(Clearwisdom.net) As a practitioner living in the United States, I have been thinking a lot about why our efforts to rescue Charles Li have not been successful. On the surface, it seems that the United States government hasn't put in enough effort to rescue Charles, but could it really be because we as practitioners have our own problems?
Let's take myself for an example. I thought that it was because the United States is focused on a possible war with Iraq, and at the same time North Korea is ramping up its nuclear program, so needing China's cooperation, the United States did not do anything so that their plans would not be affected. The United States government hasn't really stepped forward to call for Charles Li's release--perhaps it is from not wanting to offend China.
But upon further examination, this way of thinking has problems. I am still using everyday people's logic to consider this issue, and I'm placing hope in the United States government to rescue Charles Li. This means that I believed our efforts were for the United States government to step forward, and only that would result in Charles Li's release. This way of thinking--for practitioners to hope that someone would "do us a favor"-- is a form of disrespect to Dafa. In Fa-rectification, how can we place our hopes in everyday people stepping forward to become the main characters? Master talked about this principle in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A."
We should do better in clarifying the truth to the American government and encourage it to do everything in its power to rescue Charles Li -- this is a matter of how we can best enable them to understand the true situation. Dafa is offering them salvation. Master told us clearly in "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference," "What used to restrain people is no longer there, and the factors that manipulated people to do bad things have been cleaned out. The people outside of Mainland China are now more clearheaded, and they're becoming even more clearheaded and are more and more able to see this evil persecution in China for what it is. So for our Dafa disciples outside of Mainland China, this is a chance for us to clarify the truth further, and to help people all over the world and the governments of each nation better understand this display of evil. So I hope you'll do your work along these lines more solidly, and help people to truly recognize all of this." I feel that this is precisely the time for us to put down our notions, step out from the fog of delusion that is the surface appearance of things, and solidly enable the American government and people to "truly recognize" the nature of this evil persecution.
In order to further enable the American government and people to "truly recognize" this evil persecution, wisdom and rationality are indeed needed, but the power of belief is extremely important. If fundamentally, we ourselves cannot even truly believe in Dafa and the truth of Dafa's power, if we don't truly want to eliminate those evil elements that are controlling people from other dimensions in this battle between good and evil, then what we can accomplish and what we can break through may be limited to a certain level.
Based on the foundation of our further clarifying the truth and enabling the American government and people to truly recognize the nature of this persecution, people will then make their own choices. If the American government steps forward to rescue Charles Li, then this will result in more sentient beings being saved. Clarifying the truth does not mean going to ask people for things; Dafa disciples are offering salvation to more and more people through all kinds of events and actions. If we can do well, then Charles Li's sacrifices will not be in vain. Everything is for the sake of offering salvation to sentient beings, enabling more people to understand the facts of this persecution. If they realize that the persecution is going on in their midst, then they will be able to better understand it through their own experiences.
The above are my personal understandings. I hope that my fellow practitioners will compassionately point out anything inappropriate.
