punishment

In these challenging times of international monetary and cultural upheaval, it is easy to point fingers and seek (myself included) someone to blame for our troubles.

It is especially easy to blame those who are "truly responsible" for the financial mess, those who made billions by looting companies and then went off on multi-million dollar vacations and extravagant business conferences, while people lost their homes and lifetime savings and retirements and health care.

And what about all those moderate and low-income families who took advantage of the highly risky mortgages, assuming financial responsibilities they (perhaps) knew they couldn't afford. Aren't they guilty as well? Do they deserve to be bailed-out (forgiven)?

Taking for granted that quite possibly all of us at one time or another sought 'something for nothing,' isn't it enough that they are now forced to deal with the loss of their homes and the dislocation of their families? Do we really need to add a punishment as well? Are we that unsympathetic?

It is understandable and very human to seek revenge and punishment.

But it is an old energy for an old world that is dying away.

Judgment and punishment were -- and still are -- the primary energies responsible for the conditions on this planet and throughout history. Because once we've sought and delivered judgment and punishment onto another, we can't stop there. It becomes a virus that must be fed, and then laws and cultures and religions and governments are built on judgment and punishment. These judgments and punishments can be disguised as taxation and justice and god, but at their core they are about power over another. And of course, these same energies then become a part of our individual psychological and moral makeup. And we consciously or unconsciously manifest self-judgment and self-punishment. Which makes it even easier to then judge and punish others, because we recognize it in ourselves, but can't attack ourselves, so we must attack others.

And perhaps this has all been appropriate for our growth as a spiritual species.

But it is not appropriate anymore. Now now. Not in the new world being birthed before our eyes.

The election of Barack Obama is a sign of these new times. His inclusion of past 'enemies' in his administration is a sign of these new times. His insistence on not pointing fingers or blaming others for their past actions is a sign of these coming times.

It is, quite frankly, a sign of Christhood, and Krishna Consciousness and the Buddha Heart and the Great Spirit.

And it is an energy that has always been open to us, but which is now flooding the planet. And it is an energy that has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, which is steeped in judgment and punishment.

As Yeshua is reported to have said from the cross: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." What he meant is that those who judged him and crucified him were not evil, but had forgotten the truth of who they are and always were: the Divine made manifest. Love made manifest.

It is exceedingly easy -- and feels good -- to blame another, judge and then punish them. In the old world of three-dimensional linear separation, that made perfect sense. It was always us against them.

But in the new, multi-dimensional world of interconnection, who are "us" and who are "them?"

A corporate executive decides -- for purely personal gain -- rob his own company (though he most certainly has very reasonable reasons for doing it at the time, even if they only make sense to him). People's lives are destroyed. He gets off scott-free. A clear case of a 'bad guy' winning, and one who needs to be punished.

But did he really act alone? Who are his accomplices? An educational system that promoted the one over the many? Laws passed by congressmen and women that allowed his actions? Board members who looked the other way in their own self-interest? Newspapers that didn't report on his actions? People who didn't read the newspapers that did report on it? People who didn't care? People who re-elected the same congress-people? People who cheated others in their own lives and rationalized that this is just the way people are and the way the system works? A culture that rewarded wealth and celebrity at all costs? And on and on.

No one has ever acted alone on this planet. No one ever will. We are all accomplices, whether we like to believe it or not.

And that includes the murderer and the rapist and the genocidal general. Sorry, but that's always been the truth and continues to be the truth.

The most 'evil' people on this planet are a product of the families and the worlds they grew up in. There are, perhaps, those rare and few sociopaths born of genetic and/or birth defects who go on to commit horrendous crimes. But then one could argue that they are not in their 'right mind' and therefore not legally responsible. -- And certainly until the new world is fully birthed we still have to protect ourselves and our families and nations from those who would cause us harm. But in the meantime we can all start practicing a little less judgment and punishment.

"We can't reward those who cause us harm."

The Christ, the Buddha, Krishna would say, "Don't reward them, but also don't judge them and don't punish them. They are not evil. They have only forgotten. As have all of you, at one time or another, whether you choose to believe it or not. And I promise you, you would not like to have your seemingly perfect life judged by another. You would all come up quite short. Luckily, the Divine does not judge and does not punish. It knows you have forgotten. It knows you will eventually remember."

What would happen if we replaced all the prisons with healing centers -- secure ones (this will, after all, take a bit of getting used to for everyone involved).

"Criminals don't deserve to be healed!"

In the new world there are no criminals, only the wounded, who then go out to wound others.

And if we truly want to break the cycle of violence on this planet once and for all, we don't keep perpetuating it through judgment and punishment, which are also forms of violence. We break the cycle with compassion. We break it by placing ourself in the other person's shoes and seeing the world through their eyes. We come to terms with the truth, no matter how difficult, that that person is our brother and our sister. And what we do to them, we do to ourselves. That they have forgotten just as we have forgotten at one time or another. And whether through emotional violence or physical violence, we have all 'killed' someone at some point in our lives. And if not in this life, then most certainly in a past life.

The person who commits the crime, consciously or unconsciously, expects to be judged and punished. That is how they justify their actions to themselves: It's the way the world is. Survival of the fittest.

But what if that person is brought before a jury of their peers and are told: "We do not judge you. We do not condemn you. We shall not punish you. But we will work together to heal the wound that caused this act in the first place, and we will work together to heal the wounds you have in turn inflicted on others." You will have taken away their defense. You will have taken away their excuse. And eventually, you will break open their heart, and in their long-overdo healing, we are all healed just a little bit more.

And truly, we are not healing them, we are only reminding them of who they truly are, and they heal themselves.

And by this example, the entire culture and the entire world is forced to look at itself deeply and gradually to let go of its judgments and resentments and excuses. And the heart of the planet is cracked-open. And violence will go the way of cannibalism and human sacrifice and witch burning.

And we will awake to heaven on earth.

Of our own making.

Born of our remembrance.