Truth, Morality, and Fear

 

The obvious truth: that mortals are immoral is both obvious and painful to many of us. Most of us will spend our entire lives avoiding or embellishing this simple fact. In that light it's understandable why people of all persuasions and beliefs go to such length to keep secrets and gain and exercise violent and oppressive power over one another. The fact that our social, religious and political organizations mirror our personal human actions is of course no real reason for surprise, despair or outrage. All that is required is a realistic acceptance of profoundly human nature, our deep wounds and the tendency for power to corrupt the very best of intentions, our current president is a wonderful example, if you don't want to look within yourself.

 

The recent furor over journalistic publication of international information is the primary reason for the previous paragraph. It is difficult and challenging to accept the level of corruption and dishonesty at work in the world today if we do not look deeply into our own souls to search for our own duplicity, corruption and violence. For it is in my own personal relations with my loved ones, my family and myself that I see my own faults laid bare. How can I honestly fault others for behaving exactly like I have consistently in my own life, whether in relation to myself or others? True the level of degree is vastly different, and I am a harsh judge of myself, but only to underline the profound need for compassion. Yes others have said this far better than I, yet I need to learn to say it, and live it for myself. So that I might live peacefully and joyfully in these days of our lives.

 

How often and consistently have I terrorized my own better motives, dreams and inspirations to follow the routine habits of self oppression, addiction and denial? How often have I beat myself emotionally for having the honesty and interest to look deeper into my own heart than perhaps my partner, parent or therapist might wish? For to be compassionate with ourselves is the first and most important challenge, from that battle or opportunity will all else in life perhaps flow. When we can and do accept and love ourselves as we are, rather as we would have ourselves be, we then can extend this understanding and compassion toward others, and without which we have no chance of true love or relationship with life at all. While this simple truth lies at the basis of all life it is often overlooked in our capacity to reason and think and without which all thinking and reason will be poisoned by deep misrepresentation of the self by the habit of dualistic repression by the mind or ego.

 

So again we are invited to peace, for ourselves, by our deepest self, or god or higher self, call love by any name you may, it answers to love.