It has now been over two months since Russia declared war on Ukraine: the recurring nightmare of many materialized today when we were almost sure that armed conflicts of this nature would never repeat themselves, at least not so close to home.

Before the attack, these hostilities seemed to us something distant from us, belonging to another world; unfortunately, however, on February 24 of this year the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, spreading toward the borders of Europe, touching the collective consciousness.

We ask ourselves: Are we not all the same in this world? Aren’t our worries about those we love the same?

Many of our hearts beat in unison and come together to pray for all this to end.

I will not analyze the political reasons for this choice, they are of no interest to me or to those with a loved one still stuck in Ukraine.

War is wrong in any form, for any reason, ALWAYS!

Who can decide on the life and death of a person, a people, a nation?

How can you end a life so easily?

I believe the “simple” existence on this planet is already an immense gift that should in no way be wasted: life should be lived to the fullest in every moment.

Families were destroyed and thousands of deaths to defend their homeland from foreign invasion: a people who flee their land, abandoning part of their hearts there and leaving, perhaps forever, affections and houses razed to the ground by bombing; that tries to cross borders even in extreme conditions; at the same time, all men capable of fighting, whether they are very young or fathers of families, prefer to stay in Ukraine abandoning their loved ones. And, at the same time, many Ukrainians live the invasion of their homeland from afar—unable to do anything about the devastation.

And US?

We can only imagine the pain one feels in being taken away part of one’s history, one’s memories, and all that has formed “the person.” Mothers are torn to know their children called to arms, with little, if any, news and not knowing if the call the night before will be the last.

Sick people who go without treatment are abandoned to a sad fate as health facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities are paralyzed or collapsed. It is a situation on the edge of the imagination: terrible, bloody, and full of pain.

The desire to go back in history, re-establishing the borders of the former Soviet Union, represents an unhealthy thirst for power, one of the classic toxic characteristics of those who are addicted to what the Sense of Self Method calls Substitute Sense of Self. The people who are killing to get things their way are not in contact with their Real- or Authentic Selves. In their hearts no cosmic connection exists, no spiritual depth; there is only a mania of grandeur that has taken over their whole being. This reflects spiritual poverty and is a destructive way of living through one‘s Substitute Sense of Self which not only destroys other people’s lives, and their creations but also the Authentic Self of these instigators of this war.

Building a Healthy Sense of Self is not only a way to restore one’s well-being, but also a tool against war.

Invading a country is like invading a person, like raping them and, for those with a Healthy Sense of Self, it doesn’t even cross their minds to be able to carry out similar atrocities.

I believe with all my heart that life must be respected in all its forms.

Written by Mafalda De Vito for Healthy Sense of Self