By Jen Peer Rich
Where is violence, really? In the heart of a mad gunman? In the heart of a woman who intentionally blinds herself with chemicals? In the heart of a presidential candidate who takes pride in sensationalizing human suffering?
Who is really violent here?
Maybe it’s me. I am here to own my violence and see through what I have been conditioned to believe.
I have been taught to be violent in my own thoughts and thinking. What about the quality of my beliefs? Am I violent in my mind? What about this very dysfunctional system we are all participating in shapes us to hate ourselves and each other? How about the way we remain busy judging people who are also shaped by dysfunctional systems?
The violence we see each and every single day in modern Western life is a symptom of all the violent beliefs we have been taught to carry.
No one is immune to the psychic violence of judgement. It hurts everyone. It is violent to condemn those who are most traumatized by dominate cultural systems that do everything to make us ALL insecure. It is violent to distance myself with judgement from those who are most oppressed by our alienation from the planet and from each other.
We can talk about the symptoms of our inner alienation all day long, we can make new laws and we can offer as much help to those who are suffering. But until we each begin to investigate how common it is to be violent towards each other in our beliefs and with easy condemnations, we can’t begin to address the roots of this suffering.
Jen Peer Rich is a friend in presence. She lives in Atlanta with 5 rescued weenie dogs and is married to her best friend. Presently she’s working towards a graduate degree in Ecopsychology. She has two books about Nonduality available for free download at Friends in Presence or on amazon kindle. You can also find Jen writing and sharing digital art on the Facebook machine, she’s always open to making new friends.
More by Jen Peer Rich on Beyond meds
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