I like the Harry Potter movies. I am a huge fan of the imaginative capacities of Joanne Rowling. I own the first six (and need to see if the seventh is out yet, actually).
Anyway, as most will know, there are these nasty creatures called Dementors, which can perform a “kiss”, which sucks all the happy thoughts out of you, leaving only darkness and eventually death. They steal your soul.
The cure is called a Patronus charm, which in effect is the expression of your inner joy, and symbolized by an animal with which you relate. It is composed of light, which dispels the darkness.
Anyway, the Patronus Charm is defensive. It drives them away or keeps them at bay, but why could it not be used to attack them? Why not inject into them happy thoughts freely, using the infinite amount of light around us, and blow them up like balloons? Attach a fire hose of joy and life to their mouths, and destroy all the darkness within them?
We tend to think of Goodness as not being bad. I would argue that it is a way of being which is positive and tending to the better. The Tibetans have this nice metaphor of the Windhorse, which is running horse with a glowing jewel on the back. This is a nice image. It conveys motion, the wind of light, and the light itself. Goodness is galloping on an endless field on a beautiful day, completely free, and filled with happiness and love.
This morning I was thinking about light as a place in a field of battle. You have this “front” of light energy, facing realms of darkness. We tend to think of them as creeping up on us, but why? Why can little “light bombs” not be dropped into these realms? Can’t we use artillery? Can we not move forward?
I think we can.
That latter part appends my post on Strategy a couple ago.