Karma

So, I finally was able to get caught up in the news regarding the attempt to take former President Trump's life that resulted in a bystander being killed and others injured. It makes my heart heavy. This is now a shared trauma the world has experienced together.

I was reading the comments to the few news stories I watched, wanting to see the reaction. Many were unified in saying this type of violence has no place. Other equated this violence with January 6. Some blamed the media for amping up the animosity towards Trump.

One thing my faith deconstruction had done is led me to question the nature of good and evil. Is the Christian metaphor correct in that this world is a battle between good and evil? It's hard to not call the attempt to shoot someone as evil. Everything in us as social primates screams out. It definitely appears like evil exists.

But where is it located? Is it isolated to certain individuals? Is the shooter evil? Many would say yes, if you attempt to take the life of a person that makes you evil. But look at it from his perspective. He obviously felt Trump was some kind of threat and needed to not exist. So is Trump evil? Who's the judge?

There's a verse in the Bible that I think holds some clue. In Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus he writes, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Paul's claim is that people aren't evil, but can fall under the influence unseen evil urges. And it's these urges that we fight against. Not each other.

To me, this seems to be a good view to hold. If we think that certain people or groups are evil, we engage in tribal thinking and othering. We start thinking the world would be better if certain groups weren't a part of it. And this can lead to a cycle of violence, or at least violent thinking.

But if we acknowledge that evil exists as urges that any of us are susceptible to, we can hold each other and ourselves with more compassion. We can try to avoid being hypnotized by tribal thinking.

I'm a fan of the idea of karma. Every action carries consequences, but none are ultimately destructive to the individual. Nothing is ever overlooked. People don't get away with anything, but everything has a teaching aspect to it. Some lessons carry a higher cost and take longer but the ultimate trajectory is one of improvement for all people. The shooter committed a heinous act and will face consequences for it, but he isn't beyond redemption.

Where do we go from here? We grieve. We feel our feelings. We converse with each other. We take this event as an opportunity to grow consciousness in ourselves and in others. We look for ways to shine the light of reason and compassion. We learn and grow.