I am going to continue to write about the Second Mindfulness Training: "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to cultivating loving kindness and learning ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals.

I will practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

We can use this Second Mindfulness Training and the four other trainings as a mirror; we can let these trainings be our friend, not our master. We know that the great question in life remains unanswered for all or most of us, however these trainings are reminders to look and see; and to lead us towards a kinder more peaceful life.

They remind us to not forget; to take care of others and ourselves. The Mindfulness Trainings help us know how to do this. They are mindfulness in action and can open the body, speech and mind to our original nature, to the great question "Who am I?"

They are also about deepening our experience of community. They not only protect us, but others too. We see that our so-called individual self, our "I", is tied in with all others. These trainings allow us to look at our life given responsibilities, firstly towards ourselves, and then the greater world. They help us to take care of ourselves, our local community and our global world. They help us experiment and experience the truth, the truth within ourselves of our own journey.

By following just one of these trainings our own lives will transform and give us confidence to approach almost any situation. They allow us to put our personal lives and spiritual lives in order and to act with wisdom and compassion. "I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others" means that all is our shared gift. In the Western world, the United States comprises six percent of the world's population, and yet consumes 40 percent of the world's resources. A very non-compassionate statistic!

Many of these natural resources come from countries that are ruled by Governments that are dictatorships. They set up trade terms that are favourable to them, while their own people live terrible lives under their leadership.

It is this mindless consumption and stealing of natural resources by the Western world that fuels these needs. In a number of countries the US military controls what is not rightly theirs to control.

Perhaps to help those who suffer so terribly in these countries - to stop the murder of innocent folk - we, as a Global Village, have to act in a very different way. When we take a person's life, we take their most precious possession -we steal it from them.

This training has a lot to do with the First Mindfulness Training - Not to Kill. Perhaps a better way would be to offer scholarships in higher education (or mindfulness training) to the young folk in these oppressed countries, so that they may learn ways of bringing more equanimity to their own homelands.

Then there would be no need to bomb them, kill them or send in troops to liberate them! Here in the beautiful Isles of Bermuda the United Nations Survey tells us that we have the third highest standard of living in the world. However here there also a dark side to this, there is too much greed.

The "do not take what is not given" is practiced by so many of us here, as it is elsewhere in the Western world. I too see this in myself. Many expats are here only because they can make excessive money to take back home; many Off-Shore and International Companies, and other individuals, are here so that they do not have to pay excessive corporate or income taxes in their own countries; many locals profit hugely at the expense of their own neighbours by renting out their properties at highly inflated rents and the work ethics of some folk for high wages would be laughed at in many countries of the world. These are all forms of stealing.

This training is about responsibility and when I use my employer's "work time" for sick days, lateness, fudging, or goofing off on the job this is a form of stealing when I am being paid to do a day's work. When the company I work for has to bring in other workers, I cannot blame, I have to look at myself. When unions make demands for their workers, they have to look at themselves and the workers they are paid to protect, and not blame others, they have to learn to listen mindfully to their bosses; Management also has to learn to listen to their workers, not blame them, and also look at themselves and their shareholders and ask are they stealing too much.

There is so much in this Second Mindfulness Training when we look at it deeply. If we learn to practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings together with politicians, businesspeople, workers, legislators, lawyers, artists, we can start to all learn ways to practice loving kindness and understanding. At the end of the day we all hope to live in a peaceful world, however we have to remember that peace always begins with me. These trainings are our internal barometer to help us.

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