" A person who himself is eager for war doesn't care to see whether the opponent is eager to fight or not. A person who is eager for war is blind. He doesn't want to look at the enemy -- in fact, whomsoever he meets is an enemy for him. He creates, he projects the enemy. When a battle is raging within, enemies appear on the outside." Osho
I recently read this quote and was taken by its truth. There always seems to be a battle raging within someone, sometime, somewhere and we must ask ourselves why the battle rages on within so many.
Once rage is in our mind we see enemies that we both always have known and even those that were never enemies at all... it's the rage that rumbles within that projects our enemy... and the enemy is actually the rage within us.
This rage is when we are out of balance with our true being... way out of balance. Rage causes our violence for many reasons, but the basis is not understanding. Sounds too simple..? Balance is necessary for our physical (body), our mental (mind) and our spiritual trinity. Body wants to be in balance otherwise it gets dis-eased. Mind wants to be in balance otherwise it becomes dominant and makes us crazy. Spirit wants to be in balance otherwise it impoverishes body and mind.
Whenever we feel anger, hatred, violence building up in us, pause and face that anger... grasp the origins of the rage before it conquers our well being. Step aside from its flames and observe what is fueling the fire for a fire does not burn without fuel. We have provided the fuel and we can allow it to burn out if we quit feeding the fire... it's our own doing. We need to control rage and not ignore it. To ignore those times when we feel the flame's heat and know it's getting out of control are the times we should get out of the way and just observe... take a deep breath and see what it is that is being consumed by the rage.
War is a collective rage that burns within a group. The fuel for this collective violence is in defense of a belief, a doctrine, a religion or philosophy that the group feels is being threatened. What is being threatened is the truth of the belief. How true is it that which we have put so much faith in? If that standard for our life starts to weaken in the face of opposition we come to its defense to prove its worth, its truth, and assert to the opposition our power of faith in that which we are defending.
The fundamentalist Muslims/the evangelical Christians, the Catholics/the Protestants, the Jews/the Palestinians, the Liberals/the Conservatives, the Democrats/the Republicans... all these factions (and so many more) defending their principles over the opposition... when in simple fact no one is adhering to Truth but only to faith... faith in what they have learned to be their own salvation and the salvation of others. The wars will continue to rage, the battles will continue to be fought as long as the dividing lines are intact. It's a pick and choose over one or another and it is this pick and choose, win or lose, proposition that fuels the violence.
Nobody likes to lose but the fact is, within these battles, there is only one winner and all the rest are considered losers. The losers retreat and plan new defenses for another battle instead of surrendering to their own Being. However if we all learn who we are, if we awaken to what it is that is our Self, there is where the battle ends and peace prevails.
Peace is not the absence of war but the acceptance of the divine that resides in each and everyone of us... the spark of life, the White Light that has always been within us and defines us. It highlights our authenticity that no man, no nation, no doctrine can undermine. Our self-realization gives us more than mind can give. Mind can only provide fact, the duality of humanity, but never Truth. Knowing our Self is to know our 'inner-ness' which transcends duality and makes us whole.
We can embrace the fires within, control them, by fueling them with our old beliefs, our old indoctrinations, our old faiths. We needn't defend these things... hold onto them like they were our very Being, but release them to fuel the fires of creativity so me may create ourselves anew. But when we fuel the fires within using other's beliefs, 'enemies appear on the outside.'
Enemies also appear on the outside when we are fighting mind and what it has been taught... what is right and what is wrong. If we see sex as wrong or beauty as evil then all things sexual or all things beautiful become the enemy. Defending the mind instead of the spirit puts mind over spirit. This is not balance. This is out of balance and nobody can put one into balance but understanding.
Body can be balanced (healthy) with proper diet, proper hygiene, proper excercise, avoiding stress... fulfilling the needs of Body to function correctly. Mind can be balanced by understanding mind to be a tool for survival, a tool for creativity, a tool for communicating, knowing the physical. Spirit can be balanced by realizing both Body and Mind are part of our Being. Many have forsaken their Body and Mind in surrender to Spirit only to miss two-thirds of their existence.
Rage stems from frustration. Witness the infant, new to its surroundings, how they yell and cry from the frustration of not being able to use all its body and mind. Whenever the infant cannot do for itself and relies upon its mother to provide for it and the mother does not respond fully, the infant's frustration turns to rage - it screams and hollers, throws things, at war with its environment. The learning process continues until the child grows to independence... no longer relying upon it's parents to provide, the frustration subsides, the rage weakens and the fires are utilized for creating him/herself. But eventually indoctrinations become frustrating... certain things that have been learned no longer fit into the young person's being. Frustration returns and the longer s/he feels denied some things in life due to these learned things, an early rage begins developing within. Now it is no longer a parent denying possibilities, but it is certain limitations put upon the person by doctrines. Does the person use this rage within to defend that which they have learned or do they allow the indoctrinations to burn in the rage and begin fresh with a restored clarity?
<center>Do not simply grow old and burdened, but mature without limitations, for the clarity when free from form is pure bliss and brings a wholeness to the inner and outer called One.</center>
Cecil
01 January 2006
<center>Happy New Year to all and may the timelessness of Now not be forgotten in the measurement of moments passing.</center>
