With the increased expression of hate in our country and worldwide this year, I am called to convey my opinion. I have not been surprised by the increasing hostility and violence in the world. I anticipated post Global Pandemic reactivity, as much as I hoped that it would not come to pass. I have been deeply saddened and disappointed in the choices of so many people to engage in the depravity and inhumanity that is occurring around the globe. Barbaric acts are committed by individuals who lack any connection with a moral compass, empathy, and knowledge of our interconnection. Any access to these essential human qualities would cause an individual to pause, and the atrocities we hear about would not be carried out.
When a person terrorizes, tortures, rapes, and murders, they are choosing to forego any experiences of loving connection, partnership or Union. These two polarities cannot simultaneously coexist in the same person. Think about all the time, money, and energy that people put into finding love of all kinds. Can you imagine being so consumed by hate that you would forgo any chance of having love in your life so that you could destroy another human being? It is essential to understand what we are dealing with and not get pulled into the lure of Evil by reacting in kind. This is not to say that one should not protect themselves; I am not a pacifist. I adhere more to the stance I learned from Tai Chi, which has three basic principles.
- Never initiate conflict.
- Avoid conflict if it is possible.
- Hold a completely protective shield around you, and if you find yourself under attack, reflect to the assailant the assailant’s energy.
Evil creates separation. More often than not, Evil begins with hate and someone unfoundedly seeking to blame another for their perceived plight. This circumstance of projecting responsibility onto another person or people separates individuals from their innate humanity and the remembrance of interconnection within humankind. An individual spreading hate steps inappropriately and disproportionately into a place of self-interest, forgetting they are a part of something greater. This is not to say that it is Evil to seek to survive, grow and evolve. But, when this is done at the expense of others, it is. If we consider the perspective of humanity being one living organism, it is like using your hand to pick up a gun and shoot your foot. The result is undesirable for all.
I have used the analogy before that a single human being within the whole of humanity is like a single cell within the whole human body. If cells are present and doing the job that we expect them to perform, we allow the cells to live out their natural lifespan. When the cells are not acting as expected, we attempt to redirect them, but this is only sometimes a viable option. As a last resort, we remove the cells from the body if we have failed to restore them to health or they have begun attacking the other cells. When the sustainability of the whole is threatened by one or more rogue parts (cells in the body or humans within humanity), we sometimes choose to end their existence.
How the human being acts as the agent over the human body is similar to how criminal justice systems work to govern collectives within humanity. The criminal justice system is the intervention for human beings when one moves outside the bounds of expected performance. The intervention varies with different criminal justice systems, types of laws, governing bodies, cultural norms, and values. Since the pandemic, the United States has seen upheaval and conflict around its criminal justice system. It is unsurprising to see this turmoil if you look at the World Justice Project’s 2022 Rule of Law Index. The U.S. ranks 115th out of 140 countries on “accessibility and affordability of civil justice”.
The rumblings within the masses are warning us of a dangerous state of affairs. The destructive (Evil) flow of inequity, injustice, and hate we see fighting to survive and grow allows Dis-Ease, Dis-Order, and Dis-Array to permeate our society. For a country like ours, with the power, resources, and freedoms available to change this state of affairs, it is simply a matter of choice if we could only all agree. If we could remember our interconnection, consider the inherent value and purpose of everyone, and dare to stand up for what is right, we could forge a more just tomorrow.
Are people born Good or Evil?
NO! A proclamation declaring that someone is Good or Evil is not an assertion of their innate state of being. We are not born Good or Evil. And I have yet to meet a person who lives life in a manner that is 100% Good or 100% Evil. We all have FreeWill, and each of us chooses how we enact our FreeWill. Declaring someone to be Good or Evil is a judgment about a person’s choice of behavior, how they utilize their FreeWill, and the ultimate effect of those choices. It boils down to whether the impact one has in the world is Creative or Destructive. This is where I focus my judgment and how I frame things is through the assessment of the impact of one’s choice. Is it Creative or Destructive? I want to note that when someone consciously intends to harm you, that is in and of itself harmful, even if they do not act upon it—the person’s will factors into the magnitude of the Destructiveness of their choices.
So, how do we reconcile extreme outbursts within humanity while protecting tolerance, inclusion, diversity, fundamental human rights, social cohesion, peace, and stability? We could place a standard for eliminating cells in the body or people from humanity – when they have become so consumed by Destructiveness that their mode of being and behaving puts the survival of the whole at risk. When it comes to people living in environments of abuse, terror, and genocide, there is no question that the whole is at stake. Who are we as a human race if we are to begin chopping off limbs, limiting the beautiful tapestry of the creative potential of our diverse natures around the globe? My soapbox: we are genetically 99.5% the same. There is so much conflict and unnecessary destruction for .5% differences with other human beings. It’s almost like a mass psychosis has occurred, and people have lost touch with 99% of reality.
One final point I will make about the energetics of Good and Evil. Energy and Consciousness can move in a Creative flow or a Destructive flow. Think of the Energy/Consciousness beginning at ground Zero. If it moves in a positive direction, it is a Creative flow, and it moves up the positive number line. If it moves in a negative direction, it is a Destructive flow, moving up the negative number line. These scales represent the range of Good and Evil; the higher the number, the greater the Good or Evil. If it is in motion, it is moving in one direction or the other. Each flow of Energy/Consciousness contains a range. People fall into the destructive range when they spread hate, bully others, ruthlessly exploit others, or induce terror. A key point I wish to make is that the energy flow is the same whether someone is saying something mean or they are committing genocide; it is simply a difference in the magnitude of the Destructiveness.
A Challenge For You:
I encourage you to bring mindfulness to your actions, feelings, thoughts, and motives. Strive to keep yourself moving in a creative flow on all levels. If you observe yourself being destructive, turn it around without indulging in self-condemnation, judgments, bargaining, or making excuses.
What about Destiny and Karma?
I believe in the validity of Destiny and Karma as concepts, but I disagree with some of the interpretations of these ideas. Humans, with ulterior motives, will take fundamental truths about life and impose limiting ideas that twist and distort those truths for their perceived gain. Destiny and Karma have had many ulterior motives imposed. Whether the reason behind the individual or institution’s choice is self-serving or based merely on conditioned/systemic hindrance is not significant; a limitation is a limitation. I will now attempt to peel away the impositions to get to the simple energetics of Destiny and Karma and consider how Good and Evil come into play.
DESTINY
The constant collision of time and space produces the force of Destiny. This group-level field of Energy/Consciousness exerts pressure on the individual being, shaping and forming them as they go with the flow of the tide, just like a molecule of water within the wave. Destiny is like the bioelectric parameters determining where the eyes will grow on a frog. (Check out July’s blog for more information: Attractors – Build Them To Shape The Life You Want.) Destiny is the ideal actualization of an individual’s Gifts in the present time based on the current needs of humanity. Consider each individual with their unique combination of Gifts and Challenges. I believe all humans are Destined to actualize the potential of their Gifts and evolve beyond the limitations of their Challenges to do so.
I do not believe that anyone’s Destiny is to behave in an Evil manner or a Good one. In the wheelhouse of an individual’s Challenges, there may be inherent predispositions or risks for Evil/Destructivity, like a lack of conscience. A person may also lack one or more tiers of empathic inclination. There may have been abuse in the place where nurturance ought to have been. Or the modeling and encouraged survival mode, their conditioning, may have been destructive. We come into living embodiment with our unique imprints, temperaments, and genetics. Where these qualities and experiences may produce harmful outcomes for the individual or others, they ought to be viewed as the Challenges that a particular individual has to overcome to evolve.
Destiny is not some otherworldly entity deciding who should suffer and sacrifice for the greater good. Martyrdom is not a desirable trait, nor is it Destined. These sad occurrences throughout our history represent a failure of the group to evolve and an attempt to inhibit forward movement by crushing the agents initiating the change. And the ridiculous tales of otherworldly favors and rewards for enacting Destruction within life are like selling swampland to people who do not know what a swamp is.
KARMA
Karma operates in a similar way to Destiny. But Karma is based on an individual’s FreeWill choices and the FreeWill choices inherited from that individual’s ancestors. Destiny is more about the intersection of an individual’s predispositions with their present world environment. I do not believe that one experiences any kind of suffering, abuse, hardship, disease, or injustice because they are asking for it, choosing it, or they deserve it. Karma is more of an impersonal cause and effect in response to how we each choose to exercise our FreeWill.
It is not Karma for someone to be subject to the destructive actions of another. Karma does come in, though, in response to the one choosing to be harmful. Being destructive, despite the many influences that may be behind it, creates a negative impression in the fabric of life that you then owe back, like borrowing money. Sometimes, reparation is with interest, and what is owed becomes more significant than the original destructive impression. This state of affairs is simply another form of imbalance in the Energy/Consciousness of life that is seeking homeostasis.
In regards to the adage of ‘an eye for an eye’, if one were to cause another to lose their eyes, the more fitting payment of that Karmic debt would be to require the assailant to serve as a seeing eye person for the blind person rather than to lose their own eyes. Requiring the assailant to lose their eyes leaves you with two blind people in need of assistance, two negative impressions in the fabric of life requiring repayment. To deal with Karma, I always encourage people to consider how they can restore the creativity and forward movement they have previously inhibited. Destructivity never pays a debt caused by destructivity.