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Compassion and Revenge
by Gary Zukav
[essay]
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
are occasions of great significance. They are opportunities for you
to feel inside, to find those parts of yourself that are in fear, and
to make the decision to move forward in your life without fear. That
is the challenge for each individual on this planet today. The pursuit
of external power—the ability to manipulate and control—creates
only violence and destruction. The painful events in New York and Washington
are living examples of that reality.
The causal chain that created this violence is one in which compassion
and wisdom are absent. Are wisdom and compassion present in you as you
watch the television, and read the papers? It is important to realize
that you do not know all that came to conclusion, or into karmic balance,
as a result of these events. Because you are not able to know all that
can be known about them, you are not in a position to judge them.
When you are able to look at the events of the Earth School from this
perspective, you will see clearly the central importance of the role
that you play in it. That role is this: It is for you to decide what
you will contribute to this world. Many will be asking your opinion
of these events. Each question is an opportunity for you to contribute
to the love that is in the world or to the fear that is in the world.
This is the same opportunity that presents itself to you at each moment.
If you hate those who hate, you become like them. You add to the violence
and the destructive energy that now fills our world. As you make the
decision to see with clarity and compassion, you will see that those
who committed these acts of violence were in extreme pain themselves,
and that they were fueled by the violent parts of ourselves—the
parts that judge without mercy, strike in anger, and rejoice in the
suffering of others. They were our proxy representatives. If you can
look with compassion upon those who have suffered and those who have
committed acts of cruelty alike, then you will see that all are suffering.
The remedy for suffering is not to inflict more suffering.
This is an opportunity for a massive expression of compassion. It is
also an opportunity for a massive expression of revenge. Which world
do you intend to live in—a world of revenge or a world of compassion?