Snooze Alarm Resistance

There's no such thing as a dumb or bad person. That's a big statement for some people because it contradicts one of the pillars of our society--that there is evil "naturally" in the world.

The idea that evil exists is helpful from an evolutionary standpoint because if you don't keep your guard up around the wrong situation, there are people who will absolutely take advantage of whatever they can. That doesn't make them evil. The same goes for people who make decisions that are against their best interests (i.e. the simplest definition of "stupidity").

Our culture operates out of the mindset that people who make immoral or unwise choices are either stupid or evil, as if those qualities are inherent to certain individuals, but not others. But we know that isn't really how it works, because each of us is the hero of our own personal life story, despite the knowledge that we sometimes do things we don't want to do. Even though each of us has acted in a way that was outside of our morality or level of understanding (evil or stupid) and we judged ourselves accordingly, we still tend to find ways to justify aspects of that bad behavior in order to fit into that grand narrative of being "good."

So if I know, and you know, that we are not evil or stupid (because we have an internal awareness when we fuck up or do right), how can we really paint a picture of the world where we say: "There are lots of bad people out there, that's just how it is," and believe it? This attitude closes our hearts to the possibility of connecting with each other because we are too busy holding our judgments. 

Awakening to one's higher self and living in a conscious manner is available to all humans. In all of our lives are the exact scenarios and lessons needed to wake oneself up from unconsciousness, which is the true root of evil or stupidity. Awareness of the now is what makes intelligent and moral decision making. Everytime you hit the snooze button on that alarm in your heart that's telling you that you should be doing something else, you are choosing unwisely, embodying that which you are not--that's why you get that feeling in your gut. Don't keep hitting the snooze alarm so many times that you can't hear it anymore. And when you see that which is immoral or wrong to you in the world, remember that you are looking at people who are simply at various levels of awareness--not a battle between good and evil that forces us to choose a side. "They" don't exist--whoever person or whatever group you might imagine as being responsible for problems in your life, that mental construction of an evil entity, does not exist. There are only people, doing what they perceive to be the right thing for themselves.

Does that mean you should leave yourself unguarded around dangerous or exploitive people? NO. The same intuition that informs morality gives each of us a sense about when a situation or other person is wrong. It is possible to be open-hearted without naievity. It's challenging because there will be times when your intuition and your ego are so deadlocked that you can't tell if you're risking too much by being open to another. But in my experience, being too open and being taken advantage of is better than being so closed that you don't help the person in need that is right in front of you. You'll know if you're being exploited, and it won't change the fact that you're doing the right thing, regardless of what anyone else does in response.

You must have no enemy.
Otherwise, you will never have peace.