Soul Perspectives On ...

Overcoming Violence

Violence is common throughout the world today. Hardly a day goes by without seeing images of violence on TV or reading about it in newspapers. It is so common that people are getting the impression that it is normal. But is it?

Violence is an issue of power. People become violent when they feel powerless. Powerlessness is experienced when influences outside of oneself are experienced as more powerful than one’s own self determination, personal choices and decisions. Many people are feeling powerless politically; many are feeling powerless economically; and many are feeling powerless emotionally with the impact of media images on them. All of this powerlessness can, and often does, breed violence.

Violent actions are directed both at destroying those who are judged to be powerful (governments, WTO, OECD, GAAT, multinational corporations, etc.) and at usurping power through force.

When violence is the chosen recourse, a person usually has already lost connections to the higher, more thoughtful and creative resources of the brain. Violence comes out of the primitive part of our nature. Restructuring our society and culture in a beneficial way requires a great deal of understanding, thought, compassion and altruism. In creating the new, the old will be destroyed or transformed. But when the emotions control, and violence erupts, thought and love are significantly diminished.

Violence is a reaction to the presence of conflict. Conflict is natural in life. It is present to teach us how to resolve the extremes of duality. It’s a learning experience that sets up the tension for soul-personality dialogue and integration. It is intended to take us inward to find the place of unity from which the duality can be viewed and understood.

Conflict is a psychological reality that is frequently externalized when one makes oneself a victim. The conflict reveals an enemy that must be overcome as strongly as possible. When a person is in a sate of heightened anxiety, rational and moral decisions cannot easily be made and the more primitive violent reactions cannot be curtailed. Violence is used as an inappropriate way of attempting to re-establish one’s own sense of power over whatever or whomever is perceived as a threat. However, violence not only can destroy the enemy, but it also destroys the Self. This is true whether the violence is individual or collective.

The antidote to violence in ourselves and in society is empowerment. We need to empower people to live out their best without fear. When people feel strong and able within themselves, they do not see themselves as potential victim