The Warrior -- Carlos Casteneda

[J. Paul Everett]

In a message dated 10/14/01 9:35:52 AM, jsmith at mosquitonet.com writes:

<< If the higher ideal of a particular kind of warrior is to Be in the world
without

coercion, force, or violence, then the "war" is being fought on a different

playing field, the field of the inner self.   Who is to say the battle we wage

within ourselves is not the most important battle of all? >>

Dear Julie Smith, et. al,

The above assumes that you are left in peace and alive to wage the inner
battle, which, for many people, isn't true (ask the Cambodians, Tutsis,
Serbs, Gypsies, Guatamalans, Colombians, Kuwaitis, South Sudanese, etc.).
Jung also said the first 40 years of life are used to ground ourselves in
this world so that we can use the presumed next 40 years to wage the inner
struggle with the Shadow, the anima/animus, etc., without being knocked off
our pins, so to speak.  On the other hand, the below is also sometimes true,
imho.  It's a bit of in-your-face humor with some significant reality in it.

I think we need an in-depth understanding that there are a large number of
people in this world who are not interested in inner development and peace
but rather they are deeply interested in power and especially power over
people and events.  I'm not a psychologist but I suspect the power sickness
is more prevalent than we would like to imagine.  Plato worked rather hard on
this issue in his 5th Republic.  We haven't made much progress understanding
this "need" to control others through power.

Most religions also need to confront this issue when they say their belief
system is the only way to God and you'd better believe that or I'll kill you
(or you're going straight to Hell, etc.).  Which has happened in the past and
is happening right now in many parts of the world.  This is a form of
religious power that clerics wield.  And, imho, there are a significant
number of people on this list who are very, very uncomfortable with power and
want themselves and others not to have it.  That's not the way of this world,
again imho.

The in-your-face "humor":

What to do if you happen upon a peace rally:

1) Approach a person talking about "peace" and saying there should be, "no
retaliation."

2) Engage in brief conversation; ask if military force is appropriate.

3) When he says "No," ask:  "Why not?"

4) Wait until he says something to the effect of:  "Because that would just
cause more innocent deaths, which would be awful and we should not contribute
to continuing the cycle of violence."

5) When he's in mid-sentence, punch him in the face as hard as you can.

6) When he gets back up to punch you, point out that it would be a mistake
and contrary to his values to strike you, because that would, "be awful and
he should not contribute to continuing the cycle of violence."

7) Wait until he agrees that he has pledged not to commit additional violence.

8) Punch him in the face again, harder this time.

Repeat steps 5 through 8 until he understands that sometimes it is necessary
to punch back.

And, yes, I know a good bit about the life of Gandhi and how he used
non-violence.  He was doing so in the face of a culture (British) that was
strongly against the taking innocent lives (Marquis of Queensbury rules,
etc.), so they didn't kill him and his movement at the outset.  Contrast that
non-lethal-violence of the British against his movement with the results in
Cambodia or Nazi Germany.  When the aggressor is willing to kill you and wipe
out your way of life, it's time to punch back.  I doubt that any future
terrorist or nut who tries to take over a plane will succeed because nobody
in the future will try to talk them down to the ground.  Already happened on
a flight to LA.  It's time to punch back.

Sincerely,

Paul Everett

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