The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

example, that there is no big and no small, no up or down -if we say thereis no such standpoint at all, human values and judgment would collapse.“Isn’t that way of seeing the world an empty flight of theimagination? In reality, there are large countries and small countries. Ifthere is poverty and plenty, strong and weak, inevitably there will bedisputes, and consequently, winners and losers. Couldn’t you say, rather,that these relative perceptions and the resulting emotions are human andtherefore natural, that they are a unique privilege of being human?”Other animals fight but do not make war. If you say that making war,which depends upon ideas of strong and weak, is humanity’s special“privilege,” then life is a farce. Not knowing this farce to be a farce therelies the human tragedy. The ones who live peacefully in a world of nocontradictions and no distinctions are infants. They perceive light anddark, strong and weak, but make no judgments. Even though the snakeand the frog exist, the child has no understanding of strong and weak.The original joy of life is there, but the fear of death is yet to appear.The love and hate which arise in the adult’s eyes originally were nottwo separate things. They are the same thing as seen from the front andfrom the back. Love gives substance to hate. If you turn the coin of loveover, it becomes hate. Only by penetrating to an absolute world of noaspects, is it possible to avoid becoming lost in the duality of thephenomenal world.People distinguish between Self and Other. To the extent that the egoexists, to the extent that there is an “other,” people will not be relievedfrom love and hatred. The heart that loves the wicked ego creates175