The root of all war
It's fear.
Or so says Thomas Merton. In particular, the projection of our fears onto others to brew hatred.
Much of the past three weeks for me have been spent thinking about violence, partly because of a personal situation, but also because of the enormity of violence that our world is steeped in. Over the past three weeks, one only has to hear the words "Baghdad," "Virginia Tech," "Imus," "Darfur," "Climate Change," or "Iran" to conjure up images of death, hatred, anger or fear.
Merton says the root of all this fear (and anger, hatred, etc.) is trust, or our lack of trust. It's not merely that people don't trust others, Merton says, but people don't even trust themselves. Merton says, "It is not only our hatred of others that is dangerous but also and above all our hatred of ourselves: particularly that hatred of ourselves which is too deep and too powerful to be consciously faced. For it is this which makes us see our own evil in others and unable to see it in ourselves."
Is it our fear of not being accepted or popular, and the hatred of ourselves that this might unearth, that causes us to say the most outrageous things (Imus)? Is it our fear of isolation and hopelessness, and our own hatred of how this makes us behave toward others, that causes us to want to tear people down (Virginia Tech)? Is it our fear of unearthing our own self-interest, and the hatred of the guilt that this might bring, that makes us deflect our selfishness onto others (Baghdad, Darfur, Iran)?
Those are interesting questions to ponder, at least for me. As Merton concludes:
"When we see crime in others, we try to correct it by destroying them or at least putting them out of sight. It is easy to identify the sin with the sinner when s/he is someone other than our own self. In ourselves, it is the other way around; we see the sin, but we have great difficulty in shouldering responsibility for it. We find it very hard to identify our sin with our own will and our own malice. On the contrary, we naturally tend to interpret our immoral act as an involuntary mistake, or as the malice of a spirit in us that is other than ourself. Yet at the same time we are fully aware that others do not make this convenient distinction for us. The acts that have been done by us are, in their eyes, 'our' acts, and they hold us fully responsible."
Or so says Thomas Merton. In particular, the projection of our fears onto others to brew hatred.
Much of the past three weeks for me have been spent thinking about violence, partly because of a personal situation, but also because of the enormity of violence that our world is steeped in. Over the past three weeks, one only has to hear the words "Baghdad," "Virginia Tech," "Imus," "Darfur," "Climate Change," or "Iran" to conjure up images of death, hatred, anger or fear.
Merton says the root of all this fear (and anger, hatred, etc.) is trust, or our lack of trust. It's not merely that people don't trust others, Merton says, but people don't even trust themselves. Merton says, "It is not only our hatred of others that is dangerous but also and above all our hatred of ourselves: particularly that hatred of ourselves which is too deep and too powerful to be consciously faced. For it is this which makes us see our own evil in others and unable to see it in ourselves."
Is it our fear of not being accepted or popular, and the hatred of ourselves that this might unearth, that causes us to say the most outrageous things (Imus)? Is it our fear of isolation and hopelessness, and our own hatred of how this makes us behave toward others, that causes us to want to tear people down (Virginia Tech)? Is it our fear of unearthing our own self-interest, and the hatred of the guilt that this might bring, that makes us deflect our selfishness onto others (Baghdad, Darfur, Iran)?
Those are interesting questions to ponder, at least for me. As Merton concludes:
"When we see crime in others, we try to correct it by destroying them or at least putting them out of sight. It is easy to identify the sin with the sinner when s/he is someone other than our own self. In ourselves, it is the other way around; we see the sin, but we have great difficulty in shouldering responsibility for it. We find it very hard to identify our sin with our own will and our own malice. On the contrary, we naturally tend to interpret our immoral act as an involuntary mistake, or as the malice of a spirit in us that is other than ourself. Yet at the same time we are fully aware that others do not make this convenient distinction for us. The acts that have been done by us are, in their eyes, 'our' acts, and they hold us fully responsible."
posted by MikeJ at
11:14 AM
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