"In the moment when i truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment i also love him."
I think this quote will be difficult to accept for some, hard to understand for others, and entirely inconcievable to the rest. I consider myself to be a fairly "powerful" or adept Empath. I have an affinity for feeling how people feel, or have felt, including spirits or emotions that left a mark on a particular place or thing. Empathy comes pretty naturally for me. So i feel like i have an advantage in understanding the quote above.
So i view things like anger, malice, prejudice, hatred... they are all symptoms of festering wounds. There are always one or more emotional wounds which are left unattended which result in these outwardly negative feelings and a focus on trying to make ourselves feel better. The thing that makes it worse is that many times, we can't heal ourselves. Sometimes no one else can heal us either. So it becomes a feudal attempt which closes us off from the world emotionally and locks us in this self-absorbed loop of trying to make ourselves feel better. This is an emotional disease, and it's a killer. If left unattended, you will continue to hurt and leech off of everyone around you until you finally destroy yourself. The emotional death may take place long before the physical one, but that leaves behind an empty husk and creates real-life vampires. However, even emotional death can be healed, it's just very difficult and dangerous. I may make another blog about how to be a lamb lead to slaughter in order to tesurrect someone who is emotionally dead, but that is a whole different subject.
So, now the question is "why post any of this? Where is the challenge or where is the help?" Let's get to that now.
Have you ever judged someone? I know i have. I try not to, but i certainly am not perfect. In those moments, we are being self-centered. Even if what the person is doing is wrong, or hurtful, jusging them does nothing to fix it. We owe it to them, those around them, and ourselves to try and make the situation better. So how should we do that?
Im going to use bullying as an example. It's pretty simple, widely experienced and fairly understandable. If you see someone bullying someone else, verbally abusing and threatening physical violence, what should you do? Is rushing in violently to the rescue the answer? I know you are probably expecting me to say "no!" But if we are being honest, the answer is "maybe, but probably not."
Think of it this way. The bully is sick right? How do we treat a sick person? Especially a person with a deadly disease? A person who doesn't know they have this deadly disease. Is physical violence the immediate answer? Again, the answer is "maybe, but probably not." We can't allow this person to spread their deadly disease, however, we have to act with compassion. We take the proper steps to protect ourselves (like hazmat suits) and then we address them with compassion for their misfortune of contracting this disease. If the outbreak is severe enough, maybe we are talking quarentine, but that would be extreme. Im thinking more like the flu. If treated, it's not really that big of a deal, if left untreated, it can absolutely kill you. When you see someone with the flu, you are compassionate. You may avoid them, if you aren't healthy enough or careful enough yourself to avoid infection. However, if you care about them, and are close to them, you will most likely, carefully take care of them. Make sure they are getting the best medicine, taking in enough fluids, doctor's appointments, ect... emotional wounds are the same way. And should be treated the same. Now, what if you see someone sick with the flu, theu don't know it (somehow) and you are unsure if they have anyone to take care of them? Sure, you can say "not my problem" but then, maybe your lack of empathy is an example of how you are already infected. Most people probably wouldn't blame you for saying "they can probably take care of themselves" and you can do that... but what if they can't, and you saw the signs, had an opportunity to help, and you turned away from them. They will most likely go on, spreading theor infection like a pandemic until they eventually destroy themselves, because /everyone/ in their lives left them alone. I believe you will have to answer for that one day. Whether it be God or the universe or karma, someone is going to ask "why did you abandon this person? Look at all the suffering that caused" and you will have to answer for it.
Maybe reading this, you have diagnosed yourself with this particular disease and you are asking "This is actually pretty close to home and kind of scary... what do i do?" Well, treatment is out there. If you have a way to contact me i will do my best to help! I am not perfect and i am not the emotional Jesus, but i will do whatever i can; even if that means pointing you to someone better or more qualified (like a doctor).
Anyway, this applies to so many different situations other than bullying. Any time you find yourself disgusted at another person because of their appearance or actions, try to have some empathy. Don't be irresponsible and put yourself in harms way, but try to remind yourself... "this is a human soul, they have had an entire life of experiences that have lead them to this point" and try to have some empathy. Then you can ask yourself, what is the /right/ thing to do?
