To the editor:

The greatest terrorist is not coming. It is here already.

It is clever beyond measure and is able to take on infinite forms of disguise. It beheads us, and, in doing so, removes our ability to perceive reality as it is. It is the source of all loss, fear and separation. Erasing our ability to experience love and compassion, it wants only power.

This radical jihadist, this elusive whisperer, is the ego. This sense or consciousness that “I am a separate being” unconnected to others, to the world, is the ultimate author of sorrow and pain. “I am limited,” “I am alone” and “I am not safe” is a campaign of propaganda inflicted on us, by us, daily. It feels like guerrilla warfare, impossible to strike at the source because the problem is everywhere. However, like shadows in a room, once the light of intelligence, of rationality and self-reflection is brought to bear, the shadows vanish, replaced by a new thought that I might be something more than I previously imagined.

In these conflicted times, we are all being asked to make difficult decisions. War, immigration, refugees, religion, politics and the environment are all complex problems whose solutions appear to be overwhelming. If my focus is only on my self-centered desires, my understanding will be constricted and solutions limited. As my vision of self grows and I begin to see myself connected to a greater universe, the thoughts I perceive, the words I speak and the actions I make begin to take on a new clarity because I am now standing on a higher place from which to see what is really happening in the battlefield of life. My own happiness and well-being increases as well as that of those around me. We are not responsible for others’ decisions and cannot judge them. Our choices are our own. Our habit is to assign the problems to those around us and to make villains of those who are different. I am simply reminding us that by looking within, we will find more answers, solutions, safety and peace than by creating ignorance, hate and violence in the world without.

AARON LEVINE

Bainbridge Island