October 9, 1981
October 9, 1981
We comprehend people’s attitudes. We know this world is really of shadows, and we know that people act the way they do because otherwise they wouldn’t be granted a place in the sun.
So, there is struggle, this terrible struggle inside each one, and outside, in their manifestations. We know and comprehend these people. We, here in PRÓ-VIDA, even ask everyone to start comprehending, a sign of Goodness and Wisdom.
And we believe that the best, the very best, the most we can do is really what we are doing: to take away the shadows, take away the darkness, to clean the dimension, show other dimensions, because we believe that acting on this point we are helping everyone, and that’s why we give our Courses the way we do.
For our children – and many here have children; those who don’t, one day will – if we stop to think what a world of shadows we are going to offer to our children! What is the use of my leaving financial, material, social, and even cultural power, of this culture that exists out there? If we really want the good for our children – not to say for our brothers, not to say for all beings, since we’re all equal! But if we want the good, really want the good (not a little but really want it), we’ll have to do… to act on a comprehensive point, on the point of the solution. And it seems to me – at least as far as I could reach – that the point is to remove the darkness, to clean, to clear. And that’s what we do.
And then, as we do that, we show a new concept of Life, and people, through the method we use, people have been doing fine, and slowly, that concept of life – which is prison-life, narrow life, dark life, life in the darkness – people start to consider that life as being a life with a small “l” and begin to understand that there exists more Life, Life with a capital “L”.
By logic, we begin to show that the possibilities, the differences, if they want to fulfill Justice, if they’re just, if they come from a Greater God, these differences shouldn’t be unjust, as they seem to us at first sight. Because here, in this valley of shadows, some even manage to get a certain… a certain clarity, a bit of Light; but others, in this life, live in complete and total darkness. Nothing favors them. And these people, some of them live in complete darkness, doing acts that become facts that can only happen in the darkness.
I mean: how can anyone kill someone? How can anyone rob someone? How can anyone step on someone?
Now, facts like these are facts that can only happen in the darkness, because if it’s dark, I step on you! I don’t know you’re there. If it’s dark and there’s a glass of water, and I am thirsty… or food, I take it and eat it! And often, I eat a lot! I keep on eating! Because it’s dark! Because if it were light, I would have seen you’re there, you’re there, you’re there, you’re there and this bread, I would have shared… a bit for you, a bit for each one!
However, in the darkness I stretch out my hand and find… I don’t know! And I eat, and eat, and eat: I’ve found a source and I keep on sucking from that source! And you, who haven’t found the source, you suffer! And since I found the source, I even fence in the source, and when I do, I step, and step. This can only happen… Often, as I step, I kill! This can only happen in the darkness. This can only happen because there’s no Light! Because as the Light comes, I recognize you and see that it’s the same! This hand… it has this finger just like mine, there’s this one, and this one… It’s the same! There’s hair… It’s the same! And then I… then I become ashamed of taking all the bread for me.
In me arises a feeling of self-protection even, because we are the same, it’s almost as if I were you!
So, one day, I think people will have to stop and understand that selfishness – which is the cancer, the cancerous root of suffering – only appears in darkness.
And so, if I really want to leave something good for my children, or leave a luminous trail wherever I passed, it’s no use to teach my child where the source is; the solution is to turn on the light. And when I discover that, I have already discovered that life isn’t just that life in a valley of shadows; there is life in a bright environment.
We in PRÓ-VIDA should always do that, day and night, at each instant: turn on the lights, give space to those who still need it, give place to those who still want the place, ease the passages for those who still search for them. Teach. Because we in PRÓ-VIDA, have already recognized the continuation of Life, because it would be unfair if I lived in light, in an environment of light, and someone else in a world of darkness.