In the present times, we observe many conflicts of varying nature and magnitude unfolding before our eyes.
With this article we would like to try to answer the questions: what is this agitation generated by? Can we re-establish unity from such a disturbed state of being?
Humanity has always struggled with conflicts and wars of all kinds. For a piece of land or to assert one’s religion or claim an ideology, rather than for an allegedly violated right; it struggles to defend its existence, which is inevitably at the expense of others.
But from what do these conflicts arise?
This struggle is generated by the survival instinct inherent in man and sustained by the fear of losing something that he feels rightfully belongs to him, forgetting that everything, really everything, has only been given to us on loan.
In our psyche, too, this same fighting mechanism takes place.
We identify with our convictions and find ourselves strenuously defending them in order not to question them or agree to radically change our perspective.
It is so easy to find a culprit, an enemy, something external to fight.
An evil to fight against makes us feel estranged from this evil: projecting it outside of us makes us believe that it does not belong to us.
We only love about ourselves and the world those characteristics that we deem “right” and of their opposite we are indignant, rejecting them… unnecessarily.
In this continuous division that we operate outside and inside ourselves, our ego will constantly try to assert itself and impose itself, generating a fight that is lost at the start.
As lofty and pleasant may be our “heavenly” virtues, so dark and “infernal” are their antonyms in us.
And so, modesty becomes the child of pride, beauty bears in store its decay, youth has in it the seed of old age, good soon changes its face to evil, and in the same way from all that we believe darkness can miraculously emerge light.
But so far no miracles, no magic appears, just laws that govern existence, because natural life has its own motion, and motion is generated by contraries.
Every ‘dark night of the soul’, every difficulty, every crisis, so troublesome on a personal level, has as its end the creation of a free space to be illuminated by the One Light without shadows.
The shadow is generated by the action of light as it enters into relation with the object, and is nothing more than its projection; therefore, what is the point of engaging in a fight against an illusion?
We can and should welcome it as a manifestation of light itself, and therefore a bearer of valuable teachings.
Neutrality
Not to be.
Not to be, is a neutral point that casts no shadow within us. It means going beyond all our attempts at affirmation.
Being in non-being is the only possibility beyond the oscillations of the sea of contraries, like a needle of a scale that shifts, alternating from one side to the other in equal force and measure.
Yet, that non-being, that centre, exists. Beyond all the laws that govern the world, and at the same time, deep within all things.
It is not easy to notice that centre, because as long as we are engaged in the merry-go-round of opposites, which nevertheless allow us to know ourselves better and better, we ignore the existence of a neutral, virgin, intact field.
One ignores the existence of the possibility of another life.
The conflict between opposites can also manifest itself in the relationship between human beings and nature.
Man and nature are mutually interconnected and influence each other.
Humanity in its current state creates and generates corresponding forces in nature, which turn against it.
Consider the climate effects we are witnessing globally. Human impact generates imbalances on ecosystems of which we experience the increasingly evident and fatal consequences.
The play of opposites triggers events that are all the more extreme the more the natural balance is disturbed, as a compensatory mechanism to restore order.
How is it possible to get out of this game of opposites?
Humanity generates thoughts, desires and actions that in turn determine an environment, lifestyle and natural forces in his image, consolidating the bars of his prison.
However, the human being always has the possibility of recognising his state of imprisonment and embarking on a path in search of his true being, which will be able to welcome and manifest a new state of consciousness and life, thus reshaping the relationship he has with Nature and other human beings. To do this, he must heal the root cause of his corruption in his state of consciousness, his estrangement from his true essence and his obsessive pursuit of self-affirmation and ego-preservation.
By understanding the laws of this world, one can come to recognise neutrality as having a liberating quality, whereas it is often seen as being at odds with social dynamics, which on the contrary always require a stance, a taking of sides between two opposite poles.
Neutrality, which is almost always perceived as a failure to take responsibility, a kind of disinterest in events, when consciously achieved, conceals the great opportunity to let life flow, welcoming all its manifestations, without conflict.
Such neutrality is a quality of consciousness, which manifests itself as a fruit in a human being involved in a process of reunification with his own being. This state is expressed from an element already present in latency in each of us, which tells us of unity, awakening the desire to return to that lost state of wholeness.
In the ancient text Hsing Hsing Ming (The Book of Nothing), by Jianzhi Sengcan, one finds a clear testimony particularly evocative of such a state of being.
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for, or against, anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect, like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Live neither in the entanglements of outer things, nor in inner feelings of emptiness. Be serene in the oneness of things, and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves. When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity, your very effort fills you with activity. As long as you remain in one extreme or the other, you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial. To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking, and there is nothing you will not be able to know. [1]
[1] Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen (The Hsin Hsin Ming) (csulb.edu)
