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Eckhart Aurelius Hughes wrote: ↑March 31st, 2023, 5:42 pm This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.Harboring hate can create a turbulent inner state, affecting one's well-being and relationships. Choosing empathy and understanding can lead to a more peaceful existence.
In my earlier topic, Whether you are looking for a savior or someone to save, or both, look into a mirror. In that topic, I write, in part:
Scott wrote: ↑December 9th, 2022, 6:22 pm Many times, people aren't really looking to be happy--meaning to have consistent inner peace--but rather looking for an excuse or scapegoat for their misery.
There's no shortage of unhappy people wanting to give you advice, if not put a literal or metaphorical gun to your head and force you to take their literally miserable advice and live by their literally miserable standards. Many would rule the world because they cannot rule themselves, at least not in a way that lets them be truly happy with inner peace.
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The false miserable idea that the world is awful and desperately needs to be saved--by any means necessary no matter how aggressively violent and brutal--is typically a symptom of the violent saver's own persistent deep-rooted misery, meaning their lack of the true happiness that is inner peace and spiritual freedom.
Once we see that, it becomes easier to understand how even the Nazis thought they were the good guys, whose ends justified their means. So too is it surely true of the brutal murderers committing brutal honor killings. The destructive bloody horror of what such a person honestly sees as 'doing good ' reflects the spiritual misery in their own heart and the horrible self-created hell in which they themselves live.
I have hate in my heart for nobody. To have such hate in your heart is be in hell, and we see that miserable hellish hate manifest accordingly in people's actions. They don't just hurt those hate because to hate at all to hate reality itself as a whole; it's to look at the world as a timeless whole and say, "if this (i.e. timeless reality as an eternal unchanging whole) was created by a God, that God did bad job."
In some ways, I can sympathize with the most brutal most of all. I don't wish to be like them, but sometimes I can most easily say of them: Forgive them, for they know what they do. That is because, in a way, they are the most misguided. While it is mostly if not entirely self-created, they are utterly blinded by their own deep hellish suffering and their own lack of spiritual freedom. The miserable dominate the world because they lack self-discipline. The miserable want to dominate and control the world because the lack true self-determination.
In the words of Alan Watts, all the do-gooders are troublemakers.
For those who follow the teachings of my book, whether because they read it or just happen to otherwise, the opposite is the case. We have the consistent true happiness that is inner peace and spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline). Our loving free-spirited inner peace is reflected in our actions, our art, our kindness, and even our eyes. You can see it and feel it when you talk to one of us, or even when you sit in silence nearby. We have heaven in our hearts. Our cups overflow with it. We can't help but spill some of it on you.
With love,
Scott
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Jessica Azuka wrote: ↑January 3rd, 2024, 10:11 am Indeed, harbouring hate in one's heart is very inconvenient and indeed, such a person is miserable. However, I feel that to change some things in this world, some forceful measures need to be taken.I essentially agree, but just as matter of semantics and connotation, I prefer to consider myself to be graceful rather than forceful. Interestingly, I find it tends to actually be more productive and effective anyway. I do without trying, and in fact I never try, but (perhaps ironically) those who try hardest seem to actually accomplish the least, presumably in large part due to their lack of grace and gracefulness, among their confusion between doing and trying.
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