eThoughts : The Need For Devils, Part II

If there are going to be “us and them” distinctions, then why does it have to include a villain? And I’m not buying the argument that such “us and them” distinctions isn’t about devils—just look at what’s afoot in the world, it isn’t exactly joy and communion that are running our distinctions. And I’m not buying the argument that we aren’t creating devils, they just are and we need to recognize them or be eaten alive. If there are inherently “bad seeds,” there’s not enough of them to take over the world without help from other sources. So, hey, folks, assuming we’re not one of the “bad seeds,” we’re either helping them or we’re against them.

Duh, you say? That’s what the “war” is about.

I say, and I’m not the first and I won’t be the last, that if there are devils afoot and they need our help because their devilment cannot be manifested by themselves, well, that’s the end of the story, isn’t it?! How about we don’t help them? If we don’t give those devils energy, they can’t succeed.

Duh, you say? That’s what the “war” is about.

Oh, right. We need to vilify others who are aiding and abetting devils because that purge will eliminate the minion factor. Good grief, how does vilifying help again? That process gives us the duty and the clarity and the right to purge? How did we ascend to such lofty awareness as to make such distinctions in the first place, yet miss the contribution factor we are creating by feeding the devils-can-take-over-the-world-if-we’re-not-busy-labeling-who-they-are syndrome?

Here’s a New Year’s thought or two: Nurture goodness. Let the real devils reveal themselves, as they have to, without our help. Without our help, those devils will just be standing at the door anyway, unable to come in. That will piss them off for sure, but it will be a tantrum, not a take over. Let vigilance be first about our own thoughts and actions. Clean those processes up, and the contaminants will filter out so that we will have more energy for joy. There’s some positive modeling. Did I say we can quit paying attention? No I did not—what I said was that we need to pay more attention than we have been paying, and to an entirely different landscape.

I dare you, I dare us. Or is joy so much harder than devilment that we have not yet evolved enough to know how to embrace joy? After all, it is far easier and of far lesser development to be aggressively against another, than the development it takes to be for each other.

Let the resolution for this New Year and for every New Year until we get it, to let the devils have their due—a tantrum—and to let the rest of creation have its due—each other and the beauty of communion.