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Time to Fight
Contributed by Catherine Karas

My heart is breaking. Evil has been given "permission" by leadership to express

itselfand it is doing so.

In recent years, much hate has been covered with a mask of political correctness
in the US. I cannot speak for other countries, but I suspect that similar dynamics
may have occurred. Leadership, who seem to be giving license to people to
express their hate, is leading us in the US. Hate mongers have even been called
"heros." These people do not seem to comprehend the affect of this position.

It appears to me that this is an opportunity for us: Evil is out in the open and is
less hidden behind a mask. We can work to fight it. We can use The Pathwork
principles to try to make change.

But how can we do this? Each of us may be called in different ways, but one
thing for sure, we can each go deep inside ourselves to see how we may be
contributing to the problem. What is our lower self in relation to this situation?
I know that I, for one, have become addicted to watching and listening to CNN.
I have watched it more in the past six months than in the rest of my life. And
one way my lower self is involved is the pleasure I feel when the a leader does
something that makes him/her look bad. I have no compassion. I just want to
see him/her fail. This is not helping the situation. I need to see him/her as a
flawed human being, deserving of compassion and love. For this, I need to do
much inner work.

What can we do about the people who express their underlying fear of the other
with hate and violence?

Reviewing The Guide's lectures on evil, I was reminded of the pain and suffering
that result in people who lack empathy and compassion.

From Pathwork Lecture 134: The Concept of Evil

Evil is, or results from, numbness and confusion about the execution of control. Why is
evil numbness? When you think of the defense mechanisms operating in the human
psyche, the connection between numbness and evil becomes quite clear. Children who
feel hurt, rejected, and helplessly exposed to pain and deprivation often find that
numbing their feelings is their only protection against suffering. This is often a useful and
quite realistic protective device.
Likewise, when children are confused because they perceive contradiction and conflict
around them, equally contradictory emotions arise in their own psyche. Children cannot
cope with either. Numbness is also a protection against their own contradictory
responses, impulses, and reactions. Under such circumstances, it might even be a
salvation. But when such numbness has become second nature and is maintained long
after the painful circumstances have changed and when the person is no longer a helpless
child, this, in the smallest measure, is the beginning of evil; this is how evil is born.
Numbness and insensitivity toward ones own pain in turn means equal numbness and
insensitivity toward others. When examining ones reactions closely, one might often
observe that the first spontaneous reaction to others is a feeling for and with them, a
compassion or empathy, a participation of the soul. But the second reaction restricts this
emotional flow. Something clicks inside and seems to say no, which means that a
protective layer of unfeelingness has formed. In that moment one stands separate
apparently safe but separate. Later this separateness may be overcompensated by false
sentimentality, dramatization, and insincere exaggerated sympathy. But these are only
substitutes for the numbness. The numbness, instituted for oneself, inevitably spreads to
others, just as every attitude toward the self is bound to expand toward others.

These words from the Guide really help me. When I notice that I find myself
enjoying someone's misstep, I remind myself of the hurt child within them that
had to numb him/herself to survive emotionally. That frightened child needs
love, acceptance and compassion. (Not that I have to accept and or approve of
the behavior of this person) I try to shift my attitude from pleasure in the
"misstep" (in my opinion) to one of compassion for the numbness and
separateness that surrounds them. I try to create more emotional connection to
this personnot more distance.
This takes mindfulness in the moment. It takes commitment and discipline.
And I think it will, in some way, help move the situation in a better direction
perhaps not yet on the outside, but certainly within me.
I ask us all to examine how we respond to evil when we witness it: Is there
some way that we are encouraging it? Is there some way we can transform
that? Is there some way we can contribute to connection and unity?
I hope that we all will join together in adding our own individual contributions to
fighting evil. If you, too, would like to share your struggle against evil, please
send it to pathworkfoundation@pathwork.org, we would love to hear what is
working for you.
With Love,
Catherine Karas, President
International Pathwork Foundation