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An article by Sha'Tara...
Death - Abstraction or Reality?
[thoughts from a ~burning woman~ ]
There is an observable dichotomy on this world on the subject of death. Death is both painful, and a painful subject for those who have ‘lost’ loved ones and friends to this implacable foe. Yet death is forever being toyed with, whether by those who practice the black arts of war, those who call it ‘sport’ and those who profit from it and consider it a normal part of life. Now there’s a contradiction!
Death is both a terrible thing, especially when it comes around through perpetrated violence, and a means to profit and pleasure. Consider, not just sports ‘fishermen’ or ‘hunters’ or so-called ‘soldiers’ who kill at the bidding of warlords, but a system that condemns some 40,000 innocents to die of preventable causes – daily – because it happens to be more profitable to kill them than it would be to save them.
Things are so, not because it is inevitable, but simply because of ignorance, apathy and lack of empathy. An Earthian will choose his own life, profit and pleasure over any other life form, including that of members of his own species. That, of course, is the hallmark of a mentally deranged individual. But the individual in this case does not really exist. It is basically a mindless creature that functions within the Earthian hive-mind, a collective that uses his defective reasoning to goad him into mountains of crime that can never be pardoned, expiated and justified in any way. No amount of ‘karma’ could ever wipe out or wash away the crimes committed by Earthians on this world since, well, since the species was ‘created’.
The Earthian is immune to pain and suffering to all but his own person and his close coterie of family and friends. That he still manages to feel, but his reaction is not to seek ways to eliminate the pain-causing source but to get even; to avenge himself on those he believes are the cause of his suffering. His defective reasoning continues to blind him to the simple fact that ‘revenge’ only creates more of the same.
His world is plunging into massive catastrophe. He does not understand that, of course, but he senses it. Enough that he is able to believe his leaders when they say it’s the fault of his nation’s, or religion’s, enemies. Once that dead-beat reasoning is in place there is nothing for it but to ‘send the troops’ to crush these enemies. No wars are ever fought to satisfy crass greed or bloody lust – they are justified with a few stock ‘historical’ reasons: to protect one’s frontier; to punish a perpetrator of aggression; to help a struggling revolution overthrow its dictator and free the oppressed; to evangelize pagans; to establish democratic regimes; to introduce a better way of life with advanced technology for resource extraction, the slogan being that everyone benefits from this. There are other mission statements that are useful as well.
For such lofty goals, what is killing a few million people and the destruction of a nation or two? A mere trifle. As long as ‘we’ can’t feel the pain and suffering ‘we’ are inflicting on others, then it’s all good. The ones who remain alive after ‘our’ war of conquest will be thankful when they receive ‘our’ largesse in refugee camps, or trudge to ‘our’ factories to work fourteen hour days, seven days a week for a couple of dollars a day. They will be jubilant at their wonderful turn of fortune.
Whereas before all they had was basic food, shelter and clothing, and they lived in small family groups on traditional tribal holdings, now they have real money instead. If they aren’t thankful for this improvement in their standard of living, they don’t deserve to live.
Westerners wonder at the spread of Islam in the world. With all the negative publicity against that ‘Jihadist’ movement, how can anyone be attracted to it? There are two reasons.
The first is the same hope that attracted the world to global communism around the turn of the last century. Communism opposed capitalism and promised to free the workers of the world from the highhanded and deadly domination of banking houses and landlords. In a similar vein, Islamic Jihadists have become associated with freedom fighters in the countries that have traditionally been abused, conquered, raped and robbed by Western powers.
The second reason is that Islam still possesses ‘faith fire’ within itself and it provides a much needed aspect of discipline and self-sacrifice now totally lacking in all remaining religions, especially evident within Christianity. Islamic ‘faith fire’ still burns whatever it touches. It can still call people to accept martyrdom for its causes. Enough rank and file Moslems still believe in the purity of their religion, still worship their god Allah in such a way that they are willing to die for Him.
Of course, like all religions, Islam is a violent expression of worship. It may well conquer the world with its blend of religious ‘fanaticism’ and strident political goals though I don’t see that happening. But what does that matter? It all spells more bloodshed. More massacres of innocents. The suffering endured is the same, whether it is meted out by anarchists, freedom fighters, soldiers, ruthless dictators, religious fanatics or greedy multinational corporations. What does it matter in whose name, or under what banner, the enslaving and the killing is done?
It is an endless cycle of death. For as long a death is sensed as abstraction and accepted as reality; as long as people remain inured to the suffering of others; as long as they refuse to consider how their own ways contribute to that suffering, how can anything change?
Questions:
Is death, or violence or so-called natural causes, a necessity, an inevitability?
If the answer is ‘yes’ then fine. All crimes committed against life are de facto justifiable.
If the answer is ‘no’ then how is it circumvented, prevented, abolished?
There is a gentle voice in my mind whispering the answer. But that’s my voice. You need to hear your own small whisper hinting at change.
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"do unto others - BEFORE - they do unto you!" peace - tom.
Much love,
Mary
All the killing will always go on
All the hate will always go on
All the believing in God's that are not real will always go on
All the love in the world will die with the dead...
Thanks for sharing this article Regis.