In ‘Highlander: The Search for Vengeance’, Colin the ‘immortal’s’ attachment to his lost lover drives him on a vengeful streak to stalk and kill her ‘immortal’ murderer… over the course of 2000 years. In the process, he fights in various wars of many eras in different lands to pursue him. Too blinded by hate to see love, he almost misses someone else in the present, who cares for him, who is likened to his past lover ‘reborn’. His was a case of literally undying love with undying attachment transformed into undying aversion for an undying enemy. While we might fantasize about ‘immortality’ being a blessing, it becomes a curse to him because he deludedly believed that the search for peace is via vengeance, which is its opposite.
An immortal with immortal pain. The real enemy was hate. With his gift of being hard to be killed, he still could and should do his best to curb evil, but there was no need to suffer from nursing a tormenting grudge while doing so. 2000 years is way too long not to realise the foolishness of hate, to not vanquish the enemy. As Stonepeace put it, ‘The fastest way to curb an enemy is to curb your enmity.’ The story was simple enough – one guy loves one girl, who fights one enemy for her. But… what if we could suddenly recall all our past lives, and our astronomical numbers of lovers and enemies? That would be a horror story, one with anguish unimaginable.
If we are to remember,
the countless loves lost
in innumerable previous lives,
of the immeasurable pain we felt,
will we still love anyone with the slightest attachment?If we are to remember,
the countless enemies gathered
in innumerable previous lives,
of the immeasurable pain we felt,
will we still begrudge anyone with the slightest aversion?
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