Spread everything that is good and love yourself, others, and life itself. It sounds very much like flower power, right?
Regardless, this seems to be the most effective way to fend off evil, but with a little twist: This is really about humanity’s power.
At every point on our planet, some creatures have been the hunted, while others have been the hunters. When it comes to a certain race, gender, ideology, belief, it always exerts pressure, and other parties look for ways to secure and protect their rights.
Whoever gets the upper hand eventually goes off the rails and shows hostility to other beliefs, ideologies, and so on. This goes on and on in an endless cycle. It is the everlasting story of us humans since the beginning of time, or at least as far back as we can remember.
There are two extreme opposites: good and evil, peace and war. They co-existed on these lands, under these same skies, finding various ways to show their faces.
In our modern times, after going through so many experiences and so many incidents, we know that one cannot exist without the other. Perhaps it is not possible to understand such notions unless you can observe its opposite.
I often find myself arguing for opposing sides in my head. How is this going to end? By this, I mean the violence in its various forms: humans killing, torturing, or enslaving other humans; humans starting wars with other humans; and humans showing cruelty to other living beings and destroying the environment we live in.
Will this ever end?
Is all this happening because ours is a realm of dualities? Is it really possible for all beings to live in harmony, united together in peace? Or is it just an unattainable utopia, a product of wishful thinking?
Well, it’s unfortunately true that we humans are a cruel species. We harm our environment, other living beings, and even our own species. We all have this cruelty within us…
We all have the rage, cruelty, and capacity to do harm to others. Anyone of us could suddenly unleash hell, so to speak, at any moment of the day. It’s easy because we have the potential, every one of us…
But maybe this is also exactly how we human beings can escape our dilemma, because there’s also such enormous good in all of us. There is the potential for doing good and making others happy. Above all, there is the potential for an endless, limitless, infinite love.
And it really does conquer all, that thing we call love. It is far easier for us to accept the goodness in ourselves, and indeed in humanity, living in happiness and embracing the joyful moments.
The more difficult task is to embrace the evil in ourselves, which gives us the capacity to injure other beings, start wars, and upset others with our cruel words. The rage and violence in us, from the smallest insult to serious violent assaults, derive from fear…
Maybe just what humanity needs, all it would take, is to look at cruelty straight in the eye. Maybe we can look inside ourselves and observe the cruelty and violence together with the pain they cause. Maybe we can observe that pain, living and feeling it.
And then we can feel love. We can feel the emotions evoked by a clear blue sky, a newborn baby, the smile of a dear friend, the satisfaction of helping someone and supporting those around you, the smell of the green grass, your family, and a kiss from a loved one. People of all colors, races, and beliefs may then unite in the name of love under the power of love.
So, watch it. Observe the love growing inside you…
See how it develops inside you, and how it spreads around, illuminating even the darkest corners.
Perhaps this is all it would take to stop the wars, cruelty, and violence that seem to steadily spread and strengthen every day.
We know it takes only a single candle to light up a room and end the darkness. And each one of us is that One, which consists of numerous ones.
