Today's culture promotes a rapid loss of connection with nature and the source of spirit that nourishes the roots of wisdom and compassion. When these roots are weak, the mind is easily darkened by the shadow of destructive waves made of dark thoughts and emotions. Under the powerful weight of such waves, the mind drowns in the darkness of fear, anger, hatred, desire for revenge, arrogance or self-pity, and the actions that arise from such a mind become a reflection of low impulses that degrade this what makes human humane.
In this ocean of darkness, the light, which is fed by love for life and existence itself, is pushed into ever greater depth, thus becoming invisible and seemingly non-existent. Without light, the Ego strengthens, and uses emotions to draw people into the darkness of their hearts, providing them with the justification for all actions, even those that lead to the suffering of other living beings. The Ego enjoys the smell of blood and the taste of tears. His power grows with every painful moan from his victims, whom he delights in punishing.
With the Ego obscuring all that elevates the human kind, the door closes to the love, wisdom, and compassion that would otherwise permeate our thoughts, words, and actions. A mind that is closed to higher values and virtues cannot give a clear answer to the question of what is right and what is wrong. Similarly, the actions that spring from such a mind will not bear the seal of virtue. But how could an action that knows no light ever be right? Who can call himself righteous if he is driven by a desire for revenge, hatred or self-pity? If an act of revenge is answered with another act of revenge, can any of those acts be justified? And who can say with certainty when the first stone was thrown, at whom and by whom? How far in human history do we need to go to understand that humans have been sinful since they set foot on this Earth and that every step, which is guided by the spirit of hatred, is actually a step that leads to a vicious circle without beginning and end.
But as the sin is passed down from generation to generation, at the same time blessing will always accompany it too. It is carried by all those who manage to, through the power of non-discriminating love, awakenedwisdom, and compassion, amplify the light that dispels the darkness of the mind trapped in the clutches of the Ego.
The Ego will never easily retreat and will try, with all its might, to convince itself and others of its power and the righteousness of its actions. And yet beneath its surface there are storms of fear and cowardice. Therefore the Ego can never be the liberator of the suffering since it takes more courage to break out of the eternal cycle of hatred than the Ego is capable of fabricating. In fact, true courage only occurs in hearts freed from the Ego. Hearts that are capable of loving, forgiving and extending mercy to all.
Minds driven by primal instincts, even when they seemingly progress, actually keep repeating the same path for years, decades, centuries, millennia, giving it only other names, and new signposts. They are blind to see that they actually walk in circle why the path will always bring them to the same beginning, the same obstacles and to the same place. And yet, people keep nurturing the false expectations bewitched by the illusion of progress. But what does it say about a person who believes that a different destination can be reached even though the same path is taken? Isn't it a sign of madness to keep trying to make bread out of mud but wondering why it tastes like mud? Trapped in repetitive thought patterns, people fail to realize that they are nothing more than prisoners in a dark fortress, whose general is their own Ego, leading the army made up of the inner demons unleashed from their own hearts.
Any action that lacks compassion, mercy and wisdom always arises from the personal or collective Ego and cannot be effective, even if one believes in its rightness and clings to the hope of being freed from suffering in this way. In fact, under the guidance of the Ego an action will ultimately become a constant race in the wheel of a trapped rat trying to free itself from its cage - not knowing that with each further attempt its essence will disperse and the path to its own demise will be paved. Only when people are guided by the values of a higher spirit, the fire of virtue is fanned, and the light can illuminate everything, showing clearly the way out of the vicious circle of hatred.
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