Peace comes from within; not without

So many thoughts rushing through me today. So many feelings of guilt duelling with surrender. So many questions about how I could be led down the dark path when all I want in my heart is light.
How is it that I keep crossing paths with those who take absolute joy in taking the pleasure out of those who they see with light in their hearts because they can't find their own light? How is it that I weaken and allow them to sliver into that space that is so small that no one else could see or sense but them. And then once the seduction is over, I regret ever giving them the pleasure of bringing me down.
I always know when they come into my space. These bringers of the darkness. I can feel their tentacles snaking out to me even before they speak. But yet I allow them in in my moments of weakness. In my moments of vulnerability. I feel them swarming around me. But still I let them in.
These people who come in the guise of friends, truthseekers, like they are looking out for me when I know deep down inside from their energy they exude that they are not good. I am aware from a deeper level that they themselves are weak. I understand from my soul center that because they are weak they can smell the weakness of others and prey on that weakness because they thrive on bringing others down to their level because it makes them feel good. Gives them pleasure to know they are not alone. Gives them validation for the dark place they lurk in.The place they cannot get out of because they can't see the light is there for them as well.
So how is it that those of us who seek peace, those of us who try to see the good in every situation, the good in every person, can so easily be pulled into the valley of darkness when all we want is to seek the light. To be in the light. To be the light.
How do we overcome those who constantly come to us trying to find their way in. Trying to bring us down because really they fear our light. They fear our goodness. They fear our compassion and desire to truly be the light bringers into this world. Is it because we become too holy? Become too high and mighty in our own thoughts that we become just as bad as they are but from a different vantage point?
Does the sliver of the dark side creep in when we look down on others and think our path is more righteous then theirs and as result we are pulled down by them to let us see we are no better than them. That we are all struggling in our own way to seek out the light. Is it because we all carry goodness and light, darkness and evil within us at all times. And it only takes one things to tip us into the dark. Or into the light?
Is it because we are becoming such a nation that we can not and do not want to see anyone getting ahead because if they get ahead that means we are being left behind? Have we become that shallow in our way of living that it only takes a shallow act to bring us down. Rather than seeing that when one advances, it makes room for another to rise up.
We all have the ability to see and feel energies. For some it may be easier than it is for others but always what we must do is trust that first feeling we get when we are in the presence of others - even those who pretend to be on our sides because what we learn eventually is when someone tells us he is on our side, there is something gravely wrong. Because in reality there are no sides to be taken. Each one of us has a unique way  of dealing with life and each one of us looks at life from a different perspective. From where we are in our growth. So, in reality, there are no sides. Just different perspectives. And what we also learn eventually is that life is about the energies that come into our space and our ability to read them. Giving us the ability to know every energy that comes into our space is to help us to learn more about who we are and who we are not.
Even when we are drawn into the dark, that dark is teaching us that we must let go of those dark thoughts, let go of the lure and seduction of proving we are right over the person who has wronged us. Instead we must look at the person who has wronged us and thank them for showing us how not to treat another rather than hate them or seek revenge. Because if we pursue them, we become just like them. Lurking in the darkness trying to pretend we are the light.
There is no need to prove our side and more importantly there is no need to prove they are wrong, eventually life has a way of smoothing everything out. Of bringing the darkness into the light without us having to prove anything or to do anything when are coming from a place of light. From a place of love and compassion.
When we are truly light seekers and peace bringers, even when we are lured down the path of darkness, eventually we will find our way back to the light but never by trying to prove we are right. Never by trying to exact revenge on another. No the battle of life does not mean we are fighting with anyone else. That's not the message at all because the only battle we are ever fighting is the battle of self. Of being true to who we are regardless of what others may say or do.
Of living in the light that knows peace comes from within; not without. Peace comes from within. Never without.