Finding research that shows that violence begets violence is pretty easy. It’s pretty much common sense and simple logic. Trash in; garbage is computer jargon. If we were to think of the human mind as a computer, it would apply with equal veracity. “If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas” is a saying that gives a physical image to the same logic. Today it is known as the Law of Attraction, as if we have never heard this truth before. But what seems certain is that we have difficulty applying simple logic from one context to another.
The Law of Attraction by any other name simply describes “what would you expect?”
If I physically date certain types of people, then sooner or later I will reveal some of their predominant characteristics. So, if I spend a lot of time with millionaire people, it logically follows that I will “absorb” some of their characteristics. I will be influenced. [Note to self: hang with millionaires]
What is this called “influence”? It is a thought pattern that influences me in one way or another. Influence, like all things here on planet earth, can be good or bad. But influence, itself, is an energetic form. All thought is an energetic form: books, speeches, movies, plays, music. They are all produced with the intention of influencing, as much as this article.
I intend for us to begin to understand and respect the power of our thoughts and therefore our ways of thinking and the resulting influence we have on each other. The idea that we are creating every part of our reality is of utmost importance; because what we think matters (becomes matter or action) and what we say and do influences others. The idea that “God” has something to do with all of this is true only to the extent that any individual has “connected” to the Infinite and received guidance and inspiration to impart their message.
We can create individually, which is the way we can and do experience our own unique lives. And we can and do co-create with others, which is how we have our collective experiences as a family, as a club, as a corporation as a nation. We create through our thought forms that we maintain. However, the best ace up our sleeve for each and every one of us is free will. We can choose to think of our own sovereign decision. In the privacy of our minds with our own absolute choice, we can think anything, take any position, harbor and believe what we want: with the collective or only with our own. Nobody, absolutely nobody, can choose a thought for you.
Here is the basis, in fact, our fundamental freedom. I can hear all kinds of thoughts all day in the press, from my friends, in movies and books, but at the end of the day I am the only one who can sort through the garbage and dispense with whatever I choose. be “no good” for me and keep things that I feel are “good” for me. I choose not to be afraid. I can choose to be creative. I can choose to be free.
Thought forms have momentum; Some more than others. For example, the way of thinking and the resulting behaviors with respect to war have deeply rooted roots in the history of man. It is what has always been done. If we think of a thoughtform like war that has deep grooves in the road while traveling in the car, you can imagine the difficulty of pulling that car out of the grooves let alone another road. The deeper the grooves, the more ingrained the pattern, the more common the behavior. Intellectual thought (human mind) responds with phrases “this is how it is done”; or “so it is”; or “it is our tradition” or “our history”.
Free will gives us the option to do what we want. Many times, however, we move in this rhythm and decide that we no longer like the journey. We want to do something different. (This is certainly no different than changing a habit individually.) But then there is this thing called impulse along with the other thing: that being that we do not know otherwise. The new path is, for the moment, unknown.
The human mind likes to compartmentalize experiences, which is why we have trouble learning something as simple as “sleeping with the dog” as a general principle for living. So dealing with the human mind is the fundamental point to make a change.
For as long as I have lived, I have known about peace and the peace movement and the desire for that change. It has been a form of thought with little impulse, that is to say, a new thought. Over the past 40 years it has been gaining more energy and therefore its momentum has increased. That is, more people at the moment are entertaining, thinking, meditating, considering the idea of ”peace” – the energy of peace – than ever before.
And common sense logic asks, “what can you expect?” Many of us now know and consciously realize that if we participate in war, we can expect more from it. And with a similar thought, we “hope” that if we exhibit more love, we can expect more love.
In doing some research for this article, I came across a wonderful academic article written by Laura E. Weed when she was at the College of St Rose in Albany, NY. You have the right, Why violence begets violence and love makes love possible.
What’s really wonderful about Ms. Weed’s article is that she talks about the biology (science) of the brain when it focuses on “the good” or the “bad.” Using the research of Andrew Newberg, Eugene d’Aqili, and Vince Rause in their book, Why won’t God go away, Ballantine Books, 2001, illustrates the science of changes in the brain when focusing on a violent event as opposed to the biology of the brain when focusing on a spiritual event.
Now remember who chooses where we focus the brain. We make. Each of us has sovereignty over the focus of our thoughts.
Since we can choose where we will or will not focus our thought energy (our spirit), our Life Force, and by the very act of that choice we change the chemistry of our anatomy, then we can legitimately conclude that we are creating all of our own reality. 100% of the time. We are creating 100% of our biology, 100% of our individual experience, and 100% of our collective experience.
Thus, in a small article it is conclusively demonstrated that the Law of Attraction is true: in fact, violence begets violence and love enables love. This is what we can conclude with simple common sense. The amazing is that we control the focus completely.
The reason we undertake a spiritual practice (not necessarily religion) is for self-mastery.
Self-mastery can be summed up as conscious and deliberate control over the focus of the Life Force energy..
Science and spirituality are blurring, aren’t they?