Think in our lives, how often have we been involved in conflicts with people over something small, when our minds got in there and amplified everything, and suddenly we are holding on, we are not going to give up, “I am going to be victorious.” What was the outcome of that?

There have been people around the country who write on their shirts, “I am Michael Brown” and other people who write, “I am Darren Wilson”. I think we are both. Look at what happened. Michael Brown and Darren Wilson were total strangers that morning. It was a morning like any other morning. When we wake up in the morning, it is also a day like any other day. Sometimes we do big things in our lives that do not change very much. But sometimes we do small things that change everything.

From a Dharma viewpoint, both were acting out of very similar mental states. That same mental state exists in us. The lesson is that we have got to get ourselves straightened out about that. We can think, “I am only one person, getting myself straightened out is not such a big deal.” Darren Wilson was one person. Michael Brown was one person. You can see how one person can make a big deal. It can really influence a lot.

If you look at Michael dying that day, there was what we call untimely karma from action created in the past that was strong enough that the causes and conditions came together for it to ripen in his being killed. The same thing can be said of Darren Wilson because he will, maybe not at this moment, but during his life, experience a lot of negative results because of this. Maybe he would not be killed or imprisoned, but who knows what is going to happen as past karma comes and ripens. It is not just past karma. We cannot say it is fated. It also had to do with the mental states that people were in at that time. In our lives sometimes conflicts with people start over something small and then soon it becomes huge.

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