On the Ukraine Issue (Part 2)

The "enemy" is nothing but the shadow of yourself.

What is "self"?

There are as many answers to this ultimate psychological proposition as there are psychologists.

However, there is one common view.

If we were to divide "self" into two major parts, they would be "persona" and "shadow". In the relationship between day and night on earth, day would be the persona and night would be the shadow. Of course, both day and night are still the earth.

However, in the case of human beings, we are generally aware of only the "persona" part of ourselves, and we assume that the "shadow" part is not ourselves.

That is not unreasonable. This is because "persona" and "shadow" are completely opposite. Let's say that your "persona" is your feeling of "I like them". Then, the feeling "I don't like them" could be hiding as your "shadow". On the other hand, let's say that your "persona" is your feeling of "I don't like them". Then, the feeling "I like them" could be hiding as your "shadow".

Would you think, "No way, that's impossible, that's ridiculous!" But the more you feel intense resistance, the more it is sure that those two conflicting emotions are your "persona" and your "shadow".

Of course, you may agree with the "persona" part of yourself, but feel repulsed by your "shadow". You don't want to admit that your "shadow" is also an aspect of you. But the less you admit it, the less you will experience the feeling as an inner event of yourself. In other words, they will be experienced as "something" coming at you from outside of yourself.

It is a threat to you. You desperately try to deny it and shake it off.

Eventually, you begin to attack the "shadow" part of yourself. Of course, this is nothing more than an attack on the "strange self" you see in the mirror. In other words, it is "shadow boxing". Of course, "shadow boxing" only makes you tired and brings no results. But you cannot stop it. Because you cannot ignore the "strange self" reflected in the mirror in front of you. You are strongly influenced by it, and will continue to resist and attack it, trying desperately to shake it off. The more you spur on the attack, the more it will appear to you that the "you" in the mirror is also intensifying its attack on you. As a result, you will be shaking your fists even harder. In this way, you will be completely swept up in and controlled by your "shadow".

The enemy is nothing more than this "strange self in the mirror".

There is no such thing as an enemy. Instead of a mirror, there is only someone else who shows you your shadow.

The more you consider such others as "enemies," the more you feel threatened by their existence, and the more you desperately resist and attack them in an attempt to eliminate them, the more "enemies" become the sole criterion for your actions. This is because the presence of the enemy is the only "excuse" for not recognizing your shadow as part of you. You can say, "I'm fighting the actual enemy in front of me, not fighting a part of me."

In war and conflict, the rationale for trying to crush the enemy is all a variation of this "excuse".

As long as these "excuses" prevail, the conflict will continue to escalate. This is why it is said, "There are no winners in war." This escalation will continue until one side or the other realizes this ridiculous "shadow boxing".

You might say, "No, the war will not end because either side realizes that they are shadow boxing, but because people realize that there is so little to be gained in exchange for so much human and economic loss."

But that is just another excuse.

Now, it seems that the relationship between day and night for the Earth has been completely replaced by the relationship between the West and the East in the human world. No, this is not a new thing. Never before has world affairs been otherwise.

The West says, "Our societies are the true democracies and liberal societies. The East, on the other hand, is nothing more than an authoritarian regime in the name of communism and socialism. Therefore, as many countries as possible should convert to a social system like ours."

However, I would like you to take a closer look at the "shadow" of history. Can we say that no Western country, no matter which one, has ever exercised strong-arm power? And what about now? Even if the way in which the state invoked its power of coercion was not against its own people, what about against other countries?

Whatever the "excuse", by what right would one country be allowed to impose sanctions (whether economic or military) on another? It is ludicrous to say that "invasion" is not allowed, but "economic sanctions" are.