An open letter to those interested in peace or war ...

Artur F. Silva artsilva at mail.eunet.pt
Sun Sep 23 17:32:04 PDT 2001


At 18:08 23-09-2001, Julie Hotard wrote:

>A friend sent me this description of a vision from someone of the Choctaw
>Nation of Oklahoma.  I don't claim to understand it, but it is intriguing.
>Any comments?

A very interesting "short novel". Interesting characters - Rabid, the Creator,
Bush, Me, Other (goodness?).

If a Creator ever existed and is still "acting" - which I doubt - than maybe
he has planned everything and the Author of the short novel is right: what
each one of us does is not important.

Anyhow, I don't think that we must enter ONLY in battles that we are
sure to win. There are many worth while fightings were one knows one will
probably lose - even if it is against the Creator (as Bruno, Galilee, and
many others have proved).

Another very interesting point in this short novel is that the conducting
paradigm - exactly as almost all paradigms I have found about this
situation - is Manichaeist: one has to chose about good (God) and
evil (Devil) - and each part thinks that his position is good (good God)
and the other represents evil (bad God - Devil). Or decide that one will
not choose...

In the case of this novel this is clear in the dichotomies proposed:

>People have begun to polarize, calling for war or peace, justice or mercy,
>revenge or forgiveness. Each knows himself or herself to be right, not
>understand why others cannot see it their way.

Please note: war or peace; justice or mercy; revenge or forgiveness.
Manichaeism has been the dominant way of thinking in the occident for
thousands of years. Even a logic of three possibilities is not considered,
and that would be only the degree-zero of any profound paradigm shift.
Suppose this one: War or peace or mercy; revenge or justice or
forgiveness.

But, of course, the Author (of the novel) doesn't believe in the ethics
of our courts of justice. And he is probably right. But to believe that
one can create his own ethics, out of the courts, imply probably a
Martin Luther King, a Ghandi, or a Jesus - but THEMSELVES
and not the ones that speak in their names or using their words.

Regards

Artur

PS: Now it's time for me to go to sleep. And maybe tomorrow I will be able
to decide what I have not been able today. Or choose the correct words...
"Passion-and-responsability" is a great slogan . But what about those
situations where one feels passion-and-responsability "pulling" one way
and also passion-and-responsability "pulling" the other way? Sometimes
things get more clear after one night sleep... Boa noite.

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