mind to help all sentient beings and transfer the merit so that their suffering lessens.
Of course we want to save those that are suffering. We want to end their suffering, but we must also realize our limitations and that we cannot save and help everyone and everything in our current form and life. It’s important to do what we can and help ourselves first, then once we have enough wisdom and understanding from our own experiences, then we can go out and help others. Help those in your own community. Every community has suffering, so help locally first where and with what you can, then you can focus on expanding.
Smile and be well!