There are various avenues of response to the oppressive situations in which people live and suffer:

Violent resistance.  Violence cannot succeed against a dominant power that has more arms and physical might.  Violence merely perpetuates itself even as the power holders change.

Complete assimilation such that one’s own identity is lost.  When one assimilates completely, one no longer exists as a unique being capable of following his or her own destiny.  When a tribe, community, or society of people assimilate, cultures are lost.

Cooperation with the oppressor to guarantee one’s own security and survival. This form of cooperation requires an adoption of the immorality of the oppressor.  Cooperation is best when used for the purpose of being a light in the darkness and to lead the blind back to themselves.

Reducing contact as much as possible with those causing the suffering.  Isolation breeds hatred, resentment, and fear. It also makes easier the oppressor’s ability to target the isolated group for destruction.

How then is survival possible for the politically, socially, economically, and spiritually disinherited?  What if we realized that we have created and continue to create the external through our every thought, action, and word.  We are the Masters and Mistresses of the Universe.  We are the cause. The negativity within emanates from us as seeds that are sowed throughout the universe.  With every exhalation, we breathe out what we are.

The destructive ways of others seep into our consciousness, even as we resist.  We nurture, grow, and harvest the seeds that come to us.  With every inhalation, we become the effect.

Recognizing that we are all oppressors on some level, we can show compassion to ourselves.  We hurt others, judge others, deny others, restrict others.  Should we receive the punishment that we are so quick to see administered?

It is difficult to maintain inner peace and external goodwill in the face of seemingly intractable forces that work to destroy order and sanity in the world.  Nevertheless, the person who blindly reacts simply perpetuates hatred, revenge, incomprehension, and misunderstanding.

The external that we see is not the reality of what is.  People are not inherently violent or cruel.  These are learned attributes.  When we consistently practice seeing our own Essence, we will grow to see the Truth of others. The Truth of life will be revealed.  This revelation is Love.  Love revealed is so overwhelming, so all-encompassing, that nothing can stand in its way.

We can work towards reconciliation when we recognize that every single being wants to be understood and cared for.  This is love.  Love surrounds and enfolds us – despite our weaknesses, our wrongdoings, and the pain that we cause.  We can do nothing to cause the withdrawal of Love from us.  It seems to disappear because our beliefs and behavior decay as we judge ourselves and others harshly.  Then we cannot perceive clearly and see darkness where there is light.  Love is our nature when we choose to become aware of it.  Let us return to our newborn days, when we were enamored of life.

We all want to love from our comfort zone.  This is the difficulty of loving.  It is easy to love others who do not cause great harm or irritation.  It is easier to practice love when we can retreat “when the going gets tough.”  But what happens when day after day, month after month, year after year, one is faced with adversity?  How is Love understood when one can look backwards and forward in time and see a life full of trauma?

People who live in dens of inequity can develop inner strength that draws them closer to the ideal that is Love.  By responding without violence, without relinquishing self-identity, without isolating self, and without succumbing to hatred, bitterness, and anger, one can open oneself to Love.  When this Love is experienced – the love that makes it through the fire, that rises from the ashes to become the Essential Being stripped of the superfluous – one becomes a channel through which the power, force, and wisdom of the Universe can flow, enabling others to touch and be the same Truth and Love that is accessible to all of us.

When we rid ourselves of perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes that keep us oppressed, we learn to truly love and become examples to the multitudes.