And again, the cries to stop the horror, stop gun violence, stop, stop, stop. Fight back. Fight back. Fight back. Yet in that language lies the guarantee that it will continue.
The violence we are seeing isn't something that can be solved by tweaking some small part of the picture. Our entire paradigm is based, I believe, on a simple underlying misunderstanding, the belief in two equally powerful forces, "good" and "evil." This belief is so tragic because it guarantees that fighting and killing will never end. Decades ago, someone (watching me floundering) told me, "It's kill or be killed, Liz. If you can't learn to kill, you'll never survive." It was meant in the metaphorical, business sense, and I looked at this person and basically said, you are out of your mind, but of course, they turned out to be right.
This eternal conflict model is the focus or underpinning of just about everything: our military and financial systems, our medicine ("fighting disease"), our adversarial legal and political systems, much of our entertainment and sports, our history and much of our literature, even some of our educational and religious constructs. Every time we take an antihistamine, try to protect ourselves by locking doors or buying a home alarm system, or sign a petition "against" something, we are taking part in this outmoded construct. Every time we read even the most little old lady murder mystery (I'm guilty of this) or thrill to a classical opera based on tragedy, we are taking part in this outmoded construct. Every time we try to get a better deal, or a lower price, or to profit, or even when we simply accept the "profit/non-profit" split, we are taking part in this outmoded construct. Perhaps earlier in human evolution we needed the separation model to survive, but we don't now.
Believing in only one essential power ("good," for lack of a better or more all-encompassing word) has so far left me way out of the pack, and can be terrifying because new institutions aren't in place, but at least I understand that this single stream of good is eternal. I understand that there is no death, so I won't ever "die" in the larger scheme of things, and no one can kill me, so there is nothing to fear. I understand that souls come to this world for a reason, so I have no right to curtail their experience on this earth, and no one has the right to curtail mine. I understand that if I am angry or frustrated, lashing out is pointless; I need to look within to where I am blocking my own good. I need to figure out why I am not flowing with the river. I understand that if someone or some situation is painful, my job is to change myself and my responses. It's all about personally and courageously aligning with the one river of life/love/good/beauty/harmony.
Yesterday proved once again that violence is painful. Being held hostage is painful. Angry people are painful. Most of us are so very tired of this whole model. It is so "yesterday," really! Yet if we are to create a less violence-centered tomorrow, it takes an enormous amount of individual inner work today, and a whole new set of individual moment-by-moment decisions. We have to always, always, choose life, love, goodness, beauty and harmony. Period. (We can't say, "well, just this once I'll watch this violent movie, or hang out with someone negative so that I won't be alone, or read this news report which I know will make me fighting mad.") Unfortunately, there is no shortcut. That's hard work for the weekend, but if the alternative is more of the same, I'm willing to do it as best I can. Moment-to-moment. And if I cannot find anything new paradigm to do, I need to create one, or do the least "old paradigm" thing on offer. And there's always just taking a walk or a nap.
