Is This A Violent World?

SAT., JUNE 26, 1999, 7:00 AM
FARM, STUDY

The newspapers and the television news suggest, by what they report, that violence is everpresent. Violence is what is newsworthy… because violence is exciting. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny, calm day… comfortable, but not worth mentioning. The exciting times, of the summer season here, is when a tornado is spotted, one that shreds trees, demolishes buildings, and results in injuries and deaths of humans. And yet, most days are not ones of violent weather.

Your country has just been a participant in a short, non-bloody war. Your “side” had virtually no casualties, and there were apologies when a few civilians were hurt or killed by bombs or missiles. Yet the violence against buildings and bridges was television news. The war will be remembered as one that was rather easily won, but there are not likely to be action movies that show forth the glory of combat from it.

You see, earth is quite a special realm where violence, of many kinds, is both endured and appreciated. At the memorial “service” for your Dad, you told a story of him as your Dad, emphasizing that he was not a violent man, but there were incidents of violence in his life. Oh, your story had a good balance, but you realize that his responses to violence were part of the story that made it interesting… partly because he was, basically, not a violent man.

As I see the earth, from My omniscient vantage point, I see mostly non-violence… just enough violence to make it unique among realms where spirits can grow and develop. Why do spirits need such experiences? I can answer this only with… that’s the way “it is.” There are realms… mansions… where there is no violence, and these, too, are valuable. But when a spirit is tested, and a violent situation is often quite a test, there can be growth and maturation that rarely occurs with no challenges, of this sort. ( 7:37 / 7:41 )

Pain is a form of violence. It may be caused by some violent experience that damages the body in ways that bring forth pain. Or it can come because the body is malfunctioning in some way. Cancer is a frequent cause of death in your culture., and some forms of it can be quite painful. Cancer of the bone is reputed to be quite painful, and because you consider this to be a possibility for you, you wonder how it would be to be “host” to such a violent “fight” within this erstwhile “good body” of yours. You admit that there is somewhat of a fascination with such an “end-of-life struggle.”

There has been very little violence in your life – internally, externally from other humans or animals, and externally, from the environment. You almost cherish the memory of the earthquake when you were 6, but you must admit that you suffered no harm and were actually not in real danger. As a young man during “your war” you had fantasies about violent action, but playing football was the most violent, and from this you had no memorable injuries.

On the other hand, there are people on every continent on this Earth that have suffered much from violence. Some of it is “senseless,” but it always is a “test”… and tests are experiences that can result in wins… win/lose, and losses. And there is no necessary connection or relationship between an apparent physical loss and its spiritual “partner”. Probably the most obvious is… one can die, heroically, and the spirit leaps ahead… or one can die, shamefully, and the spirit suffers loss.