Continued — “Indifference: The Death of the Spirit and the Meaning of Life” — Aydin Areta

We can see ugliness and darkness before us and remain silent, but with every silence we become smaller and more afraid, and evil becomes a little more powerful in our world. With every silence we make the next silence more likely. The wounds darkness has left upon our bodies gradually become numb, and this inability to feel penetrates deep into the soul until eventually we feel nothing at all.

We join the forgotten, who also feel nothing, and what remains of us in life becomes an empty shell with nothing left inside. A person who is alive can experience love and hatred at the same time, but indifference cannot coexist with any feeling. Indifference becomes the sole ruler of our soul until the end of life.

In my view, there is more truth-seeking and more possibility for liberation of the human spirit in a person who broadly supports a political system but refuses to remain silent when its ugliness stands openly before them, refusing to hide or justify that ugliness from their own conscience, than in a person who opposes a political system or ideology yet, seeing such scenes, simply shrugs, constructs a reason, and moves on.

Let us not be indifferent. Let us not remain silent. It does not matter if our voice is lost in this great noise. The reason for refusing indifference is to refuse the premature death of the spirit. Falsehood and evil may ultimately dominate the world, but it matters that we can look in the mirror and tell ourselves: “Not through my silence and indifference.”

There are thousands of forms of darkness behind curtains that we suspect but cannot see. Yet the darkness that stands openly before us, and whose corruption our own heart confirms, puts our final surrender into question. It does not matter where we stand on a diagram of political belief or what reasons brought us there. What matters is that we never accept anything above truth and honesty.

There is so much suffering in your world and mine simply because of all the things we should have had the courage to say and did not. Allow yourself to say what others do not even have the courage to think in their own hearts. Never allow silence to be your choice when your heart speaks to you in a clear voice.

Aydin Areta
Shahrivar 1400