What if the solution to all the problems is addition?

I was thinking the other day about darkness.  There is no way to "add dark."  To get a room darker, you have to subtract light.  Conversely, if you want to make a room brighter, you can't subtract dark.  You must add light. Darkness is constant.  It is light that is the variable.

The same thing is true with flavor.  You can't subtract flavor.  You can only add.  (Ask any cook who has ever put too much salt in a dish. You simply have to start over.)  Flavorlessness is the baseline.  It is flavor that is the variable.

This principle applies to cold and heat.  There is such a think as Absolute Zero--which is the absence of all heat. When no atoms are moving it translates to -459 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cold is the absolute.  It is heat that is the variable.

What if the same thing is true with good and evil?  What if there is no way to 'subtract' evil?  What if you have to 'add' good? 

It's a popular thing for people to protest, get angry, speak harshly about things they are against.  But what if that is exactly the wrong thing to do?  What if the true solution is about addition?

Could that be why Jesus said things like: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. " (Gospel of Luke 6:27-31)

If removing darkness is about being light, then we have much to change in our methodologies. I appreciate Gandhi's phrase: "Be the change you want to see in the world."  But to be the change, we have to be connected to the source of it.  Which makes staying connected--like branches to a vine--all the more important.