War. It’s on my mind. Actions in Russia and Ukraine are causing really deaths, destruction of loves, and suffering.

Here are some rambling thoughts.

I’m paying attention to what is going on in Ukraine. I sense it with emotions. I wish that I had something profound and insightful to share with you. I wish that my words could alleviate those emotions of fear, sadness, anger, and injustice. I know my words can not.

Some lessons take longer to relieve ourselves of such suffering and stories.

I’d say that there are many beliefs that you must change, and perspective shifts that you must make before you can look at such events closely and not suffer.

There are two ways to do this not suffering thing.

One is to numb out and disconnect from emotions. That might mean watching more Netflix and scrolling through social media of Instagram and Tic-Toc.

This is the “easy way to feel less emotions”  It also keeps your eyes closed.

The second way is to see past the surface of these behaviors from a Judge and Victim perspective and perhaps steer towards compassion. Compassion doesn’t mean agreement and support, or sympathy. It just means a kind of understanding about creation, consciousness, and human challenges.

Can you accept that some human beings are consciously unaware of the consequences of their actions? That they live in such fear that everyone around them is a threat. Every country around them is a threat Every country around the world is a threat. There are human minds that dream their inner world in this way and believe that this internal world maps to the external world.

Understand a mindset like this, and you would see how someone would lash out with violence and anger at innocent people. Inside his inner world is running a narrative story that he has no choice and that violence is the only way. His “story” driven by his belief paradigms controls his perspective and therefore controls his actions.

He does not take actions based on reality. He operates from the virtual reality of his stories that he believes. There is senselessness and disconnect from reality when you believe all your thoughts, particularly the fearful ones.

He is unaware that his stories and mind are feeding him lies. To be unaware is to be ignorant, or unconscious of other perspectives or narrative stories as options, or reality. He can not see the truth or the reality of the situation.

See into the fearful story-driven mind of a leader that would bring a person to choose violent war as a solution.  We can call this evil.

But what is evil?

Evil is the combination of  Evil = Fear + Ignorance

You can also write it as Evil = Fear + Lies.

We all have some capacity for fear, and likely do have some fear inside us.

We are also susceptible to believing some false beliefs, or lies.

Therefore, we all have some potential for Evil. Coming to terms with this, and accepting this, is part of developing our awareness. Accepting that we have this potential, helps us be a little bit less ignorant of ourselves. Being aware that we have this capacity, makes us more vigilant to being skeptical of our own thinking. This makes us less ignorant of ourselves, and a bit less Evil.

Interesting how accepting something about ourselves actually lessens it.

Same with the other things like self-judgment, victimization fear, anger, and suffering. The more we acknowledge and accept, the more awareness we have, and the more we grow out of those lies.

Accepting this about ourselves also induces some humility.

Having humility is another big antidote to Evil.

Really big evil has an equation like this:

Big Evil = Fear + Lies + Arrogance.

It is war that causes suffering.

But it is Evil that causes war.

And it is Fear, Lies, and Arrogance that creates Evil.

So if you really want to end wars and suffering, fight against fear, lies, and arrogance.

How do you do that?

Do the work of cultivating Truth,  Awareness, Humility, and Love. 

In one perspective these are just words, and concepts. However, when cultivated, they are a state of mind, emotional presence, and quiet peace in your heart. The path to these states of being is by releasing your “stories” as they are filled with lies, ego, and fear.

We are all in our own little war with the fear, lies, and stories our ego is throwing at us.

I wish you all peace, through awareness, humility, and love.

Thank you for allowing me to share my ramblings.

For those living in areas of conflict worldwide, I send you my prayers of peace for you, your family, and your country.

Peace be with you,

Gary