Israel, Palestine, Chechnya, now Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq, the United States — the desire for revenge in the name of justice, in the name of national security, often in the name of God, sweeps through nations and peoples, stirring to violent action those who feel they have lost the most at the hands of oppression, at the hands of occupation, at the hands of poverty, or at the hands of terrorists upon homeland soil. Those who have lost the most and who fear losing more, often choose action over waiting; a demonstration of power over helplessness; the isolation of self-defense rather than collaboration with others — all in order to regain control over their lives, to avoid despair, victimization, helplessness.
The choice for revenge is upheld by a current of rage that is a response to hopelessness and helplessness — rage and the desire to take control that grows when it seems that survival is at stake, or if not survival, then the inherent dignity which each human being has the right to claim as their own. Hopelessness and helplessness create a need to turn despair into action, helplessness into power. This is the psychological foundation for action that seeks revenge.
But there is often a seeming moral and spiritual foundation that accompanies the desire for revenge as well, a foundation that appears to justify in terms of higher principle, the taking of human life. This justification comes from the belief that in the battle between good and evil, that God is with one’s own side and ‘the enemy’ is on the other. Thus, there is the vindication of violence against others, built on the idea that God sanctions and upholds those who take life in the name of what is ‘right’, and on the accompanying idea that one’s own perception correctly discerns what God has deemed to be ‘right’.
Violence committed in the name of God is not new. History is filled with it. Nor is it limited to the Middle East. Yet it is an idea that, today, has increasing breadth of application, popping up everywhere, justifying violence everywhere.
The rising tide of revenge that we see in the world around us and that is reflected in the articles below mystifies us. It is as if a ‘lid’ has come off that which had kept contained energies of hatred and destruction, of indifference to the suffering of others, of the desire to pursue one’s own ends no matter what the cost. Something has removed this ‘lid’ and exposed the impulse toward terrible action, terrible tragedy. In human terms, to say that this is a feature of the ‘purification of the earth’ does not seem to do justice to the loss of human life involved, to the cost in human suffering involved, even if it is true.
Now is a time for prayer – for strengthening our own spiritual alignment. It is a time to refuse to fall into the collective energy of fear, anger, or despair, no matter how potently we may feel these around us.
It does not do justice to the pain that family members feel when bombs dropped by American military personnel on terrorist ‘safe-havens’ kill sleeping children.
It does not do justice to the pain felt by loved ones who are notified that a son or husband has been killed in a sudden Iraqi ambush.
It does not do justice to the streets filled with shrapnel and the Palestinian children who have lost arms and legs while walking on these streets, due to sudden incursions by Israeli fighter tanks or planes.
No, the idea of the ‘purification of the earth’ does not do justice at all to the pain involved. Nevertheless, this is what is manifesting as violence increases. It is what causes the ‘lid’ to come off that which used to keep energies of hatred and of destruction more contained. It is what allows the rising into consciousness of the underlying dark side of human motivation. We can weep with those who become victims at the hands of this terrible energy. We must weep. But it is also necessary that we seek to align with the forces of progress, of evolution, and of light, so that in the midst of this great upwelling of human darkness, we can hold this light for ourselves and others.
Now is a time for prayer — for strengthening our own spiritual alignment. It is a time to refuse to fall into the collective energy of fear, anger, or despair, no matter how potently we may feel these around us. Instead, we must pray for the awareness of light to make itself felt everywhere, most particularly, in the midst of our own everyday lives. By holding onto peace within ourselves, by trusting the unfolding purposes of light, we can contribute, even now, to the peace of the world.Dear Readers,
This Teaching by GurujiMa is as relevant today, as it was written in 2004. That which has not been healed, will be revealed in time, in the presence of the energies of Light, until it is healed consciously.
with love,
Johanna
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