Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Poisoned Mind


Perhaps it starts with the absence of love, a landscape so barren that the tree of life fails to take root. Tender leaves wither and crack with color fading to dull grays and browns. As rot and decay work their way throughout the interior the structure falters, falling violently to the ground. Prostrate and dead, this once living thing becomes its own host to perverse life with the feast of fungus and pests. Brilliant radiance no longer grows. Seeds that perpetuate new life no longer fall to the ground.

Then again, it may start with a love turned perverse. An overwhelming love that shines so brightly it blinds the eyes to the world around them. The individual and the love merge in a coupling so powerful that an entirely different form of isolation is manifested. With connections to others severed, a violent possessiveness consumes the relationship and any slight against the love is an act of war. This love is not a person, it is an idea.

This is the poisoned mind. Regardless of how it got there, we see the results in evil and depraved acts. It is virtually impossible to make sense of these events. We don’t live inside that decayed landscape. The isolation, rage, torment and twisted fantasies are singular to that infected realm. The act belongs to that twisted mind, but the results belong to all of us.

At best, we can only label it “evil”. The only form of effective combat is to allow our better natures to shine forward. Fight darkness with light ~ Life over death ~ Love above all else.

I can only end this with a question. Does the world poison our minds or do our minds poison the world? I suppose both are true to equal degrees.