Cause and Effect

The horrific acts by a 22-year-old gunman in Kauhajoki Finland Tuesday put me to question
the effects of such violence unleashed upon the world..
I do not wish to embellish the shooter by publishing his name...I do not wish to make account of the incident or responses of that community and all those across the world it has impacted..
My doing so may inadvertently add weight and power to the enormous volume of pain it has already created..
Details are widely attained if it is your interest...
For myself there is no consolation in the aftermath of such violence that this man is now dead..
That he can no longer be the cause of further violence..
My motivation is rather the response we as individuals living lives in the same world may have...
Initially I shake my head and question Why?
What is the use of it?..Why is this kind of act allowed in a universe that has no value other than the process of the continuance of life?
When the shock of that question has time to stabilize the answer is obvious...If I am willing to bear it..
If I can honestly deal with the truth..
I can't go there today though...
Man, I can't even begin to surmount a argument in support of some
self inflicted tid bit of contemplation that fly's in the window due to the catastrophe that this universe is...
...I am sorry....I am just too fucking upset.
What I do have is the following to help me get through this day...I am writing it in hopes it will help you through also..
The cause and effect of this world...What makes a good thing come in to the world, or a bad thing come into the world are both independent of one another...One cause can not over come the other...
A million bad causes can not take over the world as long as there is one good cause included in the world.
So, today I am gonna' try real hard to put out good causes in the universe...Yeah, I guess it's to make me feel better too...But I feel bad you know?...I feel bad for the universe today...I think the universe needs some tender loving care..

The Role of Religion in the New World

It's not my fault..I was instigated...
The Pope's lesson on the necessity to allow God to
make determination of the end of life drove me to it..
"People must accept death at the hour chosen by God"...
Pope Benedict XV1....
I love this Pope...He is a truly compassionate being...
He reminds me of Pope Paul the sixth..Another compassionate being...
Apparently some European countries decision to integrate a more human element of control concerning the issue of euthanasia fueled the Roman Catholic Church's decision to speak currently on the issue...
Per the Associated Press's article I read on yahoo...Belgium and The Netherlands have legalized euthanasia, and France is in the midst of renewed debate on the issue..
The teaching of the Church concerning this subject has not changed...It is based on the same sanctity of life, moral view that encompasses the Church's 'right to life' stand on abortion..
Abortion, euthanasia, are social issues today due to seedlings of thought beginning with the cultural revolution of the 1960's and 70's...
I believe those seeds have been cultivated by way of technological advances in natural sciences starting in the 1980's and still gathering momentum as we speak...
Mankind's horizon's are no longer manageable by the great Religious Institutions.
Faith, as a viable means of spiritual growth finds it's self shouting when a whisper would suffice not more than thirty years ago..
As gains in scientific discipline advent the once socially accepted norm 'we do not have the capacity to know'...begins to crumble and no body can find a legitimate reason to remodel.....
Mankind wants to 'know'...Mankind has always wanted to know...It is the nature of our beings..
Faith has held the high cards because Mankind has not had sufficient tools in the past to present viable challenge to the 'we do not have the capacity to know' ideal...
Questioning is a faith based religion's greatest concern ..
Let me just make the point, this concern is truly not based out of fear, as is the popular view of those who adhere to the concepts of atheism...
Instead I believe the greater concern is actually based in compassion...
The great religious Institutions want to preserve the ideals of Moralism...
As faith becomes a more questionable means of life value, pressure is placed on the shoulders of religion in regard to how society views their total value...
I was raised a Roman Catholic and my introduction to that faith left with me a great respect for Jesus Christ and his gifts to the world..
Christ was a realist and presented his message to a pre-scientific world...
Christ was also a revolutionary teacher in that he did question the status quo..
I believe in the spirit of Christ and I believe that spirit is here with us today...
I don't believe he is one to be found crouching in the shadows of fear...It is not his style..
As Mankind breaks away from faith he must do so cautiously...Man kind survived the ice ages due to his ability to remember the value of 'what got me this far'...Man's duelist role of both predator and prey instinctively ingrained a common sense of caution..
This is a good thing..
The fact is Religious institutions still have a great value to offer 'modern man'...Religious Institution have always taken the great and honorable responsibility of leaders and preservers of Morality...
It is this great and solemn responsibility that dictates these institutions move slowly...It is a prerequisite...Man is ADHD...Religion realizes this...Moral code is like a natural resource...Once given up it can not be restored...
Religious Institution realizes it's own mistakes over the years..It's own failure at it's own Moral code...Again, we are all only human...
I agree with the need for checks and balances working in our lives today...
On one hand, I am thrilled at the advances Man is making in the areas of technologies and science..
We are on the brink of something amazing in regards to man's ability to understand...
It is the self inherent responsibility of those who have chosen to carry the torch of Morality, to insure we venture into that new world together...

Thou Shall Not Kill

There are no creatures alive on this planet that don't survive at the expense of others..
It would be a mistake to propose literal adaption the age old moral pillar Thou Shall Not Kill.
To do so and exist would be impossible...
Even at our most innocent state of conscience our bodies are at work killing to protect us..
Without white blood cells killing invading microbes we would surely die..
With that established it qualifies the concept of 'justified killing'...
In an effort to understand the moral division line of justified or non justified killing, I once again find myself seeking to step through yet another door of perception..
As I am a relative child in experience and skilled process concerning the area of life loosely defined as contemplative..
It has been some time since the text above was written and this text added..
I have however chosen what I believe to be an adequate door of perception for our journey..
INTENT....
As established earlier killing must be allowed, it must be justified within the realm we live..
Without that license, I for one could not bear to view the despair of life as we know it..
There would be no hope for us as spiritual beings..
I do not believe in my heart, that it is the nature of the universe to exist such a realm by which spiritual growth is unattainable..
Man's typical hierarchy of life puts Human's at the top of the list then 'animals' and 'apples' somewhere down below..
This conception is a result of Man's self-centered ness...
It is a notion that has always bothered me and taken many moons of reflection to sort out...
Self-centered ness in and of itself is inherent in all life forms as we currently know them..
It is a necessary developed instinct common to all in a world based upon survival of the fittest..
However Human kind have taken up the flagship of 'self' to the extent of inflicting such conflict and violence
not seen by any other life form..
Couple this 'ego' with a creative intellect and all other life learns quickly to run for cover..
So have I surmised that the degree of self-centered ness practiced in the act of killing will greatly effect
the INTENT of the killing..
It is the value contained in the INTENT of the act that determines the degree of justification or unjustifiable the act it self..
When I was a child of eight years, my Parents bought me a pellet gun as a gift..
My Father was an avid fishermen and hunter..
I am sure he meant it as my introduction into a form of recreation he so enjoyed..
As was my first fishing pole and reel...
Both my Parents held a reverence for nature and that value was instilled in me..
The golden rule: What ever was killed was to be eaten for food..
I would accompany my Father on fishing and hunting trips although I was too young to hunt, and
too distracted by my surroundings to be a patient fisherman.
I did however experience the excitement of the catch..
Initially I was allowed to target practice with my pellet gun in the back yard..
One day however, my Father and I went on an excursion in the woods near our home.
I brought the pellet gun along..The memory of the excitement of the catch was my
determination for bringing the gun with me that day..
A group of small blackbirds were feeding on the forest floor and I decided I should try to
shoot one of these birds..I did so from a distance and succeeded in only wounding a bird, not killing it
right out...
I approached the fluttering bird as it struggled between life and death..It was in obvious great pain, great fear,
helpless and innocent...
The excitement of the kill only a moment ago was now completely alien to me..
My heart burst for what I had done, for no good reason, to another life...
I stood over the dying bird with the pellet gun still in my hands...A great overwhelming sadness enveloped me
and with no other thought than to end it's suffering,
I emptied the remaining pellets into the bird until I was certain it was dead.
I have continued to fish from time to time over the years..My Father, a knowledgeable man, advised me
the nervous system of fish is primitive in the evolutionary scheme of things..Fish don't feel much pain
as I perceive it to be...
Much to my Father's disappointment however, I never picked up a gun again..
The first INTENT in the example is one of self-centered ness..
Clearly disrespect coupled with self-centered ness the motivation of intent per the shooting..
The actual act of killing however was with the intent of compassion..
Self-centered quilt no doubt played a role.
This event took place fourty-eight years ago and has resurfaced in my memory from time to time
through out my life...
To this day,I clearly recall the emotions...
I have found that often what becomes apparent stumbling down these little roads of perception
are answers as if depicted in one way road sign warnings..
The answer to 'self-centered ness'...is 'compassion'...
The justification in killing becomes...'with reverence'...