Why I Stopped Fighting

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Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
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When I was a teenage girl, I had a fight with an older boy who had at least fifty pounds on me. It was a pre-announced fight, so many other students had gathered around to watch. I recall having the upper hand for much of the fight, hitting him dozens of times for every one blow he landed on me. I knocked him to the ground over and over again, using his own weight against him.

At one point, I noticed an elderly woman watching from a window. I saw her looking at me with fear in her eyes. But why me? I was the good guy in this fight! The discrepancy shook me. I had never seen myself as someone to be feared. And there a gap was created in who I knew myself to be.

Suddenly, I looked at the boy I was fighting and saw Jesus the Christ looking back at me. I looked around and the Christ Consciousness appeared in everyone standing there. I also understood that he had no idea he was the Christ.

No, he was very convinced that he was a boy who meant me harm. But I knew the truth, so I couldn’t hit him again.

I could still block though. Once I stopped fighting, he managed to knock me to the ground for the first time, climbed upon my chest, and started punching my shoulders and arms as I protected my head. Through it all I was not the least afraid or angry. All my anger had dissipated and I knew that I would be fine. Eventually, I heard police sirens, which prompted him to get off me and run.

That was but one in a number of satori experiences I’ve had in my lifetime. Thankfully, the rest involved no violence! Each time, I did not need to seek the Truth; I simply knew what was true to be true and what was false to be false. There was no manipulation. Awareness emerged from Grace. [...]

Viewed with an understanding that all arises within the Self, that all is Awareness, we do not stop caring. We do not stop helping. We simply do it with a natural equilibrium, like water flowing from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. No one needs to tell water where it ought to go; its nature is to simply flow.

Through immersing our attention in love of Awareness, this same type of spaciousness can be cultivated in daily life. Worship Awareness. Give yourself completely over to love in as many moments as you can. Live on your knees, kissing the ground of true nature.

Seed Questions for Reflection

How do you relate to the notion of being in a fearful situation without having a trace of fear or the intention to harm? Can you share a personal story of a time you saw a difficult situation transform due to an awareness of a deeper reality? What helps you see give yourself completely over to love in as many moments as you can?

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9 Past Reflections
DN
Dawit Negassa Golga
Oct 3, 2022
Deeply touching, immensely elevating story!
ST
Sep 27, 2022
Ahhh! This story really connecting me with many incidents of transformation in my life. As a child, I was often upset by what I felt as injustice but mostly chose to hide. Sporadically anger arose and I would use my fists or an outburst of words. This has been a painful path for me but I have learned to allow myself to grieve and even enjoy my broken heart. This has led to deep healing in myself and with others, though sometimes taking many years. I still feel anger arise and can be mentally preoccupied with vengeful thoughts but no fists and rarely an outburst. This energy gets channeled into community organizing for international day of peace recently, annual Martin luther king day , poetry and peace dance events, and holding babies of all ages and sizes and shapes in my spiritual arms close to my heart and hairy chest.
JL
John Lerwill
Sep 27, 2022
I was bullied at school and never stood up for myself until one day (more than 60 years ago) it went too far.

Like the narrator of the above story it was a fight arranged so that the whole school knew about it and a great crowd assembled at the 'tip' to see it. For 10 minutes I *boxed* my way through - he not hitting me once. At that point I saw the futility of it all and just walked away. They all said "You were on top - why did you walk away?". I just smiled. I also had seen that we were all one and that the fight was totally futile.

That experience strengthened my conviction to the present day, aged 78.
TE
Sep 25, 2022
Beautiful passage! Key phrase for me is: "... a gap was created in who I knew myself to be." No longer being lost in the conditioned illusions of egoic "self", and recognizing a better fit is available. And as she says: "... this same type of spaciousness can be cultivated in daily life." I would say this is perhaps the biggest benefit in meditation, participating in Awakin circles, worship, and most of what we label as "spiritual" activities. She calls that better fit: "Love", but it's beyond just transient personal emotion, or playing a role in life, which we use the same word "love" to describe. Lovingkindness that includes the aggressor as well as the victim and observer, without limitation. "Justification" has no part, yet rendering aid, and preventing further harm are different actions, each an expression of compassion (which IS that Love).
KP
Sep 24, 2022
I was mugged at gunpoint by 4 young black men, probably only teenagers. They seemed scared themselves by what they were doing. The ot fear u had was that in their fear, they might accidentally shoot me. I felt compassion for them. What had happened to them that they would already have a gun and be mugging someone? I saw them as boys, afraid.
They only took my money which meant mercy because they left me with my lil flip phone, my credit card and metro card. I don't know if I saw Christ in them,but I did see humanity which held me in compassion. I think what helps is a breath and then compassion and then humanity which helps us to ask, 'what happened to this person to cause this behavior?' Then we can look from love.
BA
Barbara Sep 27, 2022
Yes, I believe it helps us tremendously to try to see them from the angle of what happened to them and they must be sad/hurt/lashing out.
DD
Sep 24, 2022
To be in a situation that is fearful to most without having a trace of fear or intention to harm takes being 1) brain dead or 2) psychotic or 3) extremely psychologically together or 4) very spiritually advanced. Any of those can result in a person being totally independent of and detached from the situation and having zero trace of fear or intention to harm. When I am aware that I and others with whom I very much disagree are one, are part of the same physical world as I, are part of the same consciousness as I, and are expressions of the same Oneness or God as I, I am in awareness of a deeper reality which results in transformation in me and in the situation. I don't give myself completely over to love in as many moments as I can. Actually I do that seldom. When I do give myself completely over to love, what helps me is living in and from awareness that we are one, and one is love.
JP
Sep 23, 2022
On the outer surface we all are different in shape, size, strength and in many other ways. On that level some may join hands with us in friendsip and some may punch us, beat us or even kill us. But when we go deeper we can see the Reality, the oneness, Christ consciousness, the unitive consciousness, the cosmic consciousness. In that state the egoic mind which creates division within us and between us gets disolved and we become children of God. That is essentially who we are. In that state there is no trace of fear or intention to harm. Sadly, most of us live on the surface and create walls of divisiveness and fight like cats and dogs. Once I was driving with my family to do a workshop for counselors. It was a rainy day. I had to stop at a gas station for filling up gas. As I was about to get out of my car, there were two guys who seemed to be very angry and hateful. One guy came out of the car, cursed me and poinetd his gun towars me. Something happened in my heart and felt for ... View full comment
DD
David Doane Sep 24, 2022
I found your paragraph and story of the man with the gun to be very meaningful. Thank you.