Violence is everywhere.
Rome is burning.
The violence of poverty.
The violence of war and refugees.
The violence against women and children.
The violence of racism.
The violence of broken relationships.
This week I read a quote from the play, “A Thousand Clowns”, which reminded me of another kind of violence. When the social welfare arrived at the place of Murray Burns to take away his 12 year old nephew, he said the following:
“I want him to get to know exactly the special thing he is or else he won’t notice it when it starts to go. I want him to stay awake … I want to be sure he sees all the wild possibilities. I want him to know it’s worth all the trouble just to give the world a little goosing when you get the chance. And I want him to know the subtle, sneaky, important reason why he was born a human being and not a chair.”
Could it be that what Murray has feared already happened to many of us? Have we lost awareness of “the special thing” we are; have we forgotten “…the subtle, sneaky, important reason why he (I) was born a human being and not a chair”...?
I am talking about the violence against ourselves.
The self criticism.
The self judgement.
Just think for a moment about the way we speak to ourselves.
“That was so dumb! How could I have done such a stupid thing…”
“I’m always messing up!”
“I should have known better”
“I will never be able to forgive myself…”
“I’m such a failure…”
And this is where all violence begins.
When critical self-concepts prevent us from seeing the beauty in ourselves, we lose connection with the divine energy that is our source. And when we start to view ourselves as objects (a chair) and not as a human being, we end up relating to ourselves in a violent way.
Do you remember the words of Jesus?
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Violence against a neighbor begins with violence against myself.
Violence in the world has a starting point.
Myself.
And before we start to deal with this kind of violence, peace on earth will just be a dream...
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