陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

从黑暗磨难中自拔出来
Free Yourself from Past Misery and Pain

陈凯一语： Kai Chen's Words:

Indeed to free oneself from one's tortured past is a difficult thing to do. One needs strong will, ability and courage to embark on the journey toward freedom and happiness. Yet it is indeed possible for one to free oneself from one's tormented past. I did it and I hope you will too.

从一个人痛苦磨难的过去中自拔出来的确是个困难的过程。 一个人需要强大的意志，能力与勇气从苦难走向自由与幸福。 虽然如此，从痛苦迷茫的过去走向希望的未来是可能的和必须的。 我做到了，我也希望与相信你也能做到。

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By Kai Chen 陈凯 (Reprint 10/3/2011)

To embark on a courageous journey toward freedom and happiness, from one's tormented and confused past is indeed difficult. But it is a process one must go through in one's own soul and mind, in one's own spiritual world，if one wishes to live in hope, joy and a life with a future. The enlightenment and awakening must take place in one's consciousness, before one has a clear vision as to where one is heading.

I have had quite a few encounters with people from the mainland China in the US. I talked with them, showed them how I did it in my own spiritual world, and encouraged them to embark on the journey themselves.... I hope I have made a positive impact on their lives. But I also see some of them, after they came to the US and made an admirable effort to free themselves from their oppressed and tortured past, quietly and almost subconsciously retreated into their past: They start dictating their children's lives; they start complaining about life; they start envolve themselves in gossip, daily power struggle with their own spouses and colleagues; they start the doubt in their own mind that America is not real, but some kind unreachable dream; they start thinking that though their tortured past in China was painful, it is real; they start letting freedom and joy scare themselves into regressing back toward their mindset as Chinese; they start doubting whether there is real freedom and happiness; they start backing into their past as a Chinese, siding often with the communists whom they hate, due to their racial and national identity with their ancestors; they start the vicious cycle they are trying so hard to escape, with their daily decisions and attitude; they start to become someone they hate and despise, without even knowing what has happened in their mind and soul. They have become one with their own hated past, one with the oppression and despair, one with the Chinese communists and the Chinese despots.

Some even returned back to China after many years in the US, like my sister-in-law. But I was not surprised for I know she had always resisted American way of life, and had never identify herself with joy, freedom and future.

Yes, indeed, negative forces and evil in the world are tremendously powerful. Tortured identity has entrapped many and shackled many timid and confused souls. The powerful tornado and cyclone of the Chinese despotism entrap many and permeat their souls and mind with poisons and viruses, effectively castrating many and rendering them impotent in the world of reality and truth. The example in America is that many gang members cannot escape their own gang-affiliation and their violent and criminal past. And they are functioning in a gang-culture with which they identify themselves. The Chinese are the same in this vicious cycle.

Examine your soul: Think about your daily and moment-to-moment decisions, regarding how your view your jobs, your family, your children, your relationship with others, your views of the world affairs, your conduct as a conscientious human being, and ask yourself:

Do I have principles to follow? Am I only the product of my own culture and environment? Am I only the prisoner of my own past?
Am I an independent free being? Am I just doing the same old things that my ancestors taught me to do? Or am I, by courageously and intelligently embarking on an entirely new journey, contributing to establish a new culture, a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things, a new way of conduct in my family, a new way to relate to others, a new way toward self-fulfillment...?

In the end, you have to ask yourself: Have I freed myself from my tormented and confused past? Or have I just retreated toward my painful past, allowing it to be my own master?

I challenge you to ask yourself these questions daily.