Meditation

Pick a random news show or print media and the articles are primarily focused on conflict.  As human beings we develop complex legal systems to arbitrate conflicts.  But does that truly help?  Don't get me wrong - we are human so I do believe that we need rules and a method of enforcing the agreed upon rules.  However, the rules are controllers of symptoms - ideally, we would eliminate conflict through empowering a culture of love and respect.  Idealistic - of course - but If that culture did exist then there would be no need for laws or at least arbitration.

Let's examine this against our faith cultures ...

I can speak most informed (albeit not study of theology informed) in the Christian faith because I have spent the most time exploring this faith.  In a nutshell ... God made us - then when we started fighting and getting greedy he gave us a set of rules ... and we built a whole bunch of different religions to enforce these rules.  When we didn't like the strict interpretation, we modified the rule and created another religion.  

But at the core - God gave us freewill.  In the end, that is ALL that governs our actions.  We choose in every second of every day what our next action or response is going to be.  If someone treats us unfairly  we choose how we respond.  I think it's pretty commonly understood that the truly right response to ANY action is one that is motivated by love and respect.  But I genuinely believe that the most common response to unfair treatment is exactly the opposite.

So let's apply this outside of religion and faith.  Guns are a hot focus in the news and papers now.  So much emotion wrapped up in gun control on both sides of the argument.  What about drugs?  Another catalyst of dischord and debate.  Should we legalize marajiuana or not?  How about abortion? (I know this is tied to religious tenets but in point of fact so are the other two) 

In each example, we can choose to legislate tighter and tighter scenarios to try to eliminate the abuse of each scenario.  However, I truly haven't seen a tight controlling system EVER eliminate or even effectively limit bad behavior.  AND - is there not a loving and respectful application of each of the above examples?

Guns... This was developed as a tool for hunting.  We are hunters - we have incisors because our physical bodies were designed to eat meat for sustenance.  This tool actually helped human beings to live.  Are there other applications of its use? Of course!  We are humans - we are smart and ingenious and most of all greedy and competitive.  So we will always find a way to bastardize the application of a helpful or healthy tool toward negative gains.  Does spending a large amount of time arguing and legislating the use of guns truly ever address the underlying root cause of why these tools are misused?

Drugs ... Most were developed researching ways to alleviate pain or illness.  If you make marijiuana illegal then you drive up profits for dealers.  If you legalize it then you run the risk of permitting the base human deficiencies to abuse it.  

Abortion ... this one is difficult for me because I think the majority of argument when tying to basic love and respect will always fall against it.  However, if one of my daughters were ever raped (God forbid) then I cannot say that I wouldn't want this as an option for her sake.  If it's legal then we can train and make it available.  If it's illegal then the least desireable doctors - or worse - people who are not trained at all - will still perform them.  And let's even use an easier scenario to reconcile - choice between mother and fetus - is it OK if the mother's life is in danger unless the pregnancy is terminated.

 I know we are human and we need laws - Even God gave us the 10 Commandments.  But I think we can bastardize the use of the legal and political system as much as any other tool.  God gave us laws to follow - but he didn't keep changing them to meet every possible situation where we could abuse or ignore them.  Just left them out there for us to know  - as a map for good living.  He left the choice to us - freewill.  We are permitted to screw up as much as we choose - and live with the consequence.

To be honest, I am not even sure what my intent is with this post.  I think it is smply to state that we should have a law that says you can't use a gun to kill people.  if we try to control the bad behavior by creating minutely discrete criteria about the tool, then all we are doing is inciting ingenuity in how to elude the law.  If we spent that same energy into creating opportunities for bringing people together to see each other, help each other and love each other - this would be time, money and energy better spent with a potential reward of increasing our ability to respect each other.  That would lessen the number of deaths by gun more than legislature.

We need to learn how to simply BE with each other better.  We are in fact one system of life.  Whatever harm we do to our brother we in fact do to ourselves.  Helping people to see the simple logic of not hurting someone else because you aer actually hurting yourself by doing so is something that I would like to spend my energies on rather than laws and politic.  If we could step back and see the life-system as a whole we would see that we are truly all as one.

I don't know hwo to move this forward but I do know I will expend energies on analyzing how to effect that rather than how to legislate for or against gun control.