A World of Hurt That Can be Changed

Angela Pritchard, Guest
Waking Times

Millions of hurtful interactions are taking place this very second. Arguments, yelling matches, punches, pushes, angry looks, hurtful tones, spiteful words, shouting, put downs, insults, and the endless stream of abusive posts amongst people on the internet.

Hurting plays a huge part in our lives. When we did something wrong, our parents punished us. If we drive recklessly, we can get into an accident. If we hold our breath, we suffocate. It’s undeniable that we live in a universe of natural laws and of cause and effect. If it wasn’t like this, then how would we learn?

But so often, hurting gets into places that it shouldn’t and we can end up harming those around us completely unnecessarily. To take an extreme example, it’s like the difference between sentencing a criminal to jail justly with fair trial and humane conditions versus a public flogging and torture in which the crowd revels in their suffering.

To be better people and have a better world, we can separate the enactment and follow through of consequences that come as the result of bad actions, from the desires and urges to harm others and even feel a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment in seeing them suffer. And I think that’s a really important distinction to make in all the events of our lives, whether we’re dealing with a family member, friend, stranger, criminal or corrupt government etc., as the desire to see others harmed can cause us to become even worse than any perceived bad action that triggered our response in the first place.

Physical and Non-physical Harm

When we think of harm, most of us probably imagine physical violence. And it’s true of course, that hurting others often takes this form. But we don’t have to be throwing punches and dropping bombs to be hurting those around us, as we are multidimensional beings—we have a non-physical side that also gets hurt too.

“Do not think because it cannot be seen, that thought has no power. I tell you truly, the lightning that cleaves the mighty oak, or the quaking that opens up cracks in the earth, these are as the play of children compared with the power of thought. Truly each thought of darkness, whether it be of malice, or anger, or vengeance, these wreak destruction like that of fire sweeping through dry kindling under a windless sky. But man does not see the carnage, nor does he hear the piteous cries of his victims, for he is blind to the world of the spirit.”
~ The Essene Gospel of Peace

A raised voice, a sharp look, a provocative word, insults, an unpleasant mood, talking badly about someone, laughing at them, and even thinking negatively towards a person inflicts pain. We only have to remember how these things make us feel to realize just how much they hurt.

Biting Back

The problem tends to be – that when we feel hurt ourselves, we instinctively react by hurting back, and so that hurt back feels justified. Someone insults us and we turn around and insult them – when “bitten” it’s so hard not to “bite” back, just like it is for animals when they get into a fight. The instinct is there faster than thought; it helps animals to survive.

In us humans though, with our more developed mind and emotions, things get much more complicated, and hurt takes on a huge range of forms—from our loved one forgetting to call to having someone disagree with our point of view, and thus the justifications for and methods of hurting others in return become equally complex.

But despite the seemingly never-ending scenarios of hurtful human interaction, at its root are the same mechanisms that occur between animals. There is one big difference though—as humans our developed mind also gives us other options in responding that animals just don’t have, and that is the ability to reason, which allows us to interact in a conscious way – through intelligence, love, and objective justice.

We need to take steps to respond to situations that are harmful to us, and sometimes that inevitably means we hurt people, but it is the underlying feelings and motives that make the difference and can lead us to hurt out of animalistic desires, and even take a sense of pleasure and satisfaction in seeing another suffer particularly as punishment in return for our own, where instead we could have dealt with it throughthe intelligence of consciousness.

Hurtful Behaviors Highlighted in Dreams

No matter how high sounding or seemingly justified the reason we use to excuse it, the standards of spirituality in many sacred teachings caution against ill will no matter what the circumstance. I’ve personally been shown countless times out of the body in dreams what people might normally see as minute ways of harming others presented as huge obstacles to my own personal growth. Or at other times, a circumstance in daily life where I had a tiny angry reaction towards someone is replayed in a dream where I am instead in a screaming rage, as that tiny reaction was just the tip of a huge underlying emotion. These situations in dreams are often ones where someone has done something wrong towards me, and I have been told time and again in them that no matter what someone does I should not act with an ego back.

“He who is incapable of hatred towards any being, who is kind and compassionate, free from selfishness, without pride, equable in pleasure and in pain, and forgiving, Always contented, self-centred, self-controlled, resolute, with mind and reason dedicated to Me, such a devotee of Mine is My beloved. He who does not harm the world, and whom the world cannot harm, who is not carried away by any impulse of joy, anger or fear, such a one is My beloved. He who expects nothing, who is pure, watchful, indifferent, unruffled, and who renounces all initiative, such a one is My beloved.”
~ Krishna, The Bhagavad Gita

Pain or Peace – It’s Our Choice

The egos that like to blame, retaliate, hurt and punish, with their ill will to harm and cause pain, take the place of what could be intelligence, inner peace, and consciousness. Inner states like aggression, anger, anxiety, misery and spite, are all used to evoke pain, suffering, and fear in others, and like this in the pursuit of harming others we actually poison our own inner energies with these lower feelings—setting in motion a process of harming ourselves (as the many consequences of living in these ego states unfold in our lives). It’s a bit like throwing mud at someone inside our own home; we too have to live in the states we use to hurt with.

“He that loveth not is as a wandering bird
Cast out of the nest;
For him the grass faileth
And the stream has a bitter taste.
And if a man say,
I love the Heavenly Father
But hate my brother,
He is a liar:
For he that loveth not his brother
Whom he hath seen,
How can he love the Heavenly Father
Whom he hath not seen?
By this we know the Children of Light:
Those who walk with the Angel of Love,
For they love the Heavenly Father,
And they love their brethren,
And they keep the Holy Law.
Love is stronger
Than the currents of deep waters:
Love is stronger than death.”
~ The Essene Gospel of Peace

Because of this and many other reasons, we as a humanity are sadly lacking in faculties and experiences of higher realities, as these come from the spiritual, and what spiritual source would want to see higher qualities and knowledge put to use maliciously? Harming others for pleasure, revenge or ill will, is the very opposite of spirituality in many sacred world teachings. It is a huge obstacle to spiritual development and is why these behaviors can be highlighted in dreams when we want to change.

Making a Resolution to Change

So next time someone cuts us off in traffic, we could try dealing with the situation calmly, without wanting to angrily punish or startle the other person. Next time someone overcharges us, lies to us, offends us, makes us late, is angry towards us, insults us, or even simply does something we didn’t like without any bad intention, we could try to simply put our point or take whatever steps we need to—without the urge to make another suffer in retaliation.

If we really want to see change in our lives and the world, then it’s up to us to make a firm resolution not to do it anymore and to be on the alert for it so that when it does arise, we have a much better chance of being able to get a sense of detachment from the urges and desires to hurt. In that moment then, we create the opportunity to make a choice to act differently. If we can make the effort, then not only might we be able to avoid hurting others where we shouldn’t—we may even be able to stop hurting ourselves, our lives, and our own spiritual development.

And instead of always keeping each other down in a perpetual cycle of hurt, we could help elevate each other—creating incredible opportunities for the unfolding of our vast human and spiritual potential. If enough people did this and shared the principles behind this way of being, it could even bring about a change in the world.

“As the sheaf of golden wheat
Lieth hidden within the tiny kernel,
So is the kingdom of heaven
Hidden within our thoughts.
If they be filled with the
Power, Love and Wisdom
of the Angels of the Heavenly Father,
So they shall carry us
To the Heavenly Sea.
But if they be stained
With corruption, hatred and ignorance,
They shall chain our feet
To pillars of pain and suffering.
No man can serve two masters;
Neither can evil thoughts abide in a mind
Filled with the Light of the Law.
He who hath found peace with the mind
Hath learned to soar beyond
The Realm of the Angels.”
~ The Essene Gospel of Peace

About the Author

Angela Pritchard is an author and researcher into the universal nature of spirituality and consciousness. She is the co-author of two books on ancient sacred mysteries. Her primary focus is on experiencing spirituality firsthand, including through OBEs, and she has been dedicated to this for the past 10 years. She aims to uncover the hidden roots of what’s really driving the agenda in society and the world in relation to the war on consciousness and awakening, and writes alongside her husband on the website Belsebuub.com.

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