Section 2: From Peace to War

Right now I am in the middle of section 2. So far I have learned about the reasons why people often betray their better judgement and make the wrong choice. Often when people do not follow their senses, it is because they feel justified, or better than everyone else, or because they want to be seen. Now when faced with choices, I step back, take a look at myself and try to determine if these are any of my motives for choosing the choice I made.

Also, when your heart is at war and you see people as objects, you usually make the wrong decisions. You think that others have no right to be there and they rob you of peace. We tend to blame others rather than take the responsibility. Another sign that you are betraying your senses and making the wrong choice is when you see the world as unfair, unjust, burdensome, or against you.
There have been many times in my life where I have experienced these views of others, myself, and the world. Now that I am aware of what these views lead to, I can look back at these events and realize that in the end, those views are what caused me to make the wrong decision.
One example that was used in the book was about a man named Mordechai. He was a blind man living on the street. One of the people included in this book, Yusuf, was a young boy and saw Mordechai drop all his coins on the street. Yusuf saw Mordechai as a object and walked away instead of helping to pick up the coins although his first sense was to help. He betrayed his senses because he saw himself as better than Mordechai because he was Jewish and Yusuf was Muslim. Yusuf's heart started out at peace because his first thought was to help Mordechai. Then he had a choice; either honor the sense or betray the sense. Because Yusuf betrayed his sense and walked away, his heart became at war. If Yusuf has honored his sense, his heart would have remained at peace and he would have continued to see Mordechai as a person and helped him.
This section helped me more with solving conflicts in my life, rather than avoiding them all together like the last section. In the past couple of days, I have been faced with many conflicts. I looked at how I viewed others in these situations and found that I usually see myself as better than others. Now that I am moving forward, I think I will be better at making the right choices when a conflict comes into my life. I will try to see others as people and not see myself as the victim in every situation.