You cannot please everyone all the time. This is a truth so simple we may take it for granted, and perhaps think it is so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said. However, sometimes we overlook the most obvious things simply for this reasons.
I obviously encourage radical kindness. That is, I aspire towards high ideals of unconditional love towards all, though I recognise the challenges inherent in realising and applying this ideal in a human life. However, I also think in many ways we should aspire towards a balance mindset. Love, kindness and compassion need to be balanced with strength, responsibility, leadership, accountability, honesty and healthy self-control etc.
We might like to think that if only we are really nice to everyone that everyone will like us, and that we will have harmonious relationships and interactions with everyone. However, life isn’t that simple.
The thing is that we human beings are complex and often fickle creatures. We generally don’t realise how much of our behaviour is unconscious and conditioned, and how biased and narrow-minded we are. We don’t realise how little we know, and we often underestimate how much others know.
In our earthly life we encounter a vast mixture of people, who are at different places in their life. Some people are living in accordance with the highest expression of who they can be right now, and these people are generally easy to get along with and enjoyable to be around. Many others are struggling with the great challenges of being human and navigating our world. Some of these people are desperate for help from others, whilst others lash out at others and project their own inner turmoil onto those around them. And then there are some which are a danger to others and themselves. In the latter cases, there is often nothing we can do to avoid conflict with these people, and we need to accept the necessity of being strong and doing what is right and necessary in the moment, often for the safety and security of others and ourselves.
There are some cases whereby the only way to get along with someone is to agree with them. Sometimes this can be largely inconsequential. At other times remaining silent or agreeing with someone who is wrong can have significant consequences. Hence, sometimes we have to just accept the conflict that follows from doing what is right.
The human race is a great mixture, largely in the slow process of evolution through the animal and intellectual levels, eventually growing into beings that operate from a spiritual understanding. You may be the smartest person on the planet, but it must be accepted that there will be many people who will call you stupid if you openly share your knowledge when it is conflicts with their biases and prior assumptions. You may be the kindest person on the planet, but you will be called weak, bad, dangerous and evil by people that only like those who share their own ideology. A fully Divine being could appear on Earth and offer transcendental knowledge and love to all, and it would face denial, ridicule and condemnation by many.
Recognising all this however is not a reason not to try. Rather, we must simply try our best and accept the consequences. We must try to be kind and strong, compassionate and responsible, forgiving and honest, to listen to others and also show leadership. We must try our best to share what we believe to be true and also to listen to others to see what we are still yet to learn. And we must be willing at times to face ridicule and condemnation, as long as we have made the sincere effort to think, speak, write and act with the best of intentions.
Again, to restate, there are many serious issues that we face here on Earth that demand that good people speak up and act. And yet, to do so means that we will (and do) face opposition. This is unavoidable at this time, and we must make peace with it.
However, we must at least attempt to do so without viewing our adversaries as enemies. That is, there are people and groups that we must speak up and act against. However, we can do this without demonising them and holding contempt against them in our hearts.
It is common for human beings to see themselves as fighting for goodness, and to see any opponents as enemies of all that is good. People on all sides of disputes (religious, philosophical, scientific, political etc.) do this, and it brings a great ugliness to such conversations. We need to be able to have serious conversations about things that truly matter without resorting to demonising and dehumanising our opponents.
Even the most sick, deranged and mad human beings are still precious Souls that need compassion. Even those that harm others themselves still need help. We can at least attempt to insist upon consequences to actions and justice even whilst holding only compassion for all. This must be our ideal, and we can grow in our capacity to realise this, one test after another.
So, you cannot please everyone all the time. But, you can attempt to offer real transcendent love to all, even if it isn’t always recognised, welcomed and received by all. But first one must discover such love within themselves. It is all good and well to idealise such things, but to actually bring things into reality they must be experiential.
This is perhaps where I think much social justice fails in its ideals. Many people speak of compassion and understanding, and yet have not found peace within themselves. Firstly to find real peace within oneself is a rare find on this planet, and takes real commitment to honour and nurture. Even more challenging is the capacity to remain centred in clarity and peace in difficult circumstances. To remain in an inner state of love and strength whilst facing an adversary is a power very few have yet realised (and I do not claim to be amongst them).
Hence, to be able to help others and contribute towards improvement in our world at large, one must commit to a sincere attempt to cleanse oneself of arrogance, bias, bigotry and unforgiveness. To truly help others we must have in ourselves a great spring of peace that is everflowing, and an intuitive connection to the great intelligence which feeds all life.
To these great ideals we must strive, and meet the demands of our world.
Peace
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