Is There a Spiritual Red Herring? One That Causes Us to Find "Heaven" in the Wrong Places?
Does this mean that we should never engage in actions that we know will hurt others? Of course not - there are times when it is quite justifiable to take action to protect yourself even though these same actions will hurt others. The key is to not be malicious and mean for the sake of being mean. Carrying out hurtful actions without a clear sense that you do it not primarily to hurt but to justifiably protect yourself or the interests of others is likely to leave you being as much a victim of those actions as those they are aimed at.