National boundaries are a funny thing. They say, “This is my area and that’s yours.” Depending on how angry the people with that boundary are, this can be a bad thing or not so bad thing. I don’t know if the saying, “Good fences make good neighbors,” is a truism but there seem to be levels of love involved that affect the amount of joy that can be experienced between those neighbors.
I begin with that introduction because I want to talk about America. I am an American whether I like it or not. I am not a patriot nor do I want to be but I have to acknowledge that I was born here and the culture and values of the people in these borders have shaped my views to a large extent. I have had the benefit of exploring places outside America including SouthEast Asia, Europe, Canada, and Mexico. That gift, as well as growing up in a church with a lot of Asian influence, has also helped me have a wider view of things.
I increasingly ask myself what America’s role is on the world stage.
What Does it Mean to Love Your Enemy?
When I was a child, I remember the leader of my church, Reverend Moon, remarking on Jesus’s saying, “Love your enemy.” I thought this was the penultimate kind of love. Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
Reading those words, I had to ask myself, would I really kill my enemy if I loved them? Would love kill? Or would love do everything it could to help someone in difficulty? Wouldn’t love look at another’s aggressive behavior, see it as the sin it is, but then ask what led that person to that state? Wouldn’t love be kind?
Of course, your kindness could be taken as an affirmation of another’s sin. Perhaps then, if a situation becomes dangerous, you may have to kill someone. But what about the effects of the killing, if you did accomplish it? That person was still someone’s child, spouse, parent, sibling, or friend. And now those people are affected by the death and asking why you didn’t use more restraint.
As I grew up and well into my adulthood, I would ask myself such questions. I struggled to find the answers so that I could have a consistent moral philosophy.
It Must Be Wrong to Kill
I tended to believe that killing was wrong somehow. I couldn’t see how it could sometimes be ok, especially when so many people had their own thresholds for what constitutes a justified kill. For some, it is their child being molested. For others, their child just has to be at risk. For others, it’s because someone stole something they cherish. Everyone has a unique viewpoint. I knew that God’s opinion on the subject would always be the best one and not driven by the whims of an individual person.
Let’s say God thought killing was always wrong as it says in the 10 commandments. Would I strike someone who wanted to kill me? Jesus told us to turn the other cheek if we are hit. Would I do that?
I intensely studied that question for myself and would frequently play out different scenarios in my imagination. I would choose to think of the worst possible ones where I could be murdered or even tortured. If I had the chance or opportunity to kill someone else, would I take it? The answer was sometimes yes and other times no.
The Crowbar
I once rented an apartment all to myself. Somehow I got the thought in my head that I was in danger. And so I decided to get a crowbar. With a weapon, I thought, should someone attack me in my home, I could defend myself or, at the very least, scare them off without causing harm.
I placed the crowbar in the closet behind some stuff. I didn’t like seeing it. But I knew where it was. When I thought about possible scenarios where I could be in danger, I considered how I could hit the person attacking me. What if they had a gun? How would I close the gap of space between us? I would have to be sneaky and use special tactics. But say I made it to them without being fatally shot, how would I hit them with it? If I used the sharp end of the crow bar, I could strike my… enemy… and really hurt him. I might gouge their flesh, leaving a large open wound they might not easily recover from. Might that cruelty discourage their attack? What if it was two people? Perhaps I should get a gun for those cases. That would be a better way of defending myself.
I didn’t like where my thoughts went. Criminals were people just like me. They had anger and rage in their heart just like I did. They wanted revenge for wrongs they suffered just like I did. I already knew of Jesus’s example. He never raised an army to defeat the Romans the way the Jews wanted. Instead, he quietly accepted the verdict he was dealt and died without taking it out on anyone.
I came to hate my crowbar. I didn’t want to gouge anyone’s flesh. I didn’t even want to concuss their head or break any of their bones. Heck, even scaring them through threatening them seemed like a very violent action, even if they were seeking to dominate me.
I wanted to be better than all that. So I got rid of it.
Finding Answers
If anyone knew the Truth behind Jesus’s words, it would have to be Jesus himself. I listened to a whole bunch of people in the New Age community who claimed to be channeling Jesus. When I discovered how much contradiction there was in the words of all these messages, I got frustrated and stopped listening.
Then I found AJ Miller. He was a humble man in Australia who claimed to be Jesus and made Youtube videos with far too few views. Because of my desire for Truth, I had always been interested in religious doctrines. I could listen to this wacko in Australia, entertain his ideas, maybe borrow one or two for my own moral philosophy, and then discard him outright when he made arguments I didn’t like.
But I was wrong. I thought he was going to be a milquetoast, armchair philosopher with inconsistent teachings like all the rest. Nope. He was honest, direct, forthright, didn’t shy away from difficult questions, and had the courage of his convictions. If he’s a charlatan, I thought, he’s the best I’ve ever seen. Whenever Reverend Moon came on stage, he had to be introduced, and the crowd was always worked into a fervor beforehand. With AJ, he started his talks with, “So how ya’ doin’?” And, now that I think about it, he doesn’t use stages.
What AJ says about Violence
Because AJ does not want to waste his time picking apart the Bible bit by bit, line by line, but rather chooses to present the Truth as best he knows it in a more holistic way, I had to wait a while before I found his actual explanation of what he meant by “turn the other cheek.” When I finally heard it, it was like finding the Holy Grail… which probably doesn’t exist anyway… and if it does, who cares? So what if Jesus drank out of it? The real power is the power of the Truth. And with Truth, as AJ would say, comes Love. And Love has the power to heal and transform a wicked heart into a pristine one.
I finally had my answer. There is no loving way to kill someone.
But the answers didn’t stop there. There was ever so much more.
In fact, any action you take motivated by anger or fear is against love, and therefore a sin in God’s eyes. So even if I am trying to save the life of an innocent in danger, if I strike a blow against an aggressor guided by fear in my heart, I will damage that aggressor. I personally interpret AJ’s words to mean that any kind of strike is damaging. If you think about it, all strikes will cause an injury.
Think of it like this, if you see an old friend after many years, will you strike them or hug them? Some men will sometimes throw up their fists in a mock fight but that’s probably a vestige of toxic masculinity anyway. If you really loved your friend, you would probably give him a hug. If we ignore all the beautiful feelings that are exchanged between you during that hug and just examine the physical transaction, we will notice that, even if it’s a bear hug, the skin to skin contact is soft. No one exits a hug with a bruise.
So if there was a way you could stop an aggressor from hurting yourself or another, you would have to question the choice to use any kind of striking force. Even if you left a bruise on that aggressor, I believe you would have to answer for it.
Here are some questions I would ask when confronting someone aggressive:
Do I have a loving feeling for the aggressor when I act to stop their violence?
Do I know that that aggressor will be redeemed in the furtherance of time even if they are not convinced of what love is now?
How can I best engage this aggressor so that the possible conflict can be dispelled?
What are my current feelings at the moment?
Am I feeling my emotions?
What is the best way to disarm or stop the aggressor without hurting them?
Do I love the Truth more than my physical life? Am I willing to do all I can to stop this aggression even if I end up losing my physical body?
The answers to these questions may be quite different based on the mix of emotions, people, and circumstances of the particular event.
The Microcosm and the Macrocosm
When we look at the planet today, we cannot doubt there is great suffering everywhere. People are jaded and disappointed and, if they do believe in God, they may believe this God is there only to fulfill their personal desires and prayers.
But God has always had the same perspective on Love. Le is the founder of Love, the progenitor of Love, and the Creator of only Loving things. It is only by misusing the Gift of Free Will and creating things out of harmony with that Love that all the suffering was created in the world.
It takes people who really desire the Truth, who want to see their suffering end, as well as the suffering of their brothers and sisters, who will lead the change in the world.
When you study the Divine Truth teachings you begin to see how integral a part you play in world affairs. Things that happen on the other side of the earth are affected by yourself as much as they are affected by others. A person who desires coffee in New York is directly affecting the crop yield of arabica in Minas Gerais.
There is no way we can divorce ourselves from the events going on around us. Unfortunately, when we decide not to reflect on our own condition of love, or do the work necessary to feel and release unloving emotions that have been stored up inside us for years, we are contributing to the violence in the world, rather than stymying it.
If you question this, consider AJ’s teachings on the Law of Attraction. Every event that you attract into your life is meant to expose emotions inside of you. This Law is perfect and precise. Even events that we may pass off as the fate of circumstance like stubbing your toe are there to show you something. Events like being involved in an armed confrontation or witnessing one taking place, or a baby crying, or a child being verbally abused in a store parking lot - they are all there for a reason and their very existence is meant to trigger emotions inside yourself.
What about the events that happen in countries far away? You might hear a newscaster tell you something about the death toll in a particular country America has chosen to bomb. How does that make you feel? Is it time to avoid your emotions and reach for a beer or some cookies? Or is it time to notice the feelings that come up and feel them? The choice is yours and you will be surprised how much it matters.
We ask ourselves what we can do when others are being hurt. We wonder why our leaders choose to engage in so many wars but neglect our own complicity in those wars. We don’t investigate how much we contribute to the manipulation that goes on in the world through bloodshed and economic violence. We look at the system in the country and see if we can find a way out of it but forget to see how we are currently fueling it.
The Real America
America is at a Crossroads. The founding documents of this country which were so eloquently written are meaningless to most Americans. We do not believe that all people were created equal and even if they were, we believe it is only the “rights” of American citizens that should be upheld whereas the concerns of those elsewhere can be ignored.
We use our military to strong-arm the nations of the world so that we can have cheap goods and rely on economic maneuvering to secure comforts that don’t nurture us.
Currently, we are fueling a genocide of Palestinians. And we are engaging in multiple wars. Today we are fighting Palestine, Russia, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, Libya, Cameroon, Iraq, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Afghanistan.
In many of these places, just like I kept a crowbar in my closet, we are keeping a military force ready to engage hostilities with arms. We may say that the war is over in some of these places but that only represents a few less troops.
When I kept a weapon in my closet, I was like a wolf backed into a corner. I was ready to attack someone when a provocation arose.
It’s no different with these international conflicts. When an American business or security interest is threatened, we don’t choose the loving option. We choose the fear-based one. Even if one of our allies is threatened, it is the same.
The Truth about Judgment
In the first century, Jesus said that holding anger against your brother is the same as killing him. Although I haven’t fully reconciled that AJ is Jesus, his teachings seem completely consistent with those of Jesus in the first century. What does he say about judgment? He says that it is one step away from murder.
Today, the International Court of Justice gave a verdict on South Africa’s case that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. In the verdict, the court president quoted an Israeli minister who compared Palestinians to animals. That kind of judgment of a person or group is a way to dehumanize them, one of the first justifications for violence.
When you think of all the times you have judged yourself or another, depending on your development of love, you may need thousands of volumes to record every occasion. But how many times did your judgment make you decide to murder someone? Maybe none.
However, anger is the emotion that fuels murder. Sometimes, we may have a violent fantasy where we glee in harm coming to someone, even if it’s not at our own hand. Those fantasies can seem so real because we are actually experiencing the emotions of our desire playing out. Even if we don’t commit the murder, it is as though we are engaging in the bloodlust of stabbing someone to death.
Consider how powerful those emotions are when our soul is emoting them. Now remember that emotions are real energy that cause real effects in the world.
The Nuts and Bolts of Judgment
Have you ever walked down the street and all of a sudden you feel a mass of attacking emotions hit you? It could be that at that very instant, you are being judged by someone looking at you through a window. Either that or some spirits could be around you judging you. What does it feel like to experience that attack? Of course it is not a pleasing feeling. And if you agree with the attack, what might your agreement cause you to do? Perhaps you will engage an addiction that’s harmful to yourself or others. You may even verbally or emotionally abuse yourself. You may go and abuse someone else. You may even try to physically harm someone else.
These are the results of judgment. The earth is filled with judgmental emotions which are emotions of anger directed at someone. Instead of choosing to feel a childlike anger in our soul and bodies which will quickly lead into fear emotions, we deny the anger and thereby direct it at ourselves or someone else.
Consider the total effect of all the judgment in the hearts of the 8 billion people on earth in their physical bodies. Now add to that the 22 billion earthbound spirits who are also in a low condition of love. What might be the effect of all of that?
The answer is: war and mayhem.
Americans have to understand that those distant wars are not so distant after all. They begin the moment you choose not to be humble to your emotions of anger. And when we feel our anger, we must also learn to be sensitive to the fear and sadness that lies beneath it. If we avoid feeling the deeper emotions, the anger emotions will come back. That being said, even emotions of fear and sadness unfelt inside of us cause harm as well.
Looking Within
The reason I wanted to know the Truth about how to respond to aggression, was because I grew up in a world with a great deal of it and I wanted to assist in its dissolution. I didn’t know that studying the solutions to violence would remind me of the importance of dealing with the violence in my own heart.
Taking steps to feel my own emotions and learning how resistant I was to feelings of fear and sadness has opened my eyes to the part I play in conflicts raging across the world. I used to blame leaders in our government and business institutions for all the conflict in the world. Now I see how I affect the world by my very choices.
My roommate told me the other day that I can’t change the system. That’s only partially true. By noticing the part I play in the system and changing my own inputs into that system, I am already changing it. And the beautiful thing about that is that love has an exponential degree of influence on the system.
The power of one person on earth making loving decisions to engage their relationship with God, feel their emotions, and follow their loving passions has powerful reverberations across the world. We are not weak, insignificant creatures by any means. Your significance does not relate to the uniform you wear, the badge you got, the diploma you received, or the title you were granted. God sees every last loving choice you’ve made in your heart.
The Example of Jesus
We can use Jesus as an example. The Jews at the time wanted a mashiach who would lead them into battle against their oppressors. What they got was a peaceful, gentle, earnest, kind, and humble man who responded to violence with love and always stood for truth even if his life was threatened. Jesus was not born with these qualities but had to prioritize his relationship with God and seek ever more love and understanding to receive knowledge from our Creator. When he became at one with God, he had the knowledge of God’s Laws written on his heart and there was no question that he would stand for truth from that point on. It wasn’t even a matter of having courage. It was just a matter of having knowledge.
Many people love to point to the story of Jesus supposedly overthrowing the tables at a temple as an example of a display of righteous indignation. This myth is used to justify great amounts of violence across the earth. Thankfully, AJ has cleared up that story by explaining what really happened.
Clerics were charging many times more money for someone to sacrifice an animal inside the temple walls instead of outside. Jesus noticed this and pointed out that what caused the far greater expense was made by the difference of a few meters of space. Those that heard him followed the anger in their hearts and a riot ensued.
When we hold unloving emotions inside of us, we are like that wolf backed into a corner. We may not pull the trigger, but we load the bullets.
The Results of Judgment
The mass of judgment that we level against our brothers and sisters in Russia, China, the Arab world, and other places has real world effects. Our unloving emotions will follow natural processes to carry out their awful toll even if we cannot see those processes in motion or fully understand them. Even the Israelis who are committing a genocide against Palestinians as I write this article are subject to a mass of judgmental emotions being swung at them that is making it more difficult for them to feel their fear emotions. Instead, they resort to following their anger.
Our unloving emotions degrade our condition of love and increase misfortune in our lives. But should we choose to release them and commit acts of love in the world, we turn our negative input in the system to a hyper-charged energy that helps to bring about peace.
It might not be obvious how love changes someone. Sometimes it can turn a frown into a smile. Other times it can make someone want to clean up their messy room or prepare a healthy meal.
We cannot always see the results in plain view but they are there and they matter. The key is to feel the difference in ourselves when we take actions. What came up in me just then? A feeling of joy or one of pain? And if we are so used to engage the addiction of self-punishment, it may be difficult to discern the difference at first. Over time, as we begin to dismantle this addiction, we can come to see the difference. That evidence is as good as seeing someone smile or noticing their life improve, all the way to seeing buildings and business restored in war-torn areas.
Including God in the Process
As we learn to love ourselves, have compassion for our current condition of love, and take steps to grow, we must try the experiment of including God in the process. Ask that God’s Love and Truth may come to you and always pray for Ler guidance. Then compare the times when you sincerely pray to when you pray not at all. Is there any difference in what you manifest? Do you get answers slower or quicker when you include God’s help in the process?
I can tell you emphatically that, for me, things are always easier when I ask for God’s help. I have been undergoing a process of change for many years and whenever I ask for help from our Parent, the process is not only smoothed over significantly but also speeds up. It’s only when I come across highly resistive emotions like anger that it slows down. But I ask for God’s help in those moments too and Le doesn’t disappoint.
It is so important to see how you have the power to change the very lives of people in war-torn regions. Forget about the presidents and the military chiefs and the weapons manufacturers. What will you do today to change the course of history?
Creating Love in the World
America does not allow foreign countries to meddle on our borders or shores but we go far and wide to meddle across the borders and shores of other countries. Everyone else sees the double standard. When will we?
An ideal means nothing unless we live by it. Who will be the first to take the courageous step to notice our corruption and take it upon themselves to make important changes in their own lives to live in Truth as well as stand for it?
Perhaps we can change a street fight into a demonstration of loving restriction, take the martial out of martial arts, and change our militaries into peace forces. If we will not drop our armaments tomorrow, let’s at least study the ways of love, seeking guidance and support from the champion of Love, our Beloved Parent.
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