posted September 26, 2007 06:25 PM         

We are all equal.
So there is no need for anyone to feel proud or insecure, if you get my true meaning *(words are restricting and limiting).

When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, I think what he really meant was 'An eye for an eye and the world will go blind'. So it is best to look the other way.
Perhaps he meant that, perhaps he didn't. The real point is, what feels right to you?

You can't fight evil with evil, but you can transmute it.

And wise spiritual teachers have offered us they keys to how this may be done.

Look the other way.

"You don't fight for peace. You peace for peace".

I do agree with self-defense, but only to use the amount of force which is necessary. A bit like the principles of Karate.

Another thing to remember is that "one man's medicine is another man's poison".

Having the desire to help someone is not enough if one does not possess the knowledge, the wisdom or the skill.
Sometimes by interfering we can do more harm than good.

A bit like the man in the 'Butterfly Story' someone here posted once.

We are all evolving on our own frequency. To interfere unwisely may have catastrophic implications in the long-run.

posted September 26, 2007 06:52 PM         

I also liked what you said here very much, LTT

posted September 26, 2007 07:06 PM         

sometimes you can't help the negativity that may come your way.
but you can refuse to be a part of it.
Keep on believing in the power of one.

"When God closes a door,
he opens a window"

posted September 26, 2007 07:16 PM         

quote:

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but you can refuse to be a part of it

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quote:

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"Ego is no more than this: identification with form, which primarily means thought forms. If evil has any reality - and it has a relative, not absolute, reality - this is also it's definition: complete identification with form - physical forms, thought forms, emotional forms. This results in a total unawareness of my connectedness with the whole, my intrinsic oneness with every "other" as well as with the Source. This forgetfulness is original sin, suffering, delusion. When this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I think, say and do, what kind of world do I create? To find the answer to this, observe how humans relate to each other, read a history book, or watch the news on television tonight.

If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating fundamentally the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction."

Ekhart Tolle
A New Earth

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posted September 26, 2007 07:30 PM         

Yep the ego and the separtation of the ego from the soul is the culprit. Our job is to try and work on uniting our ego to our soul so that we are thinking and acting more from the soul and not just the ego.

To die to the ego does not mean we lose our identity. To the contrary. We come to know our true identity when our ego and soul are united.

It's the ego which wants and needs to defend. It's the ego which wants to be in control of all things. If we keep that in mind - something I am working on doing more and more - it makes it easier to not respond and look the other way. Our essence, our souls have no need of defense. There is nothing to defend. For we know who and what we truly are. We know our true place in the universe. We know where we are headed.

Sattvic gave me this quote and I love it:

posted September 27, 2007 03:55 AM         

As a GENERAL rule, I hold these 2 things in mind:
http://www.deepleafproductions.com/wilsonlibrary/texts/raw-karma.html

Also the ZAP (Zero Aggression Principle) which summed up short and sweet is that no sentient has the right to initiate violence, but DOES have the right to DEFEND against violence. Of course, even this can maxim can be seen in ways that people don't agree on which is initiating violence and self-defense (especially at the political level).

But there are times that the 11th RotE (Rule of the Earth) constructed by the Church of Satan also comes to mind:

"When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him."

Some people really do have to be dealt with that way.

At a minor level, I recall when I was limited to using the public computers at the library. We're allowed a half hour (more if no one is waiting to use it). Understanding that quickly finishing something can take a bit of time, I'm patient for the first 5 minutes of "my time" on the comp. But one day there was someone very rude about my own age and significantly bigger (though she seemed to be in poor health to me). I politely told her that it was my time. After 5 minutes, I reminded her. After 10 minutes, I told her that if she wasn't off in 1 minute I was getting the reference librarian. She responded by getting up, glaring at me, and farting on the computer.

A few months later, I was assigned to the computer she was on again. I thought it was possible that she was having a really bad day and decided to try being nice again. After the first 5 minutes, I went up and said, "I'm not doing this with you again. You're off in the next minute or I get the reference librarian. The only way you'll keep me off is if you fart again, in which case I'll wait for you to leave and the moment you do, introduce your face to the sidewalk." She was off the next minute. She did not fart. Once more in the future she also didn't give me a problem, but was off the first minute I told her it was my turn. Some people you just have to treat that way because that's all they'll respect. I hate treating anyone that way, but when they're that toxic, it's better than the alternative.

Though normally, I just try to separate them from my life. For example, I once washed clothes in my home for money. A mother slipped in a torn shirt (which I noticed but didn't think anything of at the time) and then accused me of ripping it and refusing to pay me anything when she picked it up. Later, she decided to "give me another chance." I told her I wasn't interested, and when she asked why I said, "First time, shame on you; second time, shame on me." She threw a fit and spread malicious rumors about me, though luckily she was so over the top (and already had a bad reputation of her own) that she didn't really hurt me that I noticed, not even indirectly. Since then, when I refuse to do biz with someone, I just say I'm too busy instead of telling them the truth and thus put them out of my life so they can't cause me trouble. (I even pretend to let one sadistic jerk thinks he's hurting me when he's actually a source of significant profit to me, but that's something else.)

Much more dangerous to those who try to do good and live peacefully are the people out there that have the attitude--and I've heard it worded, btw--that if you show love, compassion, forgiveness, pacifism, then you DESERVE to be robbed, raped, and killed. You're weak, and the world belongs to the strong, it always has and always will.

Some will even go around bumming for spare change or cigarettes and rob the first person that shows them kindness because they assume that the only reason anyone would be kind is because they're weak and/or afraid, and are thus prey for their predations.

While many common scams exploit the greed of others, many also exploit the kindess of others. For example, those who stop to help a woman by a car that's not running may find the woman is a thief and con-artist (eg, gets a ride to work where she's "already late," steals the cash and credit cards of the mark, and then goes back and quickly fixes the car and gets out and by the time the mark finds out he's been had, s/he quickly finds out that she doesn't work where she had been dropped off at) or that she's bait for a trap (eg, a boyfriend and his friends show up to rob the good samaritan of his/her belongings and car).

I think one of the worst trick I've heard of is someone will appear passed out drunk on someone's doorstep. If the person who lives there rudely gets them off, gets help to get rid of him, or calls the cop, nothing happens beyond the inconvenience of it. But if the person just tries to ignore them and let them sleep it off, then as soon as the door is open the "drunk" comes to and does a home invasion, with robbery, rape, and/or murder in mind. Talk about weeding out the kind hearted, and making others less kind.

What I thought was sad was as a runaway was 2 teen wiccans I knew that had ran to the streets because of persecution. They believed that if you did good, you got good back, and if you did evil, you got evil back.

Now since then I've learned more about that and I think I could've explained it to them, but for now let's just say that the Wiccan Rede you may have heard of is extremely dumbed down telling that was also meant to protect certain would be witches from their own stupidity. That's not the point of this, the point is the teens believed that evil only happened to evil people.

Natch, they were wrong. Being pacifistic, they were marked as easy victims. It was made worse that they saw violent, perverted, corrupt cops given medals (in the news), they saw the successful biz people buying sex favors from underage boys and girls, they saw the violent pimps and like riding around in luxury cars with bodyguards while people like themselves, who tried to do good to get good, were living in poverty and marked as victims over and over again.

Instead of learning and adapting their philosophy, they became bitter and felt betrayed, and took to being as evil as they could. Their belief was you're either a hammer or a nail, a lamb or a wolf. Thing is, that's sometimes right, too, especially in such areas. While there's always someone "badder" than you that can take you down easily, those predators are likely to go after the easiest prey which are the pacifists and kind hearted.

Though taken too far that philosophy became as self-destructive as extreme pacifism. For example, "word on the street" is as notoriously unreliable as gossip in a school or small town. Unfortunately, many ACT as if it's true (and even seem to believe it for some reason even when they should know better). And just like in schools and small towns, gossip can be spread maliciously, either as part of an agenda, or just for sadistic fun. So word will be spread that one person did another person wrong. Now the person who was said to be wronged KNOWS it's BS, but others seem to believe it. So to show he can't be wronged, he'll go after the one who was said to wrong him and exact revenge in order to maintain his (or her) rep as someone you don't want to cross. This can lead to getting many more enemies with a grudge than he'd normally have, and can also get him into some seriously violent sitches. The gossip mongers can also feed the one who "wronged" him a line about how he's after him now, so the innocent guy (ie, he didn't actually wrong the guy, but the guy supposedly wrong is going to pretend he did in order to maintain his public image) gets a gun and decides to do a pre-emptive strike against him first.

Finding that balance that isn't self destructive is so hard. And as I said, it's an art more than a science. I do agree that in general violence should be a last resort. But there are moments to withhold kindness, and even to throw mercy to the wind.