I wish "evil" could be banished from political discourse

Here in the United States, our politicians love to spout venomous talk about evildoers, the necessity to combat evil, and how some conflict is a battle between good and evil.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his allies have been doing the same thing in Israel after Hamas terrorists attacked that country on October 7. A Daily Mail story says:

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to 'completely eliminate' Hamas on Saturday night as he revealed IDF forces have been fighting within the Gaza Strip to get rid of 'evil' and 'bring back' hostages.

He told Israeli citizens that the ongoing ground operation is the second phase of the war against Hamas, which he said would see Israeli 'good' triumph over 'evil'.

I don't like that word, evil. When combined with good, it wrongly portrays people, and reality, as being divided into two mutually incompatible camps. That sort of dualism is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous.

Calling people evil dehumanizes them. It reduces complex human beings to a single abstraction, since as soon as we try to come to grips with what "evil" really means, that attempt is doomed to result in failure.

There's no need for the word. Let's use Hamas as an example. 

Hamas terrorists committed horrible atrocities. They killed innocent men, women, and children. That's an accurate way of describing Hamas, though naturally additional details could be given about what they did.

So what's the point in calling Hamas evil? Well, the point is to draw a sharp dividing line between Evil Hamas and Good Israel, just as politicians in the United States did after 9/11 with talk of Evil Al Qaeda and Good America. 

That way atrocities committed by the good guys can be excused as being a necessary side effect of the war against evil. Today Manjit, a commenter on this blog, shared a talk by the UNICEF Executive Director on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. An excerpt:

After little more than three weeks, the devastating tally is quickly adding up, with rampant grave violations being committed against children. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including over 3,400 children, with over 6,300 children injured. This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core. 

Of course, the violence being perpetrated against children extends beyond the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at least 37 children have reportedly been killed. And of course more than 30 Israeli children have reportedly been killed, while at least 20 remain hostage in the Gaza Strip – their fates unknown. 

Thousands of Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in retaliation for the killing and hostage taking of about  50 Israeli children. So tell me: where is the firm line between good and evil here? Isn't it true that atrocities are being committed by both sides in the Hamas-Israel conflict?

Sure, we can debate endlessly over who is more good and who more evil. But I think a better approach is to cease using terms like "good" and "evil" and simply talk about the specifics of any given situation.

If it's wrong for Hamas to kill Israeli children, then it's wrong for Israel to kill Palestinian children. Each side can justify the wrongness by saying that the killing was necessary to achieve a desirable end, but that doesn't make killing children the right thing to do.

An Israeli historian, Gil Troy, had an opinion piece published in the Jerusalem Post back in August 2023. Here's an excerpt from "Israeli, American politics are theological good-versus-evil battles."

Clearly, epidemics of horrific leadership and atrocious behavior haunt two of the world’s greatest democracies. This rampage of recklessness left and right reflects three big, broad, bad trends.

First, all-enveloping partisanship made even a confusing, scientific dispute about mask-wearing during COVID, a partisan issue in America – and an identity-signifier. That zealousness reflects the spreading partisan blindness which has MAGA voters ignoring Trump’s alleged crimes and responsible Democrats ignoring Biden’s decline. 

Second, the all-or-nothingness surrounding most controversies has made politics theological, turning debates into good-versus-evil, rather than the better-of-two-evils whereby choices made are properly considered and balanced.

Such fanaticism riles Israelis daily with Channel 14’s pro-Bibi propagandizing as he destroys his legacy piece-by-piece, paralleled by a supposedly pro-democracy movement setting horrific precedents in unpatriotic protests that their opponents will mimic next time.

Finally, the pervasive, invasive, nature of social media freezes, weaponizes, and catastrophizes once-manageable differences of opinion into do-or-die fights between Team Good and Team Evil. 

Comments

[manjit]

Thank you 💓

[Manjit]

https://youtu.be/YRFKkmsDpuw?si=N6LXIMTfEAZRorWl

Israel gets around 4 billion dollars in aid from USA every year, and Biden is seeking for a further 14.3 billion dollar aid package to give to Israel for "Security" right now.

This public money in turn goes back to the USA to purchase weaponry from private arms manufacturers, which in turn leads to double digit share price profits for these peddlers of death:

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/18/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

Which in turn results in modest profits for everyday shareholders in a variety of investment portfolios.

Basically a win, win, win situation!

And when the weapons pile up, they get rid of them on innocent babies, children, women, men, born into a society subjugated to apartheid, poverty, hopelessness and complete disenfranchisement by a racist and extremist occupying force for more than half a century. Ready for the next round of dollar making brown babies to be born!

Meanwhile, US and UK (and India, Germany and Netherlands, to their shame) block global UN resolutions to end this blood lust.

But remember folks, Russia is very, very "evil"...and China, and Iran, and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and anyone else we can sucker you into hating.

Sleep tight, don't let the shabd bugs bite.

[manjit]

https://youtu.be/zMKyH4jCnTE?si=mL0KQnMFEVL6LgKR

https://youtu.be/ZCavNT9pdGM?si=LQNOYQKhToMfgT0o

https://youtu.be/KEUElq-T5TI?si=tj0KzFUhZ6HiqYVN

[Song and dance]

https://www.peacecomms.org/videos/v/lzdftjmdxkectthmee9k93c7ag72pl

[manjit]

Hey Song and Dance, great post. Very important and urgent information to consider, whilst Israel openly and proudly slaughters thousands of innocent civilians, enacts ethical cleansing, commits war crimes, destroys the entire infrastructure of these people who have been subjugated to a brutal system of racist and inhuman oppression, occupation and apartheid for more than half a century, and with the full and unquestioning military, political and financial support of the US and UK governments.

You are clearly a very smart person with their finger on the pulse of what is important.

But don't worry, whilst your plainly sincere and obvious concern for the poor oppressed women of Gaza by the beastly, Evil and inhuman Hamas Islamists is touching, it's okay because there'll be far fewer women or children wanting to dance soon enough, as they've been slaughtered or dismembered. So we can be thankful of that at least!

And besides, those humane, morally superior Israelis have got them covered:

https://youtu.be/QihoBuGRVwU?si=EZWxk2GV2Qr_ua2B

https://youtu.be/oPcs7Fq-OkE?si=axo1TCl9TRPRtpAN

Ahh, so sweet, even getting the children involved.

Remind me again how decent we are, I keep slipping into delusions that the reality is quite, quite different....

[manjit]

https://youtu.be/_6mlqInlIwM?si=PV-uGpqK16m0f-di

https://youtu.be/8CoZ-OKXxvs?si=c-q9NeTmWe2Oe3pG

https://youtu.be/7YCL4JjASo8?si=th29H_TouC0iTyBY

https://youtu.be/TydiNkL5jGY?si=aRR9uPY2NAE5d0tT

[Spence Tepper]

Darkness cannot end darkness
Only light can do that.
Hatred cannot end hatred.
Only love can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hating what is wrong will not solve any problem. It becomes a self-promoting addiction. And when hatred becomes its own religion, you end up with war.

The hatred of one side, or both sides, leads to support for the very "evils" you decry.

The only solution will be a diplomatic one, resting on respect for all life, and all beliefs. Respect for Palestinians. Respect for Israelis.

Yes, there are bad actors. But they will not solve the problem. There are other actors there, too, sincere ones.

Everyone has a right to live in peace where they are. To see that, to point to that, to raise this in the conversation, this is the only solution.

Terrorism is Evil.
But evil can be found in many places, even within ourselves.

To eradicate it requires a focus on the opposite. Because evil arises in the absence of good. It is a vacuum of understanding and connection. And we all carry some of it with each of us. The Terrorist has fed it.

When anyone believes it is right to murder innocent people, for any reason, evil has taken hold.

And when anyone understands we are all children of the same Father, and must learn to love one another as we love ourselves, they are moving forward.

[manjit]

https://youtu.be/qeXlnKCGzXE?si=17xL2ZxNke-g3I4y

https://youtu.be/n8Y57ULVqC8?si=YvsHq_ZCuOQ0J3Iq

[Sant64]

Israel is openly and unapologetically committing war crimes, funded by the U.S. government and endorsed by its president, and the American public is told to love it or have their lives ruined if they speak out against it. I find this horrible and sickening.

[Spence Tepper]

When we blame others for being "Evil" we are actually avoiding responsibility for the evil within ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with the word, only using it as a stick when we ourselves have committed crimes.
That Hammas committed atrocities is a fact. And those who committed the crimes are directly responsible.

But they didn't act in a vacuum. And so the causes must be explored and understood with an open mind. And there, the issues will emerge...how parents teach their children, and how brutality fuels hatred and becomes terrorism.

That Israel is committing atrocities is a fact. And those who committed the crimes are directly responsible.

But they didn't act in a vacuum. And so the causes must be explored and understood with an open mind. And there, the issues will emerge... how parents teach their children, and how terrorism fuels hatred and becomes brutality.

But does understanding these things lead us anywhere without an understand for how we can help the innocents among these peoples to live in peace, respect, love and freedom?

There are more Palestinians and Israelis ready and willing to do this than their government leaders...And many within those same governments.

Let us find them, support them, help them join hands across the table.

When we choose to pile on more hatred and blame instead, we ourselves support the perpetrators.

When you choose to blame as the main channel of your activity, you are choosing to avoid personal responsibility. And thus contributing to the problem.

Put more light on the solution.

Don't shout at the darkness, light a candle.

"But denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works, and proves a popular temptation. Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."
William Watkins, in 'The Invincible Strategy'.

[Spence Tepper]

Oops, William Watkinson, in his 1907 sermon "The Invincible Strategy".

[manjit]

Hi Spence,

Perhaps you have conflated a gaslight with a candle?

Even as you gaslight Palestinians (by, for example, claiming they learn hate from their "parents" rather than from those who have imposed a brutal, racist, apartheid system on their entire peoples for 75 years, etc), I do certainly agree with you on one thing...be a candlelight in the darkness, not a gaslight, and certainly not darkness/silent.

Here are some beautiful examples of candle lights, all over the world, being censored by our media and politicians.

But the world has changed, the lies, censorship, manipulation, distortion, abhorrent cowardice can be seen by all, all over the world. It is said when Germans were asked after WW2, "how could you let it happen", they replied "we didn't know it was happening". This cannot be used as an excuse now. I highly recommend everyone listen to all of these, to what actual decent, brave people are thinking and doing, as opposed to the lies our governments and media are telling us. REAL CANDLES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I7W99OVcjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewyU9UPVUsk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhVdkvJrrwI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDl8v0a5iIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru3hiIvrVpU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zk-ElrglDM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-TYCkyInJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHYLyYaB6e0

[manjit]

And let's not forget!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PAD-skz2-4

https://twitter.com/mbeisen/status/1716556747710574931

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/1/craig_mokhiber_un_resignation_israel_gaza

Candles, not gaslights, not darkness.

[Sant64]

Touching on the topic of the average German's knowledge of what went on in the camps, I don't feel they were making excuses when they said they were ignorant of what transpired behind the barbed-wired walls. For the general German population, it was not widely known. The Nazi regime implemented a policy of secrecy and censorship regarding the Holocaust. They went to great lengths to keep the mass murder of Jews and other targeted groups hidden from the public. This included using euphemisms and veiled language when referring to these actions. There were also severe penalties for anyone spreading information about the Holocaust.

In light of that ignorance, the German people of the WWII era can't fairly be denigrated for being "evil" If we look at the details of the ascendency of Hitler and his grasp of power, the German masses were pulled along step by step to follow Hitler's directives. At the outset of the war, neither these masses nor the German generals wanted anything to do with conquering all of Europe. But "evil" manifested itself in seemingly reasonable increments, and once a tyrant has absolute power a tremendous social momentum kicks into action. Thus "evil" acts occur in the worship of authority, of family honor, of loyalty to one's comrades, of fidelity to one's tribe.

And so, the average 1940s German was on the same moral plane as the average Iraq war era American. The regimes of each respective era used a combination of propaganda, censorship, and fear to control the flow of information.

So powerful is a regime's ability to mold public opinion that tremendous enormities can be accomplished with the public's applause. Few are entirely evil. But few are entirely innocent either.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Manjit
You wrote
"Even as you gaslight Palestinians (by, for example, claiming they learn hate from their "parents" rather than from those who have imposed a brutal, racist, apartheid system on their entire peoples for 75 years, etc)"

But you ignored what I actually wrote

" That Hammas committed atrocities is a fact. And those who committed the crimes are directly responsible.

"But they didn't act in a vacuum. And so the causes must be explored and understood with an open mind. And there, the issues will emerge...how parents teach their children, and how brutality fuels hatred and becomes terrorism."

Brutality from Israel...

" That Israel is committing atrocities is a fact. And those who committed the crimes are directly responsible."

What you have done is to erase what I wrote.

The point, Manjit, is peace, respect and freedom. That starts with acknowledging the innocents on both sides.

That starts with giving voice, not to blame, but to the innocent Israelis and Palestinians on both sides. But today they are largely voiceless. A mob of hate mongers on both sides are throwing stones. They are using the innocents to justify destroying them.

Unfortunately hatred is taught, it is learned, and when racism is part of that, it is difficult indeed to eradicate it.

But, dear Manjit, that starts with ourselves, within. Our own examination of why we choose to blame rather than engineer peace, respect and freedom. Those things must be built carefully, painstakingly, like any worthwhile thing.

"You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

" You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught.

" You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be carefully taught.

From South Pacific by
Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers

[Spence Tepper]

Hi SantMat64
You wrote
"So powerful is a regime's ability to mold public opinion that tremendous enormities can be accomplished with the public's applause. Few are entirely evil. But few are entirely innocent either."

It's happening right now, here and now, again. The manufacturing of hatred and the fuel of war.

But it is just as easy for any individual to advocate building peace, freedom and respect. It starts with acknowldging the humanity within all peoples, and looking past the propaganda machinery of both sides.

If anyone finds themselves hating one side or the other to such a degree that they believe war is the only viable solution, the propaganda machine has gotten its claws into them.

[umami]

The majority of chess pieces just want to have fun and go to each other's barbecues, but what happens? Their overlords divide them by color and rank and pit them against each other on the gameboard.

[manjit]

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/11/gaza-running-out-time-un-experts-warn-demanding-ceasefire-prevent-genocide

Tick tock oh great and morally righteous and superior Americans, Tick Tock.

Y'all spent the last year in moral indignation and horror at the Evil Russians, and their insane leader.

Oh how the cognitive dissonance must hurt your heads with the FACT that more children have been killed by Israel with American bombs and with their complete and unquestioning blessings in 3 weeks, than if the Ukraine war went on for 15 20 years. Quite staggering if you consider Ukraine has a population 15 20 times the size of Gaza ... and Americans are BLOCKING calls for a ceasefire (with the cowardly UK government abstaining...at least not blocking the call, which surely is about as close to "Evil" as you can get?)? Huh? Supplying bombs for genocide, spending huge amounts of public money on more weapons to murder babies, and blocking calls for a humanitarian ceasefire? Y'all cheered so much when the enabler of genocide, Biden, was elected!

The masks and lies have fallen, and now they can't hide. Only the most gullible automatons in society, lacking genuine intelligence and the ability to think freely, will ever be to delude themselves of the West's moral superiority in any conflict, ever again.

What informed, independent, intelligent people with humane and just hearts have been able to see all along, now the masses are seeing it.

Read what is being said on social media platforms for the people's voice and view, not the attempts at brainwashing by media and governments who are clearly under the hypnotic sway of blood money. Western people, genuinely confused by the BLATANT hypocrisy and double standards of their own governments and media (the rest of the world already knows it, and has done for decades).

It's easy enough to say & do; end this insane genocidal course of action that risks the security of all Jewish and Western people (again, bin Laden committed the 9/11 atrocities mainly due to the Palestinian occupation...and this current situation is many degrees worse than it was then, and potentially will be the genocide of an entire peoples. How do you expect the world to react? Will you again, like the intellectual imbecile Sam Harris, blame nothing but Islam and madness for the revenge atrocities that will occur..and they WILL occur... and develop the amnesia that occurred in 2001, and delude yourselves into how could this have happened to US, such innocent, beautiful, righteous benefactors and spreaders of democracy and freedom, these people must be insane and "evil" to attack us?), and give Palestinians their freedom, own land, self governance etc. Immediately. If they commit any attacks then, then it should be dealt with by an international defence force. Of course, Palestinians would have no reason to attack then, they are a very gentle peoples (the few I have briefly known were beautiful human beings), despite the ugly dehumanisation of them in Israel and large sections of the US media.

CEASEFIRE NOW.

[Kranvir]

Another lie that is being exposed is that Gurinder singh Dhillon is God on earth and rssb is the way to heaven.
The reall truth is that Gurinder is infact kaal, Lucifer, satan and he is used to collect innocent souls to his lord and master - jot niranjan. This is where deluded souls suffer the pain of birth , living and death for eons until they wake up to the circus show. Judge the fake ass gurus from their actions, do a simple Google search on gurinder singh dhillon truth and wake up to his evil side he has so desperately tried to hide - take the brave step sangat, your life will change for the better. Gurinder Singh Dhillon your days are numbered, you will have to face your karma.

[manjit]

Brian wrote:

"Then there's been U.S. involvement in a bunch of military actions. Can't remember much about them."

and

"And to those who may be thinking, What about the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq?, I'd respond that those situations are quite different from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Afghanistan harbored those responsible for 9/11 and was dominated by the repressive Taliban. Iraq was ruled by a cruel tyrant, Saddam Hussein.
True, Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, as the Bush administration wrongly alleged. But the United States set a goal of making Iraq into a democracy, which was to our credit. Putin has no interest in democracy. He only cares about the raw exercise of power and re-establishing the old Soviet Union to the greatest possible extent."

and

"Today I heard a CNN interview with Wesley Clark, a retired U.S. Army general who was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000.

He supported Ukraine getting cluster bombs,"

and

"Whenever a story about Ukraine appears on MSNBC or CNN, I perk up my ears.

The Ukraine war is a highly just war."

etc etc.

Brian - will you watch this 80 min documentary which is without doubt the best analyses of war coverage on CNN you'll ever see/not see? Will you choose to confront uncomfortable truths about your own self, or choose to snuggle up to cosy lies about the "other"?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqx8Zzav5oo

Earlier today I went over to the Radhasoamistudies forum to see if there has been any comment on the current crises, and predictably there was not even the slightest acknowledgement that anything untoward was going on in the world, even whilst our governments enabled genocide. And it's not because these RSS folks are above politics and other banalities, quite the contrary I would say, the silence is precisely because of politics.

Except for one poster, Vajrasrijnana. The link to the above video is something he posted recently and I watched today.

I find this most warm and amusing.......after posting on forums about RS for 20 years, and discussing and debating with what must be by now a 100 or so current believers and meditators in the RS tradition, Vajrasrijnana is the ONLY one, literally, whom I thought and sensed had a deep and persistent connection to some kind of authentic "altered state of consciousness", and I got that impression instantly. He is also the only RS adherent I've come across who had a deep and broad understanding of the history and practice of shabd yoga in context of other traditions, like Buddhism or tantra for eg. I actually learnt some things from his posts! It is no surprise to me he is the only one with enough humanity and decency to even hint something wrong is being done in OUR name.

After posting for some 20 years on the RSS forum, I closed my membership account around March 2022 and haven't posted since. I only infrequently check out the forum nowadays, and even then just to flick through Vajrasrijnana's posts (although James Bean throws in the occasionally interesting post, my personal interest in all things RS has just about hit complete rock bottom!).

One of the main reasons I left that forum was due to the blatantly hysterical double standards and hypocrisy about the Ukraine war, as was also evidenced by Brian and vast swathes of unthinking Western masses. Here is parts of one of my very last comments on that forum in March 2022 I think it very relevant in context of the current crises, and this very blog post:

"RSS Poster: Bro, as much as I’d like to agree with you in general these days, I hope you can take another look at Ukraine here.

A modern free country of 40 million much united in fighting to the death for their freedom, against ridiculous odds, pretty much neutralizes any ideas about whatever historical “right” or sympathy Putin might perceive here , dont you think?
I have a hard time finding modern parallels in the type of actions you reference, as dubious as some of them might have been.

If he continues bombing civilians, hospitals at this point, under these ‘justifications”, it’s hard not to see him as a unique and dangerous , possibly unhinged evil, isn’t it?

##########################
My reply (parts of, link to full post is beneath):

Let me be absolutely clear; I abhor Putin and those of his ilk. I abhor the despotic way he runs his country. I would rather live anywhere in the western world than Russia, China, Iraq, Afghanistan or most other countries. I abhor and condemn all acts of aggression and war.

But, I'm sorry, I vehemently disagree and actually find deeply unpleasant what you are suggesting here:

"A modern free country"

"united in fighting to the death for their freedom, against ridiculous odds"

"I have a hard time finding modern parallels in the type of actions you reference, as dubious as some of them might have been."

I find these comments so demeaning and fundamentally rooted in ignorance that I find it exceptionally difficult to engage with; so I will only do so once.

You see, when an American drone kills dozens of innocent children in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia or wherever else, and does again the following day, and the following day, and for years on end.........I do NOT find that any the LESS abhorrent or inhumane because it is not done in countries that are not, apparently, "modern" or "free" (euphemisms for white?).

So, again, our UK papers had the picture of a singular Ukrainian girl aged 10 who was, tragically and abhorrently, killed by Russian military with the words "coward", "insane" and all these other true and just words about Putin and his murderous intent.

My point was, WHERE were these same newspapers when USA and UK, Bush & Blair, were killing innocent children by the hundreds? Or when Obama authorised more drone attacks than any previous leader in history?

Please, don't repeat the words "modern" or "free", I couldn't give two shits about these kind of self-serving justifications for the horrors of war crimes committed on non "modern" or non "free" countries.

Putin has justified his murderous intent by using the mindless labels of eliminating nazism, freeing the people and all this other nonsense - much like the nonsense and factually proven lies the UK & USA used to brainwash their own populations to justify their greed based invasion of Iraq which - AGAIN - led to the deaths of 300,000 innocent men, women and children.

And this is just a tiny fraction of the abhorrent and inhumane actions the "free" and "modern" west" has imposed on, let's be honest, non-white countries without any kind of accountability to this very day!

The USA continues to politically, financially and militarily support the ongoing, inhumane oppression of the Palestinian people, for example.

To refer to these unimaginable horrors on a scale that the Ukraine war hasn't even begun to scratch as "dubious" leaves me with absolutely no doubt where you biases lie. It is not in horrors, or wars, or the deaths of innocent children......but WHICH horrors, WHICH wars, WHICH children.

I do not and can not play that game. I cry for that child in Ukraine, I cry for the thousands killed with the implicit approval of UK or USA governments and their country's media.

Finally, in regards the hysteria of a certain demographic in the west over this war, knock yourselves out. I understand fear and insecurity and the plays of the ego which make it so. But war has always been with us. Doesn't make it any more horrific on a human and humane level just because it's on your own doorstep.

Peace."

I am impressed by my own prescience.

Please note the original poster I was replying to wrote in their final sentence: "If he continues bombing civilians, hospitals at this point, under these ‘justifications”, it’s hard not to see him as a unique and dangerous , possibly unhinged evil, isn’t it?"

Evil? Dangerous? "justifications", "unhinged"? Possibly, yes. But certainly not "unique".

Why the silence when it is your own government supplying the bombs and providing political cover, my dear fellow human beings? This seems.....wrong....weak.....disgraceful....I don't know, these words don't convey the level of seediness in your position for me?

The hypocrisy is ugly to behold. Personally, I don't believe in "evil". My use of it is purely to point out the hypocrisy of Western governments, media and automaton civilians. But there is certainly a "darkness" at the heart of US government and society today.

Anyway, I feel the time was right to leave that forum then, and I think I've overstayed both my welcome, and my own interest, here, so will make this my last post. It feels right.

I would like to say, I don't think it's a coincidence Vajrasrijnana is the only one on the RSS forum even hinting something is amiss with what is going on today in OUR OWN COUNTRIES, and he is also the only one that, immediately, I sensed had "something" about him that went beyond and much deeper than mere words, and superficial, sporadic "inner experiences".......I think without genuine and authentic love, compassion, empathy for ALL human beings as opposed to the tribal, ideological, racial kinship we feel with certain groups whilst dehumanasing others, there can be no genuine, authentic "mystical realisation". There is no colour, race, gender, country, ideology of the "soul" or consciousness. We cannot enter that "space" unless we shed all these things, authentically and not just for show on blogs and forums. Pakhand, or pretending, is of no use there....I know of a satsangi who was shabd this and shabd that but was paralysed with fear for an entire Ayahuasca journey, pursued by a terrifying demonic force. Don't do pakhand. Be authentic. First learn how to love one another without boundaries, biases and bigotry before you think you can reach the ocean of boundless love that is the "divine".

Without love, a million of years of shabd yoga will take you nowhere. Nowhere at all. A second of real, authentic, unconditional love, without any guru, shabd or concepts at all, will take you to the highest of heavens in an blink of an eye. Imo of course.

Thanks to Appreciative Reader, Really?, S, UM and, quite surprisingly, Sant64 (or as I will always know him, YN :) for having taken at least some time to at least mention something is rotten here, with our OWN governments.

May we ALL live in love, peace, happiness and joy.

Blessed Be.

manjit