We\u2019ve all heard of stories of Mahatma Ghandi and non-violence, and Jesus advising us to turn the other cheek when struck, but how does that relate to us every day?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve struggled with that very question, especially having been an advocate for \u201ceye for an eye\u201d for many years. It made sense to me that if somebody set a home ablaze, that their home would in turn be torched, and I didn\u2019t understand what was meant by \u201can eye for an eye makes the world blind.\u201d That just seemed like spiritual nonsense to me.<\/p>\n
So often in my life I\u2019ve thought about the \u201cfight.\u201d Not so much in a literal sense with my fists, but rather, on a mental level. The experiences of my youth led me to want to right the wrongs, particularly those wrongs against me, and as mentioned before I saw \u201ceye for an eye\u201d as a means for equal and fair justice. I would \u201cfight\u201d when I\u2019d flip off or honk at another driver who cut me off, when a friend or family member \u201cwronged\u201d me and I felt the need to set them straight or just to be \u201cright\u201d about something. And I definitely \u201cfought\u201d (politely, mind you) when somebody cut in front of me in line.<\/p>\n
And while an eye for an eye may deter in some cases, it\u2019s the stark opposite of what historically non-violent leaders like Jesus and Gandhi had in mind; this challenged me even more.<\/p>\n
As time has passed, I\u2019ve felt less resonance with \u201ceye for an eye\u201d but for a while still didn\u2019t understand how to experientially learn a differing perspective. Something that really helped bring it together for me is the following quote from Vernon Howard\u2019s book, \u201cEsoteric Mind Power.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave no fear in not knowing what to do about a problem. Fear activates its negative relatives of impulsiveness, ego-protection, and an anxious craving for security.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cInstead, let the mind be still. Never think of fighting, for an answer won by fighting will soon require another answer and another fight.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe problem exists because of an agitated mind, so when the mind rests from its own agitation, there is no problem at all.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n After reading the above passage, it finally clicked for me. I particularly resonated with the phrase that I bolded, yet I never thought of it that way. Another way to look at this is how some people say \u201cthe best defense is a good offense.\u201d However, as I became more in tune with feeling my presence, I began to see that if I feel the need to defend then I will attract into my life people who want to offend. Therefore, if I become defenseless, then the reverse is true and I will continue to attract people of similar nature more and more over time.<\/p>\n Now, I feel more and more compassion than ever before, and I have noticed that there are less situations in my life that I have felt inclined to \u201cdefend\u201d or \u201cfight\u201d against. I used to smash spiders when I found them in my home, and now I get a piece of paper and a cup to trap them, then release them outside. Now I eat a strictly vegetarian diet only because I know I wouldn\u2019t kill an animal to eat it, and I don\u2019t feel comfortable having other people kill the animals on my behalf.<\/p>\n If you had asked me a few years ago if I ever thought I might feel this depth of compassion for other beings, I\u2019d have thought your wheels were spinning but the hamster was dead.<\/p>\n I now understand what it mean to turn the other cheek when struck, and why an act of compassion has the potential to be much more influential and transforming than an act of violence in like kind. Even then, I cannot say I am certain that I am yet at that place of presence where I would simply turn another cheek and take a beating like Ghandi and his followers, but I do now understand how to have compassion for all people, including those who have hurt or will hurt myself and others. To put it as concisely as possible, I\u2019ve learned this:<\/p>\n Fighting does not bring us closer to our goals, but rather separates us from them.<\/p>\n This awareness has brought a greater amount of joy to my life than I could have ever imagined. Progressively I\u2019m realizing, and truly and deeply understanding, that it really is my choice how I respond to situations, and that no amount of \u201cfighting\u201d or negative response will change the truth of the situation\u2026 the truth that there is only one common element in all experiences in my life \u2013 me.<\/p>\n I am the only person I can change, so when I fight against others, whether I realize and feel it or not, I\u2019m actually fighting against myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u2019ve all heard of stories of Mahatma Ghandi and non-violence, and Jesus advising us to turn the other cheek when struck, but how does that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}