What is attack?

Attack is any activity that fosters the illusion of separateness through a guilt/innocence dichotomy. Attack can be mental, verbal, or physical. Mental attack can range from unkind thoughts to violent fantasies. Verbal attack consists of hurtful words, put-downs, or slanders. And physical attack needs no explanation.

Every human attacks. We attack our food, we attack our environment, we attack our pets, our possessions, ourselves, and of course, each other. It is impossible to be human without attacking. That is our default setting. We were made to attack because our world is based on a mistaken view that attack is possible. In this world, it certainly seems to be possible. We see attack everywhere we look, we think attack thoughts pretty much all day long, and we continually look for ways to defend ourselves against attack.

When we attack anything or anyone, we are reflecting the ego thought system of duality. We are reflecting a belief in differences of value, or orders of importance. We are reflecting a belief in the equal reality of guilt and innocence. Why do I get to eat that chicken? Because my life is more important and has more value than that of the chicken. Why do I get to chop down that tree? Because my comfort is more crucial than the life of the tree. Why do I get to kill bacteria on my hands with alcohol sanitizer? Because I am big and they are small, and they may cause me to get sick.

But attack gets really interesting when you look at it between humans. Why did I think those unkind thoughts about my neighbor? Because I was right and she was wrong. I was innocent and she was guilty. I was wise and she was foolish. Attack simply cannot happen in Oneness; attack requires a belief in separation.

Attack seems to make us feel bad. Though we may feel temporarily vindicated after an attack, we definitely are not at peace. We may crave more attack (food) we may think that there's no alternative to attack (germs) or we may feel like we overreacted (other humans). We may feel guilty and apologize, thus opening ourselves up to attack, and switching roles with another person.

Here's the kicker, though:  We do not feel bad because we attacked; we attacked because we felt bad. As is always the case, the world has everything reversed. Because we perceive ourselves as trapped in a world of perception, we feel like we did something sinful to deserve it. We feel guilty. And it seems that the only way to get rid of our guilt is to project it onto something or someone else. But here is the illusion: when we project guilt we REINFORCE the guilt!!!  We feel guilty for believing that the Oneness of God could be successfully attacked, so we project that guilt and attack others, and we further perpetuate the perception of separation!

It really is quite brilliant. But clearly insane. Non-duality is making the claim that Oneness is Reality. Separation is illusion. So, here's something to TRY. Next time you become aware that you are attacking or being attacked, pause.  Get quiet. Take a few breaths. And then ASK. . . "Is there a different way to look at this?" Then return to life, but pay attention. I promise you will be answered. You will either get a message delivered to your consciousness in a form you can understand, or you will somehow inexplicably just feel better. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen. Just TRY it. It's very convincing when it occurs.

You might even call it. . . a miracle.