With a heavy heart, I open with a portion of my journal entry for September 25:
First, we must accept that they will kill us. They have no inhibitions about killing. They have perfected weapons for killing. If they perceive that we are a threat, they will kill us. Who are they? They are those who kill.
As I draw within a quarter calendar of my sixtieth year, I am sobered by the somber realization that what it finally comes down to is this: there are human beings quite capable and willing to kill other human beings. Stanley Kubrick captured this pivotal moment in his film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, when one tribe discovered that it was possible to kill members of another tribe. The triumphant weapon is thrown into the air and dissolves into the 21st century.
I like to think of myself as a gray person, not prone to absolute black and white. I discover, however, that such relativism doesn’t agree with the distinction between those who can kill and those who cannot. The greatest mental argument within me when entering law enforcement was the understanding that I would carry a gun and might be called upon to use it. I rationalized that if it was in defense of an innocent, not including myself, I could pull the trigger. I have related before that upon three occasions during my six year tenure I found myself in situations where using deadly force would have been justified. I thank God (and I’m not saying that to be cute) that a higher power prevailed and I never had to discharge my weapon.
The history of humankind is replete with killing in all its various forms. Sometimes it has been regarded as necessary and justified. Other times it has registered as an evil and unforgiveable atrocity. But taking another life is killing, pure and simple. To those regular readers who don’t feel they have the desire or the stomach to proceed, I apologize. But as our human propensity to kill continually grows to apocalyptic proportions, I find that it is time to address the issue with candor. Kill or be killed. That is the question.
I have to admit that i too am afraid but, not of being killed. i'm afraid of the manner in which i will be killed. we'll all get killed at some point in our lives whether is is a disease, age or being murdered by another human being. And i do believe i am very capable of killing. i would in a heart beat hurt anybody for a loved one. i think a lot of people would...
ReplyDeleteQuestion reverend - not sure if i've asked you this question. if god is our creator and the all so powerful, why do you think he allows for crime to take place? What is the purpose? And what happens to all evil when it dies? Do we all reincarnate for a second chance? Just pondering...
Again, my friend, I thank you for taking the time to comment. It is this kind of exchange that brings me the greatest satisfaction.
ReplyDelete"He allows for crime to take place?" is the operational part of your question. Let me try to explain.
"He" is the widely accepted reference to the Judeo-Christian God and infers a person replete with human characteristics. The logical extension of this concept is Jesus as God on Earth. Perhaps the most famous person to challenge this perception of God was Albert Einstein who posited that attributing human characteristics to God is tantamount to sin. Ernest Holmes suggested that God be referred to simply as the Thing Itself, an abstraction that a significant majority of human beings find unsatisfactory.
When we are able to move beyond such anthropomorphic thinking, we are permitted to ask the question of whether this Thing Itself actually functions by control and manipulation, or whether this is just a manifestation of thinking of God in human terms. There are certainly laws that govern the Cosmos, without which there would apparently be chaos. But the very reality of qualified chaos attests to power that is not limited by, or subject to, human ability. In other words, God isn't a man sitting upstairs in heaven directing the human drama on Earth.
Human beings are empowered by the Thing Itself (what I have come to understand as the Something That Is Everything)with volition, with the ability to choose. The defense that "God made me do it" belongs in the same category as "the devil made me do it." The sacred spiritual Truth from the dawn of human consciousness to now is that idolizing God is the wrong thing to do because it blinds us to any more accurate perceptions.
In my understanding, God does not "allow" things to happen. Instead, God empowers humans to decide what is allowed and what is not. When we leave these decisions up to an errant anthropomorphism, we forfeit our divine gift of volition and the result is often negative; i.e. crime, killing, etc.
I thank you again for taking the time to ponder, and more importantly to share your thoughts. I hope that you will understand that I'm going to have to "recharge" before moving on to reincarnation :-)