Vinaire's Blog

Reference: Book III: What is the Mind Really?

The intention to harm is morally so unacceptable that when not fully confronted it gets buried deep in the psyche. It then causes anxiety and unhappiness when it is seen expressed by others.

Some of the forms of this intention are as follows:

(1) SELFISHNESS.  One thinks of the satisfaction of one’s own desires without caring of the effects it creates on others in its wake.

(2) EXPLOITATION. Any action that exploits others for personal gains has the intention to harm underlying it.

(3) CAUSING PHYSICAL HARM. Any action that physically harms another and causes suffering.

(3) SEXUAL EXPLOITATION. This is a special instance of the above.

If you find yourself reacting to such intentions emotionally rather than responding to them rationally, do the following.

1. Make a list of intentions that make you feel tense, whether they are yours or not.
   
2. Arrange them in a logical order from high to low tension.
   
3. Take up the intention at the top of this list that generates the highest tension.
   
4. See if you can recognize the anomaly inherent in it that is disturbing.
   
5. Look at the anomaly more closely without flinching or avoiding.
   
6. Let this action take as long as necessary until the tension reduces.
   
7. Check how you feel about intention to harm in general.
   
8. If there is still some tension left, then do steps 1 – 6 newly.
   
9. Continue with the above steps until all tension is gone.
   
10. You should now be able to look at intentions to harm rationally without feeling tense.

Some may find this remedy unnecessary because they have gone totally numb at some point, and have even flipped the other way in their mind.

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