Who is the real host, and who is the true parasite? And what about those in between, symbiotic with another? Are both parties equally host and parasite to each other then? Welcome to the grey zone that is real life, where few things are as simple as being black or white. Are all invaders to be demonised directly, and all the invaded to be humanised by default? Turns out that aliens can betray their kind and help humans instead, just like humans can betray their kind and help aliens instead.
If there is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (or Ms. ‘Heidi’) embedded in each of us, as in a more benevolent versus a more malevolent complex, who is the main (wo)man, who is more capable of overpowering the other? Is there a constant tug of war within? Potentially deceiving appearances aside, who is in charge and who should take charge? The monster inside the human, or the human inside the monster? Sci-fi drama aside, there are indeed innocent-looking villains and seemingly guilty victims.
The first challenge is not to detect the external villains, but to discern if we are already villains internally. What to check mindfully are our motivations from moment to moment — are we more greedy than generous, more hateful than compassionate, more deluded than wise? If the three poisons are clearly more than their respective antidotes, we are surely on our way to be more monstrous. Even without any alien invasion, we are already way alienated from our Buddha-nature.
