Lizada: Inside

WHEN the Berlin Wall was still standing, there was this group of East Berliners who took a truckload of garbage and dumped them into the West Berlin side. In response, some West Berliners took a truckload of groceries and food and in the same spot spread the food and groceries. And there they left a sign that said, "Each gives what he has."

How true. We can only give what we have. We all have been targets of the garbage of others. If you have hatred, you give hate. If you have fear, you share that too. If you keep blaming others, then blame is all you have. If you have peace, then that shall be what you share. It is impossible to do otherwise. Of course, we can pretend to be kind and all that but in the end, one cannot last. The truth will always come out. We only give what we have. Wayne Dyer the eminent psychologist and spiritual writer once said that how people treat you is their karma and how you treat them is yours.

Sometimes, when we become witnesses or targets of cruelty the tendency to strike back is overwhelming and yet our response defines and reveals who and what we are. It is not even a challenge nor something that we must grapple with because you either have it or you do not. I used to think otherwise. I thought that if someone slapped you it would take a lot of courage and strength not to retaliate. Now I think it is the easiest thing. Really. If indeed someone slapped you and it is not in your character to hit back, it would not even be a struggle. You just would not. But it also works the other way around. If someone slapped you and it is in your character to hit back, then you will find out without even thinking that you smacked the other person to oblivion. Because it is in you. Because it is you. And you can never deny yourself of who and what you are.

There is no struggle to be evil when you are evil and in the same breath, there is no struggle to be kind if you are kind. You just accept it. Of course if one wants to change cruelty to kindness that is an entirely different struggle because it is always painful to change and not all people can do it. It takes a lot of strength. There are two sides to all of us. The true and false self. The false self is always the one that is angry and bitter and complicated. The false self justifies, blames, cowers, and whines. The true self is serene. Because serenity is where God is. And where God is, truth prevails. The truth about us.

Nothing is hidden.