Core Concepts
The author reflects on their own experiences with bullying, recognizing the natural yet unsatisfactory pattern of violence, power, and control that often emerges within human nature. The core message is a call for a better model, one rooted in love, connection, and a perspective beyond the individual.
Abstract
The author begins by recounting their personal experience with bullying as a child, triggered by feelings of being pushed aside and becoming invisible. They acknowledge that this pattern of bullying continued into their school years, with the author sometimes being on the receiving end and other times participating in the bullying group.
The author notes that it is strange how easily we fall into the bullying pattern, even though it feels unsatisfactory and wrong. They question why this pattern seems so natural and normal, a part of our human nature. The author suggests that we need a better model, one that can quell our emotional drivers toward violence, power, control, and self-aggrandizement.
The author then reflects on the teachings of spiritual leaders, particularly Jesus, who have pointed us toward love and connection with something larger than ourselves. The author questions why Jesus, "the best we have ever known," had to face torture and execution, as if he were an evil monster. This serves as a poignant example of the author's call for a different way of being, one that moves beyond the cycle of bullying and violence.
Quotes
"It is strange that we so easily fall into the bullying pattern. I don't understand why we think it is strange when the pattern appears natural and normal, a part of our human nature."
"We do not know what we are doing."
"Why did this good man — the best we have ever known — have to face torture and execution as if he were some evil monster?"