Good and Bad All At Once?

Still reeling from the horror of those stories, I experienced the dramatic beauty of the Angkor Wat temples. Marveling at their architectural perfection, I wondered how these polar opposites can exist alongside one another, all within one country.

Cambodia's palm tree is a metaphor. Providing roofs for houses, fruit to eat and juice to drink, it was always considered a tree of life by the country's citizens. But at the "Killing Fields," they learned their revered foliage could also be the tree of death when the Khmer Rouge used the sharp edge of its branches to chop off the heads of their fellow countrymen.

Does that make the palm tree good OR bad? Consider that it could be both good AND bad all at once...just like all of us. We do good things and we do bad things. More importantly, maybe do we don't need to decide whether the palm is good or bad, but simply let it exist - just as it "is."

Maybe this same principle applies to everything else? William Shakespeare obviously believed that to be true as he said, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

That makes sense to me and here's my conclusion: When I over think things, I fall into judgment, which is when I label things as good or bad. Judgment takes me out of the present moment and away from feelings of peace.

So rather than labeling things as good or bad, I'm going to practice just "letting them be." It doesn't mean that I have to try to make sense out of the insanity of the Khmer Rouge but rather that I'll practice acceptance.

Like the Cambodian people, I hope that will allow me to move forward in a healthy way, regardless of the situation. Can you see that things can be good and bad all at once so there is no sense in labeling them?