Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth

When hearing the term “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” it is most often associated with a vengeance when you are hit, you hit back. This is like karma as well as the famous Golden Rule which says, “Treat others the way you want to be treated”.

The term “An eye for an eye” also known as the "law" of retaliation or ‘lex talionis’, is the principle that a person who has injured another person is penalized to a similar degree, or in softer interpretations, the victim receives the value of the injury in compensation. While the concept of ‘what you do, you get in return’ has been in existance for quite a long time, the ‘eye for an eye’ concept came from the Jews in the Israelites’ justice system as part of the Mosaic Law.

In the Old Testament, we find the phrase used as a guidance to judges and lawmakers how a case should be judged before an authority in order to create justice to those inflicted.

Meanwhile, in the New Testament Jesus explains in the Sermon of the Mount that instead of following the law literally, one should have God’s heart by loving the enemy and forgive.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too. And if someone takes you to court to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one kilometer, carry it two kilometers. When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something, lend it to him.” Matthew 5: 29-30

You would say, “How can I forgive? It’s really hard!” It is hard. Even the walk of life is hard because many obstacles are going to be encountered along the way and failure is going to happen all the time. So what is the best way? Living in hatred and anger because of the past; or forgiving the past, leaving it behind and living the best way it can possibly be?

You would say that you want to live happily and living the best way possible and you are right. Everyone deserves to be happy and living the best way possible. The only way to do it is by giving the enemy love that he deserves instead retaliating and seeking revenge.

I’ll finish a quote by Mahatma Gandhi which says this, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” which means if everyone seeks revenge for one’s wrongdoings, everyone would be in pain because apart from the physical aspect of being blind everyone would be blinded by hatred for each other and therefore nobody can have that inner peace.

I'll finish one more thing with a video of how one should respond to a negative situation.