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In light of recent worldwide events, namely the death of Osama bin Laden, I find myself questioning if there is a right or wrong here and whether such retaliation only feeds the ego-consciousness even more. I understand the retribution many of the families who lost loved one in 9/11, and the current administration, must feel is necessary, though does it help at all? This is the perfect space to think more about personal power and what it means to have it? Personal power is a state of grace, a flow of life that allows us to accept traumas in life and be at peace anyway. This is the only pathway to justice, I am hearing, because it brings power back to our own hearts - we choose to forgive and let go. It does not leave our suffering or hardship in the hands of bin Laden or any other human being. I feel the angels guiding me to talk about whether or not anyone who has lost a loved one actually gets any grace from the retaliation shown by the Obama administration - and the answer can only be "no". They may be glad this person is gone from this earth, I am hearing the angels say, but that does not change their grief in any way at all. Though we cannot justify the actions of al'Qaida, and we do not condemn the outrage of those who have suffered at bin Laden's hands - power that is peace-seeking must always come through the building of something new, not the death of something that has already created pain for us. After all, what does bin Laden's death mean? Not that we now live in a world without such people, only that he is no longer here. Justice, as a spiritual concept, is not about retaliation. It is about receiving what is rightly ours - receiving life and all that it has to offer, and that includes, sometimes, pain and frustration. But ultimately it is about peace and grace. The death of a person who murdered others, is really only ego-justice as it has nothing to do with our ability to manifest a sense justice within ourselves. Personal power, is about helping ourselves to feel justified in accepting life, that is love, into our physical worlds. That does not mean taking from others, but opening up to what is already there for us to access: the "Universal Understanding" that peace comes from within, that is builds with gracious thoughts of acceptance and prayers for those who seek to destroy. It never, ever comes, the angels are saying with fear, nor the depth of fear that allows another life to taken (or on a personal level another person to be hurt) because we feel that we lack control. We are seeing that bin Laden's reported death has sparked the fear of retaliation from his camp. On top of this, the angels are showing me, it has reignited the grief of the families who have lost loved ones in 9/11 and other such atrocities. This is not, then, the creation of peace. Peace comes to those who have lost a loved one when they forgive and let go of their pain. As challenging as that is, retaliation only ever feeds more pain. It cannot ever heal the past. Personal power, on an individual level, is about challenging ourselves to overcome fear in the face of that feeling we are being hard done by. And to create peace by choosing the example of grace that others before us have been able to present - as said by a Facebook-friend today: an eye for an eye only leaves everyone blind (Mahatma Ghandi). Power inside of ourselves (or empowerment) is generated not in anger, but in the righteousness that such a peaceful stance creates for us. The righteousness is not ego-driven, but says that we can live our lives in peace if we choose to stand back from others' anger and not engage. Instead we have the chance to simply turn back to our own lives and manifest or build more of the peace and grace that we feel. I understand how difficult that is, both globally when terrorism is evident, and personally when we have suffered abuse or mistreatment by others - but as I am often told by the angels around me: whoever said that life was simple, and unchallenging? It's not either of these things, and it is our very personal choice to build a base of personal power which brings grace into our lives. That is, to choose a peace-based justice, over retaliation. When we allow others to dictate how we feel about life, we find it very hard to locate freedom. Find out more about our Personal Power course.
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