Why does my mind
steeped in soot
cause me to cry out,
"War! War! Rage against the vile winds
which rip through the virgin, green fields,
stripping them of their succulent fruit,"
when I know,
from a higher place inside,
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ...
"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. ..." *
Where is the Aiki response?
The love-filled, precision-guided lightning bolt
which re-directs and diffuses the in-bound hatred,
leaving only a cool, calm evening bathed
in the light of a crimson sunset.
* Quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
True poetry, beautiful. Or maybe truth IS poetic, who knows?
ReplyDeleteNever heard the MLK quotes before, which suggest that violence begets the very thing it seeks to destroy. Never thought of violence that way, but it's obviously true.
And violence is the USA's biggest export, and the Department of Defense's budget is 54% of the federal budget.
There's big bucks in violence, in fear.
Violence and peace are two sides to the same coin, the coin of materialism. Can't talk of one without the shadow of the other.
Says a lot about the USA then, doesn't it? That materialism without the possibility of transcending materialism (through meditation) begets violence.
So the words in the USA Constitution which require a separation of church and state have become a self-fulfilling prophesy: there is no religiousness in USA government because the "religions" of 99% of the politicians I know are not religions at all! The "religions" of 99% of the USA politicians produce war-mongers who "rage against the vile winds which rip through the virgin, green fields, stripping them of their succulent fruit."
Jai Osho!
Thanks for your comment!
ReplyDeleteViolence and peace do form a duality. How materialism fits in -- I'm not so clear.
Except to say this: if it is true the USA has 20% of the world population, and consumes 75% of the world's resources, that is going to create conflict.
Transcending materialism, to me, would lead to using what you need (and a little more). It would limit over-consumption. This is good in some ways, and will rock the economy in others.
Rage vs Rage -- it seems we are stuck in it. In my good moments, I bring awareness to the is-ness.
Love.