(Clearwisdom.net)
It is not enough to recognize the nature of the Communist evil spirit and eliminate it with righteous thoughts. We should also look inside ourselves and clear away the evil spirit's contamination from our minds and thoughts.
For example, before I practiced Falun Gong, I was educated by the Communist culture for over 30 years. During the ten years I practiced Falun Gong, it was in a society created by the Communist culture, and so I was unable to get rid of many attachments for a long time. Why was this? Behind the attachments, I subconsciously approved of certain concepts within the Communist culture and the evil spirit. These attachments were rooted in a warped way of thinking. Indeed, the attachments themselves were the warped mentalities and their direct manifestations were bad thoughts and bad behavior. The following are some examples of what I mean:
The Communist evil spirit has always been despotic, intolerant of different thoughts or objections to its mandates, and has imposed its will by force. I reflected this culture by being impatient, impulsive, getting angry, not tolerating different opinions, not listening to unpleasant words, and putting pressure on others.
The Communist Party has a combative mentality. This manifested in me as stubborn human competitiveness, even over trivial things, I always argued with others. Moreover, the conflicts were totally irrational. I was too busy to be responsible for Dafa and my fellow practitioners. I did persuade some people with reason, but just bullied others.
Even the "atheism" of the Communist spirit was subtly reflected in me. Every time I studied the Fa, I awakened to the things that Teacher had done, endured, and sacrificed for Dafa disciples and all sentient beings. I was deeply shaken, and sometimes I had to clench my teeth so I would not cry out. Also, I firmly believed that we were on the path to godhood and to the most glorious lives in the cosmos, now and in the future. However, the influence of the Communist "atheism," promulgated over a few dozens years, also gave me a warped attitude of not respecting gods. Although it was unconscious, it was very serious and had a direct impact on me. I could not concentrate on Fa study. Although I tried hard to study the Fa, clarify the truth, and send forth righteous thoughts for long periods of time, I regularly could not discipline myself to meet the requirements of Dafa, and did not truly realize the sacredness and dignity of Dafa. Some practitioners who lost righteous faith in Dafa and dropped to a lower level in the persecution were also destroyed by the Communist atheistic culture. Why didn't the Christian religions fall after 300 years of bloody persecution? They had god in their hearts.
Looking at the whole body of Dafa practitioners, we are still not harmonious. There are those who have not let go of self, who unintentionally validate themselves more than they validate Dafa, are not tolerant enough, like to see fellow practitioner's shortcomings, and who cling to their attachments. Think about it. Isn't the warped Communist spirit playing a role behind those attachments?
Several generations of Chinese people's thoughts and concepts have been distorted in just a few dozen years of Communist culture. People have formed mentalities with the characteristics of its spirit to different degrees. Falun Dafa practitioners also have warped concepts caused by the Communist evil spirit, which manifest in stubborn attachments. If we do not eradicate the Communist spirit from our thoughts and purify ourselves, how can we completely abandon human attachments, and accordingly follow the Fa-rectification process? Seriously using Dafa to radically change our warped concepts from that spirit is the path we must take.
This is my limited understanding. I hope that fellow practitioners will compassionately correct me if there are any mistakes.