Seeing Myself in the Face of Myself

Conquer your foe by force, you increase his enmity; conquer by love, and you reap no after sorrow.

Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King

~

The Way of Aikido

     I have seen it work on the personal level and I know that this attitude extends out into all my affairs. I can make demands until I’m blue in the face but I will succeed only in driving further away any prospect of anything getting settled. We live in a competitive world with amazing complexities formed around an astonishing amount of cooperation under these circumstances. How is it that we often see ourselves organizing around demands rather than compelling each other towards healing the rifts that divide us? Did Gandhi cause the British Empire to crumble to his demands? He simply sat in front of the Empire’s rifles until the conscience of the oppressors saw themselves in the face of themselves. This is possible where there is a certain amount of civility but, when civility breaks down, as the result of divisiveness, chaos reigns and in chaos is ruin and worse tyranny. Do I wish to win so badly that I forget the others I oppose must exist too? Gore Vidal once asked Tom Hayden... (or was it Jerry Rubin?); “What if you do succeed in 'smashing the State', what would you replace it with?” When cooperation is forced or compelled, the result is contempt… sometimes introverted, other times, overt.

    The answer isn’t so much as to lie down and become a doormat as it is to meld with power. To stand one’s ground and to turn slightly enough to give force its own path… hopefully in agreement. Whether it is in political activism or personality conflicts, I need to stay in a devotional state of consciousness... always open to where healing is possible and the salve of love can be applied: only then can I see myself in the face of myself.

geo 5,193