{"id":751,"date":"2011-01-17T14:12:25","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T14:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-kings-day-and-the-energy-of-violence.html"},"modified":"2011-01-17T14:12:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T14:12:25","slug":"martin-luther-kings-day-and-the-energy-of-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-kings-day-and-the-energy-of-violence.html","title":{"rendered":"Martin Luther King’s Day and the energy of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

As we observe
\nthis day honoring the life of Martin Luther King, jr., two thought come to mind
\nas particularly relevant, and I hope worth sharing.  <\/span>The first has to do with violence and the second with the
\nintertwining of what I consider some of the most inspiring periods in our own
\nhistory.  <\/span>My first post deals with
\nviolence, the second with Dr. King’s place in history.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

The issue of
\nviolent language has been everywhere since the murders in Tucson, with the
\nusual suspects arguing that it contributed to the carnage (on that I am one of
\nthe suspects) or that they had nothing to do with it, or that everyone does it
\n(That these arguments contradict themselves would bother only people who take
\npersonal and intellectual integrity seriously, a diminishing quality on the
\nright.) I want to add an explicitly occult and Pagan friendly insight here.<\/p>\n

As many of us
\nknow, focus and intent are a part of what makes anything from an energy healing
\nto a magickal working have a chance to succeed.  <\/span>Words have meaning and their meaning is increased when
\nemotional energy is behind them.  <\/span><\/p>\n

When I visited
\nPagan inmates in the penitentiary in Walla Walla I taught them how to cast a
\ncircle as a small group with no tools because athames were not allowed unless
\nout of cardboard. We sat in a circle, got focused, and began breathing
\npeaceful, calm, blue energy into our hearts.  <\/span>Once everyone had lifted a hand to indicate they had concentrated
\nthis energy there, with every exhalation they sent the energy from their hearts
\ninto the center of the room.  <\/span>When
\nit had filled they enlarged the sphere to encompass the group and up to the
\nwalls of the room where we met.<\/p>\n

A few more steps
\nwere required to create a firm circle which are irrelevant to the point I want
\nto make.  <\/span>Initially I would stop
\nhere, and ask them to return to their regular focus.  <\/span>I would then ask them to notice the difference in the room’s
\natmosphere.  <\/span>It was quite dramatic
\nwhen contrasted with the cold hard edge to things that normally permeated the
\nparts of the prison I was allowed to see.<\/p>\n

This is a
\npositive example of how thoughts and emotions can change even a harsh
\natmosphere.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately it
\ngoes the other way as well.<\/p>\n

The use of
\nviolent terms and emotionally charged symbols poisons the environment at a
\nsubtle level.  <\/span>The right is
\noverwhelmingly the guilty party<\/a> today, but along with the racist South the
\nrevolutionary and usually Marxist part of the left were the primary guilty
\nparties in the late 60s and early 70s. 
\n<\/span>But even those of us who were not personally violent could find the
\nlanguage exhilarating as we imagined putting our opponents “in their
\nplace.”  <\/span>The energy of violence is
\navailable to all ideologies and adapts itself to every kind of rationalization.<\/p>\n

In such a
\npoisoned atmosphere weak people, people with weak boundaries at an energetic
\nlevel and holding great anger themselves can get pumped up into committing
\nmurderous acts.  <\/span>For various
\ninteresting reasons, when this violence has an ideological coloration it is
\nusually on the right, but it can be left. But that is another discussion.<\/p>\n

At some point
\nthere is a tipping point as even people on both sides who would never initiate
\nviolence themselves get involved in the belief they act in self-defense, as sometimes
\nthey do.  <\/span>At this point violence
\nrules.  <\/span>I think that while the
\nright is more prone to committing violent acts, the left is more prone to doing
\nthem on an enormous scale once things get out of hand. Mao’s “Cultural
\nRevolution” and Cambodia’s killing fields were orgies of violence and hatred
\nwith few parallels anywhere. But that is also another discussion.<\/p>\n

The bigger point
\nis that violent words and symbols are things of power able to poison the
\nenvironment and undermine the decency of those who use them as well as those
\nwho hear them.  <\/span>The shift from
\nstrong words to violent words is a slippery one and I think that is one reason
\nMartin Luther King can stand as such a beacon of hope today.<\/p>\n

King put what he
\ndid in as big a context as he could, a spiritual one emphasizing love over
\njustice, but only barely so.  <\/span>He
\nwas unrelenting in his struggle for justice, but always sought to put this
\nstruggle, which involved enduring horrendous violence from racist Southerners,
\nin a encompassing spiritual context of love, compassion, and forgiveness.  <\/span>Ultimately he paid with his life, but
\nin a great many ways he won.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Luther
\nKing  <\/span>did what he did within a
\nChristian context because what is genuinely spiritual in Christianity is strong
\nenough to carry this weight.  <\/span>Today
\nthe Dalai Lama offers another example, within a Buddhist context.  <\/span>The Pagan spiritual traditions have
\nsimilar strengths beginning at least with Socrates and Pythagoras. Even the Iliad<\/i> is arguably not a praise of war, but its critique.  Hopefully we will seek to keep all these examples and more in mind during these
\ndark times.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we observe this day honoring the life of Martin Luther King, jr., two thought come to mind as particularly relevant, and I hope worth sharing.  The first has to do with violence and the second with the intertwining of what I consider some of the most inspiring periods in our own history.  My first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-spirituality","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nMartin Luther King's Day and the energy of violence - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2011\/01\/martin-luther-kings-day-and-the-energy-of-violence.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Martin Luther King's Day and the energy of violence - 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