the folly of our own ways

Art by: Rebecca Wang

"Pride of our ego, image, and heritage only breeds labels, labels breeds separation, separation breeds conflict, conflict breeds violence, so can we see how clinging to our image and heritage is the root of the fall of mankind? Why cannot we just BE humans, men and women without labels that divide us? Why must we assert our ego to the forefront and stomp on the ground to be noticed? As we remain blind to our own conditioning and fail to recognize that just being born 100 miles north or south would have changed who we are today. Yet those who are lost in their roles, are like the blindfolded walking on a tightrope, and if we scream too loud, they may get scared and fall. It is wise to just keep pointing the way, so that they too may discover truth on their own, for as they say, let the fool persist in their folly so that they may become wise!

When we look deeper into the matter, what we discover is that we are 'all' made of the same stardust that scatters throughout the night sky, as we all breath the same air and drink the same water, and the only separation between mankind is that which the mind creates inside. It really is no different from watching sports fanatics rooting for their own team, that same unconscious pride only creates conflict within themselves and others without their knowing. The amount of anger that can rise from a losing fan can sometimes drive one towards violence, as they are blind to the fact that it is only a game they are caught up in. Same goes with our daily life, for we get far too caught up in the game of culture and society, as many of us have lost the meaning of what IT means to truly be alive.

Looking around the world at all the fighting and conflicts, what we see is the spectrum of being at war with IT-self, but anyone with a rational mind can see that light cannot exist without darkness, black cannot exist without white, and anyone who thinks they can win a war has already lost the battle inside. The Chinese figured this out long ago, as the yin and yang go together in their ancient symbol, 'they' are not at war with each other, for the phoenix with us all would not be able to rise if there wasn't a dragon within us to burn away the dross of the false. We are trying to get to the root source of conflict and violence in the world and within our hearts, and opinions of the ego do not help in this matter, as the facts are only revealed to us when we look at 'what is' with a silent mind, for only then can we begin to see the folly of our own ways!" ~Alistar Valadez...