| Revenge, the desire to hurt others who have hurt | | | | imbue a poison that will return to destroy us. |
| us, only bears bitter fruit. It hurts those whom we | | | | The greatest illusion is this: that we can hurt and not |
| have inflicted our wrath upon. And it hurts us, | | | | be hurt, that we can wound another and remain |
| because no single act in the universe goes | | | | unscathed. When we inflict harm upon another, we |
| unrewarded. From that singular act, our own | | | | inflict harm upon ourselves. What goes around comes |
| consciousness is wounded by the expression of our | | | | around. A rudimentary study of history will prove this. |
| animalism. | | | | When we love, we reach out to align with life, to |
| Nations pride themselves on the swiftness of their | | | | nurture and make others better, and in that act, we |
| retribution but inevitably collapse in on themselves | | | | redeem ourselves from our own past follies. |
| because the seeds of discontent that they sow, | | | | This love is a precious act. It is our extension of |
| hurts all of life. Rome, the greatest civilization that | | | | spiritual power in the world. It is a moment of |
| the world had ever known, built on the finest arts | | | | sympathy and support that we have for life. When |
| and sciences known to the ancient world, the | | | | you bend down and help a child tie its shoelaces, you |
| epitome of legal and architectural order, collapsed | | | | are tying up all the knots of the world. When you |
| from within, destroyed by its own impulse to use its | | | | listen in silence and understand another's intention, |
| mighty force to strike out and subdue. | | | | you are spreading the meme of empathy through all |
| Today our world is dying because of this impulse to | | | | of time and space, for thoughts are cosmic waves |
| strike out. | | | | that do not know any barriers. |
| We are destroying each other at an alarming rate, | | | | As we extend love to others, it comes back to us. |
| both individually and collectively. | | | | Yet we cannot love others unless we love ourselves |
| And even the earth itself, is collapsing at a faster | | | | as well. |
| rate than we can repair. Scientists now estimate that | | | | We cannot live without making mistakes of judgment |
| by the year 2050, we will have exhausted the earth | | | | and do things that we will later regret, because we |
| of all its natural resources. | | | | are naïve and do foolish things out of that |
| The science that we celebrate, the genius of our | | | | naivety. But we do grow, and looking back at the |
| efforts, are wasted on destructive uses. Instead of | | | | harm we have invoked, we feel grief. Our act of |
| using the power of the nucleus to build great | | | | love, then, is to forgive ourselves. Yet instead of |
| civilizations we are busy using it to stockade bombs. | | | | taking this simple act, we damn ourselves repeatedly, |
| Billions of dollars that could be used to heal the | | | | and in this way, we still hurt life, because we are life. |
| broken places on our planet are used to send people | | | | When we feel the urge to strike out, we must |
| to horrific deaths. | | | | remember how it feels to have the wound inflicted |
| When we seek to hurt life, we hurt ourselves, for | | | | upon our own flesh, because everything returns to |
| we are life. | | | | the author of a deed. |
| Revenge it is said is a dish best served cold; but | | | | Help always, hurt never. Do this and your life will be a |
| whether it is served with cold deliberation or hot | | | | blessing to the world and you must reap the harvest |
| reaction, it is a dish in whose very preparation we | | | | from what you have sown. |