You got to stand up for yourself – the way of peace and harmony

Last Updated on August 1, 2016 by Patrick

“One drop of love dilutes tons of conflicts” – Master K. K.

Indeed it is true. Whenever we keep our temper, whenever we respond in life with kindness, love, compassion and understanding, our rewards are totally different than when we are filled with hatred and we respond violently.

I’m not going to get into this much, I just want to talk about certain aspects that I am facing everyday. Socrates used to say that “a life not analized, is not a life worth living”. But isn’t this the ultimate thing for us? Can something else be more fulfilling? Would we choose to have conflicts with our neighbours or get along with them? I think this is worth to think about.

I was a big fan of Simply Red’s music back when I was a toddler, or generally pop music for that matter, actually, because of its uplifting effects on me. I didn’t listen to much rock music, actually, I just liked a certain type of music that it is very pleasant to my ears and has beautiful melodic lines. But recently I listened to one particular song that caught my most attention, it’s called “The Mirror”, or “Your Mirror”. It’s a beautiful song and these are the verses of the first two stanzas:

“I’ve got to stand up for myself
This society don’t care about nobody else
I’ve got to be strong
Even if I know that this feeling is wrong
I’ve got to not care
Even if I know that this world is meant to share

Wait a minute.. This is wrong
Even the birds still sing their faithful song
And your beauty lies within you
Look in the mirror baby!….“

And the official live video is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB4P5t3JGlg .

Looking back into Nature, I learned a great deal of things that perhaps I ignored, I let them pass me by. For example, the power of sacrifice plants and animals have and their will to live and pass their characteristics to their descendants is really amazing. The thing is we ought to see them as great examples for strength, willpower and creativity despite all the harshness of this world as we see it, or as they see it. If it wouldn’t be this harsh, we wouldn’t have any training whatsoever. So, how would we progress, how would we grow, then?

It is also amazing how plants, for instance, have the power to penetrate even the hardest of terrains, say asphalt or a layer of thick and dried mud to sprout in the spring. Their power lies within and in their own water abilities. What do I mean by that? What do you think carves the hardest rocks while streaming down to the sea? Water, of course. In water are great possibilities. Our bodies are also made of water more than 70%. But what does make us stiff in life? It certainly is not water? Also, plants’ buds are very soft. Think about a snowdrop, for example, that has to penetrate the thick layer or snow to rise to the surface in late winter / early spring. It’s very soft. In fact, it is so soft that you can easily crush it between your fingers without any effort whatsoever. But this is even stronger when it comes to hard things. It has the power to break the hardest material.

Another example, this time from the animal kingdom, is the monarch butterfly. Its wings are like they’re made of paper. So soft, so easy to destroy that one may think that this butterfly has a very short life span. It’s enough for the wind to blow and it can lose its wings quickly, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite. It can resist the toughest winds in the world without suffering any damage to its wings. So, is not about being the toughest in order to be strong, but about being the most resilient.

I can think about the trees, for another example. During a great storm how they bend and very seldom break. They just come back to their initial position when the winds are calmed. What gives them the power to be flexible? Water, of course.

Bruce Lee, the famous martial arts expert and actor used to say “when you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup.. so be like water, my friend!”.

Great encouragement! :D