(Minghui.org) Twenty years have passed, but Alex still has the flyer about Falun Dafa that he once found. He kept it as a reminder of the moment he first learned about the spiritual practice.
Born in the former Soviet Union, Alex left Russia with his family at the age of 17 and moved to Israel. He joined the army when he was 19 and was assigned to border patrol. While he was on patrol, he noticed a flyer on the ground. It was a Falun Dafa flyer, and although the edges were burned, the information was legible.
“As I read the flyer, I felt a wave of warm energy spread throughout my body. I was deeply moved because I found something that I had sought for years. I called the phone number on the flyer, and later visited some practitioners in Jerusalem while I was on vacation.”
When Alex started to learn the exercises, they felt familiar—as though he had done them before. He began to practice Falun Dafa in 2004 when he was young. He has practiced for 20 years and is now a middle-aged man.
Alex, his wife and their two daughters.
Alex participates in an activity to introduce Falun Dafa.
Overcoming Childhood Fear
Alex’s father was a Jewish businessman and worked diligently to support the family. The police broke into their home when Alex was 9. A policeman pointed a gun at Alex and asked where his father was. His father was hiding in the house, but the police didn’t find him and left.
This happened during the turmoil when the Soviet Union collapsed. In order to survive, Alex’s family fled 2,000 km (1200 miles) to a different province. “After experiencing so much trauma when I was young, I always felt an invisible fear,” Alex said.
Because of his childhood experiences in the former Soviet Union, Alex always felt like he was being monitored and censored, as if there were eyes everywhere, watching people. This fear made him keep silent and he seldom expressed his opinion. After he began practicing Falun Dafa, he gradually overcame this fear.
When Alex was a commander in the army, the young soldiers he was in charge of passed an orchard while they patrolled an area. They began picking oranges. If he didn’t practice Falun Dafa he would have just watched and not said anything. As a cultivator he realized that it was wrong to steal. Even though he knew the young soldiers would laugh at him, he decided to let go of his fear of losing face and told them, “If something isn’t yours, you shouldn’t take it.” The soldiers talked about his character of not crossing lines or violating rules until the end of his service.
When his service in the army was over, Alex went on vacation. The Jerusalem city government organized a big parade and Falun Dafa practitioners participated in it. Alex put on his yellow T-shirt with words about Falun Dafa printed on it, and walked in the parade.
He saw his soldiers were securing the event. “I told myself that there’s no conflict between being in the army and the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance that I believe in.” Alex said. “My soldiers greeted me when the parade finished. They smiled and one of them said, ‘Look at him, one day during some demonstration people were throwing stones at him, and today he’s walking in the parade holding a balloon.’”
Alex said, “The everyday routine in the army is hard, yet they smiled at me. I felt they approved of my practicing Falun Dafa and they thought I was doing the right thing, a good thing.”
Resolving Disputes With Kindness
Alex’s mindset changed after he practiced Dafa. He felt there are no real bad people—instead everyone is basically kind. “I felt the police in Russia were bad people before I cultivated,” Alex said. “But I later understood they were victims of the sick ideology in a communist society.”
Alex’s entire family moved to Israel, and initially his parents still felt they couldn’t trust anyone. “Because their entire lives they did not trust anyone,” Alex explained. “Israel is a free country, and people communicate freely. My parents came from a communist country, and they didn’t know the Israeli language. It was very hard for them to connect with people there. For example, when I arranged a contract to rent an apartment for my parents, they didn’t trust the landlord. I knew this was due to their communist mindset.”
Alex’s parents didn’t trust the landlord, and the landlord couldn’t understand his parents. As their liaison Alex became the target and both sides vented their anger on him.
“I tried to be a balance and resolve the conflicts, and kept cultivating myself in the process,” Alex said. “I tried to remain calm and not become angry with either side. I tried to be a good person and be considerate. In the end the landlord got what he needed and my parents were satisfied. They no longer fight.”
Alex said he tried to cultivate his every thought and be kind and considerate. A single wrong word could cause his parents and the landlord to fight and go to court. “When they saw my goodwill, both sides began trusting me and eventually came to an agreement. I need to have compassion towards both sides. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I became the link between them they could trust each other. And on that basis, they now trust each other.”
Alex said in the end, “Fear is actually a material that communism instilled in us. If I did not practice Falun Dafa, it would be very hard for me to see these experiences as an opportunity to overcome fear. Instead they would increase my fear. Dafa opened a door for me, allowing me to penetrate the shell of fear and see my innate, kind nature.”
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