Avoiding the urge to retreat into certainty or group identity is now essential. The choice is to stay open at the edge—watchful and unwilling to reduce complex realities into enemies or sides. It is painful to admit how often fear and ego get projected onto others. That habit distorts everything. Moral clarity turns into a weapon when it should serve as a mirror. Most of us do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. The real work is inner work—releasing superiority, control, and the need to be right. The Heart Sutra points to the wisdom of letting go, again and again, until illusions no longer bind perception. Nothing is finished. The movement continues toward what is real. Shared commitment to this path matters more than personal defense.
May the clarity to see things as they are,
not as we are, guide us toward
truth, humility, and liberation.
(inspired by Richard Rohr, Letters from Outside the Camp)