One of the many tendencies of the sensitive soul - a sensitivity that stands amidst an empire characterized by violence in its many forms - is to move away from suffering wherever it appears. An admirable pursuit to be sure!
But at this point in time, with a cursed but illuminating hindsight, it appears that this avoidance only led to a polarized ideal of suffering and harmony, so long as the avoidance took place within the logic of the empire itself. Those privileged enough with the energy and resources to avoid the former and pursue the latter did so, only to smooth out the rougher edges of the entire system, extend its life, and spread its abuses to a far greater breadth and scale.
These piecemeal fixes are not for nothing. A slightly less cruel world is indeed a slightly less cruel world. And the boundaries around what exactly constitutes this "system" are never completely clear. But one does eventually have to decide what to do with one's limited energy. Perhaps now it takes moving into the suffering, with the intent to maintain what one can of the harmony regardless. Because there will always be suffering within and without any given system, and there will always be harmony in those places too. Where is each to be? What is one willing to do and work towards?
