Eradicate Evil

Last week I spoke about eliminating evil and shining light. As a result, I received some comments pondering if destroying evil is not itself simply another act of evil. In life, when true evil happens - such as murder, rape, child abuse - we have two choices - and only two: we are either part of the solution or part of the problem. To do nothing, to be a bystander, to be silent when atrocities occur, is tantamount to complicity.

I share with you the following quote: "In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations." Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn As I stated last week, the Israeli soldiers are fierce in this battle against evil. They are the true heroes. For the rest of us, we need to shine as much light as we can, through prayer and through whatever resources we can offer.

At our essence, we are spiritual beings on a physical journey. We have the power to cultivate an energy of goodness that can transform the world in these hours of darkness.

Light will prevail. G-d be with us.

Tenacity

Dear Dr. Guterson - your video last week talked about ‘returning’ to your true self, meaning your soul. Does this mean that we cannot change? A: What a great question! Actually, change and growth is what life is all about. Years ago, when I was a History teacher, on the first day of school I would write the following on the blackboard: “Human nature, basically, stays the same.” Now that I am older, I realize the potential flaws in that statement. Yes, we have our temperament and yes, we have our DNA and yes, we have the nurturing that we were given in our early years. And yes, we have our unique pure soul. These are all templates. They are who we are - BUT how they express themselves is up to us. Our actions in life are our choice. We can learn from our (inevitable) mistakes. We can refine our character. The beauty of being a human being, unlike all other creations, is that we have free will. A great example of this is the story of Jill Bolte Taylor. She was a Harvard neuroscientist who, in 1996, suffered a massive stroke that destroyed the functioning of the left side of her brain. At that point she could have given up, she could have thrown in the towel, but she did not. Not for a second. No, instead she exercised her brain daily for the next eight years and ultimately was able to train the right side of her brain and recover all her faculties. (see her book, “My Stroke of Insight”). We need not be prisoners of our templates. We can change the architecture of our brain. We can change our emotions, our actions, our character. Your question is good because yes, we do have a soul, a soul that is the bedrock of our true self. But how we EXPRESS our soul is up to us. And this is our greatest freedom. Learning from Jill Bolte Taylor, we should never ever give up. We should never believe that we cannot be more giving, more confident, more understanding, more forgiving. No pill on earth can make this happen. It takes courage. It takes tenacity.

"Take Another Shot"

I love this quote, from Ziad K. Abdelnour: “Life is like a camera: Focus on what’s important, Capture the good times, Develop from the negative, And if things don’t work out, Take another shot!”