When we are unable to see the world through the eyes of another, we are empty of empathy. We become cold to the suffering of others and we ignore their feelings. We make excuses as to why their feelings or circumstances are not valid. We may even insinuate that it is their fault for their circumstances.
Have you seen this kind of behavior from someone or even our politicians, world leaders or other authoritative people? Are you awake enough to know that you have also acted this way sometimes during your life? Are you able to see the world through the eyes of another now?
How would you answer the next few questions?
- Can you understand why the alcoholic cannot stop drinking? (if you are not an alcoholic)
- If you are straight, can you understand being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or non-gender specific, or a crossdresser?
- Does every White American understand why a statue of General Lee upsets African Americans? Do you?
There are many examples like these, and you may understand one and not be able to comprehend another. The point is, are you willing to listen? Are you willing to try and understand? Are you willing to see someone else’s suffering and validate their truth even if you do not understand?
When we see through our conditioned eyes, we cannot see the conditioning. This conditioning also forms our current beliefs. I say current because beliefs can change with experience and with awakening to the truth. When we see the truth, our conditioning disappears.
Too many forget that we are all human beings living on this earth together. No race is better than another. No one religion is the only true religion. Underneath our conditioning, beliefs, clothes, and skin color, we are all just human beings or more aptly said, spiritual beings having a human experience. We are looking for validation, love and the freedom to live our lives. These are common threads that connect us all.
We do not have to feel threatened because someone else is different in some way because the truth is we are all different in some way or another. We choose the group that is the most aligned with our current beliefs and when we see someone a lot different we begin to judge the differences instead of seeing how alike we are. We do not see the other as a kindred soul.
If we become too focused on our group, beliefs, or way of life, we can feel threatened by anything or anyone that is too different. When our differences keep us from seeing our sameness, then we are disconnected from our True-Self and are living out our lives from our outdated beliefs, and from our conditioned or False-Self.
From this place, we may try to convert the other to be just like us, ignore them or we may try to impose our beliefs on them. When we see our ideology as the only way, our fear takes over, and that is when bad things happen. Then our only choice is force, so we engage in fighting or war.
If you look back through history, you can see multiple times where war and oppression have happened because of this and it continues today. If our leaders and politicians do not have empathy then they cannot see through the eyes of another. This can lead to horrendous problems for a country or the world. Look at the reign of Hitler, Genghis Khan or what is happening in the world today, for instance in Venezuela.
When we embrace our differences, we can explore the rich diversity of this planet. We do not have to agree on everything, besides that would be boring. And yes, there is evil in the world, but we do not have to be evil to conquer it. In fact, the opposite is true. The more we bring empathy, compassion, kindness, and love into our lives, the more the world will reflect this state. This does not make us weak, it empowers us. The first step is loving yourself. Many who commit evil acts are either conditioned by someone else to believe a certain ideology or they themselves have become lost and have no self-love. We must find our way back to self-love and then help someone else to do the same because that is the foundation for a sane society. If we cannot love ourselves then how can we be expected to love, have empathy and compassion for someone else? How can we expect to see through the eyes of another?
It all begins with you. Feel deep within, to those hurt and painful places. We all have them, stop ignoring and hiding from them. Be present with your pain as you would with your child or anyone else you love who is suffering. Stop looking for a solution. Looking for a solution means you have to hold onto your pain until you find it. Your pain is already healed; you just cannot see this yet. There is nothing wrong with you! The love that you seek is already in you, it is who you are and all you need to do is to breathe it up from deep inside. Let it fill all those painful and empty places. Let it mend your broken and tender parts. Love always works!
This is how we transform evil: with love. We begin with ourselves and that alone will begin to transform the world. If you think that this will not be enough, that something outside ourselves has to be fixed or how could something so simple possibly work, then you are once again listening to the voice of the False-Self. Do not let it stop you from doing what you know in your heart is true. When this happens, reconnect with your heart, the love that you are, and hear the voice of the True-Self once again. Remember to be gentle with yourself, to love yourself and every other human being who lives on this planet. There is power in this truth and you will know it is true because you will begin to feel empowered by it. You have felt this feeling before. Therefore, you know that what I am saying is true for yourself and you always have known it. You do not need me to tell you, you only need to remember.