On Force

Through our work, we offer tools that have been used by thousands of individuals over the decades. These tools (worksheets, StillPoint breathing, “all of the above,” my pet line in workshops) have healed marriages, families, and individual lives. Daily, whether we are aware of it or not,

we use the tools assimilated from our culture early in our lives. These cultural assumptions pervade every behavior in which we engage. These behaviors, usually unconsciously acquired, produce the results we call our lives. Let’s take a look at the fruits of some of the “tools” used in society today.

Force, in the form of war and terrorism, is a tool relied on for thousands of years to produce a de-sired (of the sire) result. Killing has been deemed a criminal act throughout history. However, criminal acts have not been determined by the action itself or by what law has been broken, but by who sanctioned the act. Is murder justifiable because millions are killed and we call it war? <

If the culture approves of war, attacking and killing the enemy, should we be surprised when children, following the lead of the adults, attack their “enemies”?

KEY THOUGHT—It takes a whole, gentle village to raise a truly human child!

Notice the effect of the myth that the “good guy” kills the “bad guy” and is the “hero”! The cultural assumption that someone who does not agree with us is the “enemy” who deserves our attack, verbal or physical is at the root of this behavior. This cause must be addressed, or our society, especially the children, will pay the price.

Minds trapped in cultural assumtions think suppressing effects is a solution. Does anyone really think that more police with more weapons, applying more force to suppress children solves what is happening in schools and homes across America? Children are acting out what has been modeled for them. There is not enough wealth to cover the cost and that so-called “solution” will never heal the violence that fills our culture.

Institutionalized terrorism exists in many of our prisons. What has been the result of that? A productive society will never generate enough wealth to build the number of prisons necessary to house the criminals that punishment produces. After thousands of years of punishment, it seems obvious that the main result that kind of tool produces is tyrants. If it worked, it would no longer be needed. Punishment is an old belief that leads to abuse, resentment, and less Love—the root causes of crime. Inability to Love is the real issue that needs to be addressed.