Fear is the Path to the Dark Side

In my life I have learned to stay in constant “absorption mode” because I have learned that you never know when or where life is going to deliver to you the next big lesson. And I have found that the most profound lessons often occur in the most unlikely places.

One of the biggest lessons of my life came from a strange source. The words of wisdom did not come from one of the books of the great religions of mankind, nor from the mind of one of the great philosophers of the ages, nor from that of one of the towering intellects of science.

It was a funny looking little guy called “Yoda” in a science fiction movie. He said the following to his young apprentice …

“Fear is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”

Very profound!

Intuitively, it is a lesson we all know to be true. However, there is a HUGE difference between acknowledging a truth and actually integrating that truth into our belief system so thoroughly that it becomes an effective guide to action in our daily lives.

Who among us knows not fear?
Who among us has not allowed themselves to be overcome by fear?
When you did so that fear eventually turned to anger and perhaps even hatred didn’t it?
And did you not lash out at others (perhaps the ones whom you love or those who love you) and bring suffering to the world?

Later, when the fear, anger and hatred had subsided, how did you feel about yourself?
Did you feel shame?
If you are a person of conscience you did.

How did you choose to deal with this shame?

Did you choose to feel remorseful, seek forgiveness and commit to working on yourself to avoid letting this happen again in the future?

Or did you choose denial. Did you choose instead to tell yourself lies which would provide moral justification for what you had done? In the process of telling yourself these lies did you endeavor to force others to help you to believe them? When they refused to do so did you not simply continue to lash out at others and cause even more suffering in the world? Did you end up alienating yourself from those who loved you? Did you seek to shelter yourself from the world so that you could be alone with your delusions?

We all make this type of decision in our lives very frequently – so frequently that we tend to establish patterns of behavior. Each and every time that we make this decision we are choosing between good and evil.

Those among us who have the courage to acknowledge our wrong doing, show genuine remorse, and seek to become a better person are rewarded by the universe. For us the world becomes a little bit more like the heaven that we desire.

Those, who instead, seek to morally justify the pain that they have caused, choose instead the path of evil. They choose to embrace the “dark side”. For them the reward is less pleasant. The world becomes a little bit more like the hell that they fear.

Such is the nature of the “law of reciprocity”. Also known in other cultures as “the golden rule” or “karma”.

I believe that the greatest single thing that any of us can do to bring more joy and less suffering to the world – and consequently to our own lives – is to make a conscious decision to seek to face and overcome our own fears.

It can be done.
Many great minds have put a lot of thought into this topic and a vast amount of effective techniques exist out there in the universe which we may select from. Seek and ye shall find. ;)

I ask you today to please consider doing this. Please work to reduce the amount of suffering in this world by resisting the temptation to be the cause of it.

The next time that you cause suffering and choose to feel remorse, please consider launching a program of self improvement to teach yourself the techniques that you need to learn to face your fears.

Seek to develop what the Buddhists refer to as a spirit of “loving-kindness”. Please choose to be a force for good in this world and to renounce evil. If you do so, I promise you that you will not regret it.

The law of reciprocity shall ensure that the universe will give back to you in proportion to what you have given to it.

The potential for good and evil exists within all of us. We have the power to “choose” which path we will take.

The real source of Yoda’s wisdom was, of course, the film’s director: George Lucas. So I did not find it that surprising when I recently learned that he had joined forces with Daniel Goleman (The father of “Emotional Intelligence”) on a “Rethinking Education” project which seeks to teach children the basic skills of emotional and social intelligence that will help them to live much more joyous lives free from suffering and to spread joy to and alleviate suffering from the lives of others.