Are you tired of the waves of violence sweeping through the world? The recent terrorist attacks in Barcelona, the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville? The never ending war in Syria?
It is time to counter this wave with a wave Love. To show we can overcome hatred and grudges. Share this message with as many friends as possible to build a tidal wave of positive energy.
Let us start at ourselves by showing our intent: let’s forgive at least one person against whom we hold a grudge: Someone who hurt your feelings, someone who prejudiced you. If this is too hard to express, forgive that person at least silently in your heart.
Grudges make us bitter, unhappy if not ill. If you can’t do it for the other, do it at least for yourself as it will make you happier and healthier.
If you agree with my message, but like to use other words, share your own message of love and forgivingness under the title “Wave of Love and Forgivingness”.
Realise that the person who hurt your feelings sometimes even may not be aware that he/she hurt your feelings and that the events that you consider mean or unjust may be based on a misunderstanding arising from different (cultural) values.
Even if the person who hurt your feelings was acting out of revenge or meanness, realise he/she was acting from a state of mind, which is ultimately based on fear.
She or he may have been formed and indoctrinated by several sorts of cultural, social, religious, historical or educational experiences, which all are based on some sort of fear. Jealousy, envy, violence, meanness, the search for power over others: they all stem from fear. From comparing oneself to others. From the fear to be excluded from a group, from the fear to lose a friend or a beloved one if one does not behave in a certain preconceived way.
Culture is NOT your friend.
As none of us is entirely free from such fears, who are we to condemn the other, who acted from fear. Perhaps we would have acted in the same way or worse if we had been in their shoes.
We must learn to give up our search for power over others. Only when the power of love overcomes the love of power can there be peace. What makes you think you can order another person? What makes you think another should behave according to your set of standards, values and morality. Morality is a relative thing. What is considered as a virtue in one culture is a vice in another culture.
Culture is NOT your friend.
If you seek power over another it reveals only one thing: Your fear to feel inferior to that person. Because if you really felt equal, you wouldn’t even bother harassing that person. Feelings of inferiority are based on fear. Fear not to get enough, fear not to be treated in a just manner. And presumed feelings of superiority, arrogance etc. are eventually nothing but concealed feelings of inferiority. If you would really be happy you wouldn’t compare yourself with another to see if she/he is more or less happy than you to base your sense of happiness on that comparison.
Cultures have put up boundaries between us. Cultures have polarised us.
We do this this way, they do it another way and therefore we are better than they are... A false sense of belonging to a group, clouding to see who you really are.
Ask yourself: Who are you really if you were to throw away all your cultural, taboo and morality based values that you have learnt from others? Who would you really like to be? What are your own intrinsic values? In what way would you like to see this world develop?
Towards a world of competition and opposition? An endless strive for power and conflict? A world suffocating in the pollution as a result of mass overconsumption? Hoarding wealth only to compare yourself with others? Showing your neighbour your bigger car to establish your position in the “pecking order”?
Do you really want to be so “primitive”, unconsciously driven by group values you may not even be aware of? To be swept by the tidal waves of polarity and power?
Isn’t it time to reconcile our differences? To accept others unconditionally as they are? To claim our rights as sovereign equals without using violence? To return this beautiful planet to the paradise it used to be before we started our mass pillage of the natural resources?
For all the pain we sense and experience, if we would first accept our situation, our predicament entirely as it is, if we would give up our inner opposition, immediately, however feebly, we would start to sense more at peace. And it is only from this peace that we can start envisaging “improving” our condition.
Not by violently trying to eliminate our problems by physically opposing the forces but by joining forces with like-minded to build a field of forgiveness and harmony. Eventually this field of positive attitudes may spread and also reach the hearts of those who dwell and act in anger and fear.
Join me in this initiative towards a better world. A world where our cultures, tribes, groups, families, religions, races, classes/status/castes, sexual orientations, languages do not divide us.
A mutual recognition that we cannot understand each other’s different values because we don’t know them, because we did not grow up with the same standards, culture and education. And an intent to try to respect the values of the other as soon as we have become aware of these.
Because ultimately every individual speaks a different (cultural) language. Every individual IS a subculture. And because ALL miscommunication is based on the false assumption that we do speak the same cultural language.
Don’t expect others to be as you are. Don’t claim power over another.
Love, accept and forgive each other.
Morality is contraband in war.
- Mahatma Gandhi