By Roshan Jayasinghe
This is not an article written to win an argument. It is written to restore clarity. We live in an age where truth is often treated like a preference, power is treated like permission, and human attention is treated like a resource to harvest. In such an age, the most revolutionary act is not outrage. It is seeing.
What follows is a simple attempt to name what is happening in the world right now, and then return to a middle road that any human being can walk: truth as law, and nature as the measure.
Before we are citizens of nations, we are citizens of this planet. Before we become opinions, we are living beings held by soil, fed by rain, warmed by sun, and sustained by a web of life we did not create.
The earth gives us its glory in full, not as an idea but as a direct experience. Color, wind, heat, rain, fragrance, silence, the taste of food, the feel of stone and water. Then the universe gives the human being something rare inside that glory: the intelligence to notice it, to understand it, and to live wisely within it.
That is the gift.
The choice is what we do next.
Begin with the present moment, not our arguments about it
If we want solutions that are real, we have to look at reality without filters.
On January 3, 2026, Reuters reported that U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States carried out a major operation in Venezuela and that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country. Whatever one thinks of Maduro, the precedent matters. When unilateral removal begins to look normal, sovereignty starts to feel conditional, and global trust weakens.
At the same time, the humanitarian ground tells its own story. A January assessment reported publicly through the Palestine Shelter Cluster, coordinated by the Norwegian Refugee Council, warned that thousands of tents supplied to displaced Palestinians in Gaza were inadequate for winter conditions, offering little protection from rain and wind.
War continues to turn homes into rubble. Reuters reported that Russian missiles struck a multi-storey apartment building in Kharkiv, killing two people and injuring about 25, while Russia denied carrying out the attack and suggested a different cause.
And nature continues doing what nature does, without ideology and without negotiation. Reuters reported torrential rains caused flash floods in Spain, leaving one person dead and two missing. The Associated Press reported deadly flash floods in Afghanistan after heavy rains and snowfall ended a prolonged dry spell.
Different places, different causes, one shared feeling for ordinary people everywhere: life feels less stable.
So the question becomes simple.
What is the thread connecting all of this?
The thread beneath the headlines
The thread is not only conflict, weather, and humanitarian breakdown. The deeper thread is the human relationship to truth, power, and responsibility.
When power becomes the main language, rules become optional. When rules become optional, trust collapses. When trust collapses, societies live defensively. And when people live defensively for long enough, compassion shrinks and fear expands. That is when populations become easier to manipulate, and harder to unify around what is good.
This is why certain events matter beyond their immediate storyline. Not because we want drama, but because we want to understand the direction of the world we are building.
A simple discipline that protects the mind
We live in an era where information is often used as a weapon. Outrage travels faster than verification. Once we are emotionally captured, we become easy to steer.
So here is a simple practice for every reader.
The 90 second credibility check
1. Find two independent credible sources reporting the same core fact.
2. Look for a primary signal: an official statement, documentation, verified imagery, named sources.
3. Watch the language: is it evidence-based, or emotion bait.
4. Ask who benefits if you believe it immediately.
5. Label it clearly: verified, plausible, unverified, false.
Truth is not a mood. Truth is a practice.
Now we can move deeper without becoming confused.
The wheel, and why society keeps wobbling
Think of society as a wheel.
The hub is the inner human being: conscience, restraint, honesty, the ability to pause and see clearly.
The spokes are the systems we build: governance, economy, media, education, health, security.
The rim is everyday community life: trust, safety, belonging, cooperation.
When the hub is distorted by greed, domination, and deception, the wheel wobbles even if the rim looks polished. That is why we can have technology and progress on the surface, yet feel constant turbulence underneath.
We keep trying to fix spokes without repairing the hub.
Duality is universal, but humans are responsible
Sometimes people read phrases like “the earth asks” and imagine I mean the earth as a speaking person. I do not.
What I mean is this. The universe created human beings inside nature’s full glory and inside nature’s full duality, then placed that duality directly in front of our awareness.
In nature, creation and destruction are intertwined. Storms, floods, fire, decay, endings. These are not moral failures. They are the universe moving through its mechanisms. Duality is not a mistake. It is a structure.
But the human being is different at one crucial point. We can see duality and choose.
We can observe ourselves. We can restrain ourselves. We can correct ourselves. That means our harm is not simply “nature happening.” When we exploit, deceive, dominate, or destroy for power and greed, it is not inevitability. It is decision.
This is the responsibility hidden inside the gift: to live aware of duality, then choose the side that protects life.
If you feel overwhelmed reading this, that reaction is not weakness. It is the nervous system recognizing instability. But overwhelm is also how we are kept passive. Clarity is how we return to choice.
So before we move from philosophy into systems, take a breath and remember the core point: the gift we were given is awareness. The work is to use it.
When power recruits others to carry its agenda
This is why it matters when powerful states begin treating smaller states as instruments.
Reuters reported in December that U.S. officials were discussing a United Nations-authorized international stabilization force for Gaza, and that Pakistan faced high-stakes pressure around whether to contribute troops, with analysts warning about political blowback inside Pakistan. Pressure and recruitment are not the same as confirmed deployment, and it is important to keep that distinction clear. But the pattern is still worth naming. When the powerful can outsource risk and consequence, conflict becomes easier to expand and harder to end.
And the humanitarian space tightens further. Reuters reported that the UN chief expressed concern over Israel’s suspension of several international NGOs operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, warning it would worsen humanitarian conditions and further impede essential supplies.
Money, the tool that became a throne
Now we name one of the greatest deterrents to human upliftment.
We created money as a tool. Its original purpose was simple: exchange value, coordinate effort, simplify trade. Money was meant to serve life.
Then a minority learned how to convert money into power, and power into permission. This is where pruning must become fearless. We must cut back the meaning of money to what it truly is, then rebuild its purpose so it cannot be used to dominate life.
Once money becomes the highest authority, everything else becomes negotiable. Truth becomes negotiable. Nature becomes extractable. Human dignity becomes conditional.
Then we do something morally absurd. We start ranking human life as poor, middle, rich, as if misery is a natural category instead of a human design.
A decent living condition should never be a class. It should never be a privilege.
Look at what we can mobilize quickly when power wants something. Funding moves overnight. Systems are built at speed. So the claim that we “cannot” fund dignity is not a limitation of ability. It is a limitation of intention.
If a society can finance domination, it can finance dignity. What changes is not capability. What changes is conscience.
The middle road we can all walk
If humanity is going to live forward consciously, we need a road that does not belong to any empire, party, or ideology.
Truth as law.
Nature as the measure.
This requires one uncomfortable sentence.
Predatory power is a public danger. It must be restrained with real consequences.
Not as a slogan. As a safeguard.
And we must stop pretending mass suffering is “natural.” Reuters reported in December that the United Nations cut its 2026 aid appeal despite soaring needs, citing a steep fall in donor funding and the reality that a large share of the previous appeal had not been met.
This is proof that outcomes are shaped by choices, not destiny.
What restraint looks like in real life
A sane world begins to build the following, starting now.
First, treat grand corruption like organized harm: transparency, asset recovery, real penalties.
Second, investigate war profiteering with the seriousness it deserves, because if suffering is profitable, suffering will be prolonged.
Third, prosecute deliberate environmental destruction as real damage, with accountability that reaches decision-makers.
Fourth, measure leadership by nature metrics: water, soil, biodiversity, emissions, food resilience, housing resilience, then publish them like financial statements.
Fifth, protect humanitarian access as essential, because when shelter and safety collapse, the human spirit collapses next.
A calm call to action, a reset we can begin today
This is not written from above. It is written from inside the same world. It is time to reset.
So here is a calm call to action. Quiet, serious, and doable.
Reset the mind
What am I believing today that I have not verified?
Slow down the impulse to share. Use the credibility check. If it cannot be verified, label it unverified or release it. Your attention is sacred. Do not donate it to manipulation.
Reset the tongue
Is what I am about to say true, necessary, and kind?
Speak truth without cruelty. Refuse dehumanization, even when you disagree. A society heals when people stop feeding contempt.
Reset the money
What am I rewarding with my spending and my work?
Treat money like a tool again. Choose better where you can. Reduce what funds harm. Support what protects life.
Reset the senses
When was the last time I truly felt the earth’s glory without distraction?
Step outside without a phone. Taste your food. Feel the air. Watch the sky. This is not sentimental. It reactivates the part of you that remembers what is real.
Reset the relationship with nature
What is one habit I can change that reduces extraction and increases care?
Waste less. Respect water. Repair and reuse. Plant something. Support restoration. Choose one action and make it consistent.
Reset the heart
Where have I become numb, bitter, or resigned?
Bring compassion back, starting at home. A calmer nervous system is not only personal wellness. It is social stability.
Reset the week with one quiet service
What is one action I will take this week that benefits another human being without needing recognition?
Help someone quietly. Check on someone lonely. Support credible aid. Mentor. Volunteer. Repair begins when we stop waiting for others to become human first.
At the start of each day, ask one question that holds everything together.
Am I living from the side of duality that protects life, or the side that exploits it?
Then choose again.
Closing reminder
-Live in a way that protects life.
-Tell the truth without cruelty.
-Choose love without losing discernment.
-Offer compassion without surrendering intelligence.
-Practice gratitude as discipline.
-Respect humanity, not because everyone earns it, but because life requires it.
The universe gave us senses, and the intelligence to recognize what is real. It did not give us that gift so we could become clever at domination. It gave us that gift so we could become wise at protection.
If this article asks anything of the reader, it is this: enter your own reset. Commit to your own goal and your own journey on the right side of the coin. Use what you have learned here to live with more truth, more simplicity, more discernment, and more care.
Begin now. Begin quietly. Begin with what is real.
What we do to life, we do to ourselves.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This piece uses publicly reported events to describe patterns, not to inflame emotion. Where facts are contested or still developing, I have aimed to keep language careful and honest. For example, reports of diplomatic pressure for troop contributions are not the same as confirmed deployment, and should be treated as such.
My intention is not to assign hatred to any nation or people. It is to challenge predatory power wherever it appears, and to invite a reset in how we live: truth without cruelty, compassion with discernment, gratitude as discipline, and respect for humanity as the only intelligent way forward.
