A short talk about my perspective on revenge: can hitting back restore the balance?
Good morning, folks! I am Jin with Morning Mindfulness Podcast. Hope you are having a Magnificent Monday Morning! Let’s breathe and smile.

Let’s talk about Life, Balance and my Perspective on Revenge

I talk a lot about being like water. I tell people, get a bucket full of water, set it on the bench and try to scream at it. Try to insult it. Call it names. Make faces. Whatever you want to do, water does not care until you push it. As soon as you do that, water will yield and let you fall if you are not careful. And once you take your hand out, it will fill in the space like you’ve never existed. The waves caused by your presence will calm down really fast.

Water is amazing. It is so soft and gentle, but also it is very hard and persistent. Look at tsunami for example. If you try the trick with a bucket, you’ll most likely discover that water will never jump out and push you back. Ha ha, I know, that sounds silly. But really, once you’re gone, you’re gone.

Now, what do people do? If you hit me, I’ll hit you back. Right? Eye for an eye. Keep in mind two things before we proceed. One, I am not talking here on a social scale and about things like punishing crimes, etc. Let’s leave it to the officials. Also, I study and teach water principles, and I try to follow them. However, I have not arrived by any stretch of imagination. I am just a man walking my Path. Hopefully, it won’t take more than one lifetime.

What I am trying to convey, is that revenge is not restoring the balance. No matter if I hit my opponent back one second later or one year later, I am late. In martial arts timing is everything. My response has to be right on time to stop the opponent or to step aside. If I have to hit him to restore the balance, so be it. But if I miss — I miss. If I get hit, and the opponent is walking away, running after him is not restoring the balance. It is initiating a new attack. Basically, an ego trip. Just my humble but accurate opinion. You may disagree…

Will there be cases when I have to go and fight the opponent again? Yes! But that won’t be a revenge for hitting me. That may be for some other reasons, like take back something that belongs to me if I really need it, etc. We’ll talk more other time.

Thanks for tuning in! You can subscribe to my podcast on my site HPLN.org. Now let’s breathe and smile. I will talk to you next time.

PEACE!
Jin

Listen to other Morning Mindfulness Podcast episodes here