Only Hurting People Hurt Other People

Every person that’s ever done any emotional damage to me is in pain. No exceptions. I will only hurt people if I am hurting. The intention to cause negativity for another Soul can only begin from fear. If I’m unafraid, all my intentions are positive. If you meet someone who continually causes injury to others, you can be sure they live in extreme emotional turmoil.

If a person is spiritually centered, they are surfing the dharma (God’s will, their perfect life path) and thus can not and will not do any harm. Every action they take is loving. They are only-other-focused sub-ek saints like Maharaj-ji, Ramana Maharshi, Anandamayi Ma, Shirdi Sai Baba, Baba Hari Dass, and a host of others. The more we focus on them, act like them, be devoted to them, the less damage we’ll do to our reality and the Souls around us.

We become what we focus upon.

The truth is, most of us (like me) have to do a lot of spiritual practice to expunge our past and cease doing damage to those we love—practice, practice, practice. No shortcuts. Discover your actual center through meditation. No Soul can avoid it – may as well get to it.

All emotional illness is rooted in being afraid. When you witness someone screaming at another person, you are seeing a child who felt helpless and defenseless while a parent yelled. The person who hurls insults is afraid the things others have said about them are true. Quarreling and yelling are definite signs of insecurity. The only proper response to a frightened person is to show them calm.

Suppose a car hits a dog, and it’s lying on the roadside, laboring for breath. What should my response be? Should I kick it a couple of times for good measure? Compassion of some kind would be the first choice for most humans. Unfortunately, many folks are kinder to animals than the humans in their circle. They’ll never pause to see (or care) if the person who wounded them is in distress. If someone bites them, they want to bite back immediately. And on the cycle goes, year after year, lifetime after lifetime.

If I face violence of any kind, it can only exist because I was violent in this incarnation or a previous one. I only face in this reality what I have created. I’m the single entity who can stop it. If I blame or push away my responsibility, I’m only making things worse for myself. The fastest way to “make it” is to “take it.”

When someone tries to injure me, the only logical response is compassion. The individual who transmits the violence in my direction is my teacher. If I respond harshly in kind, I push the karmic cycle out into the future – I have to take the lesson over again! Not smart. Responding like a servant breaks the cycle, so it never returns. As Hanuman says, “When I don’t know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you.” When I don’t realize you are God, I need to serve you. When I do grasp you are Divine, then I know I am you.

I don’t know anyone personally who isn’t suffering in some way. They might not tell you. They might not show it outwardly. But everybody’s got something going on. Usually, those situations involve other Souls we’ve been reincarnating with for multitudes of lifetimes. As Ram Dass’ uncle Emanuel suggested, “You’re here in this Earth school. Why not take the curriculum?” It’s non-reaction, understanding, and compassion that help us find relational resolution and “pass the class.”

When negativity presents itself in my world, I strive to be present and to recognize it’s just my “karma running off.” I immediately observe my stomach and my heart. If I can transmute the negativity with no internal reaction, then that karma dissipates forever. When I feel a knot in my gut or a cracking in my spiritual heart, I automatically know I’ve got more work to do in that area. It usually involves forgiveness.

Not too long ago, I got betrayed by someone. This person would have lunch with me several times a week. At the same time, they were stealing things from my home. It hurt when I discovered it. Ten years ago, it would have bothered me for a month. This time, it was a few hours. I still have work to do, but Maharaj-ji has granted me some emotional self-control through spiritual practice. I don’t think I’ll graduate from the Earth school anytime soon, but I have noted some progress.

Violence and war teach Souls peace. Racism teaches Souls inclusion and tolerance. Getting betrayed and being unappreciated is teaching me detachment from materialism (Satan). Jesus said, “If you are sued in court, and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.” Next time you face a tidal wave of negativity, consider letting it hit you and wash over. Sometimes people run and end up exhausted, eventually drowning in three inches of water. Better to let the wave hit. My karma is my Soul. How could I ever imagine escaping from it?

If we’re playing ping pong together, and I slam the ball across the table at you, you’ve got two choices. Slam it back or simply watch it pass by. The next time someone in your life wants to quarrel, set your paddle down. Let the ball bounce go to the wayside. They might get angrier. Resist the temptation to pick up your paddle. It’s a soft answer that turns away wrath.

The quickest way to heal the hurting people in your life is to work on yourself. The more centered you are, the more peaceful environment you’ll generate around you. Be so positive that negativity can’t stick. If you try to love everybody by framing them as God in drag, things in your life will improve. If you’re thinking about the Divine, it’s challenging to create negative karma for yourself or others.

I pray your fears are alleviated. Would you pray for mine? What if we all practiced ahimsa (non-violence) on every plane of our existence and never caused any harm ever again? What if everybody’s fears were erased? That indeed would bring Heaven to Earth, would it not? As Don Miguel Ruiz Jr. suggests, if you and I don’t change the Dream of the Planet, who will?

Jai Shree Ram!

Blessings,

In Christ,

JC