The Spiral of Violence

I had originally planned to write about a different topic for today, but in light of the past few days events (thinking especially of Beirut and Paris, but also of the stabbings in Jerusalem, and ..., and ..., ) I think reflecting on this topic of violence a greater need.

I was first exposed to Richard A. Horsley's Jesus and the Spiral of Violence in college. As a class we examined historical cases of non-violent resistance (hence this book, which in part examines Jewish non-violent resistance to Roman Empire prior to Jesus, as well as Jesus' own response) culminating with Martin Luther King, Jr's approach as contrasted to Malcolm X.

The Spiral of Violence refers to both how institutionalized violence can lead into personal/inter-personal violence. When "the System" is violent towards me, and I, in turn, am violent towards you, who, in turn, have a violent response, the violence feeds upon itself and becomes more intense. How does one "break" this spiral of violence?

Compassion and empathy, I believe, are key. When we see the "other" as a person, as "one of us," as someone who also has a stake in the community, might it give us pause in how we respond? Engaging in regular spiritual practices helps feed our compassion and empathy for ourselves and others. It helps us to see the Divine in one another.

Non-violent approaches to resistance lead to healthier communities in the long run. However, the non-violent approach is often longer, non-expedient and messy.  Although on the surface violence appears quick and expedient, violence leads to long smoldering feelings of anger, mistrust and resentment. Non-violence (which respects the humanness of the other as an individual) opens things up for respect, even if it is begrudgingly given.

How does one then respond to the events on the world stage? With empathy and compassion for the victims and their families, of course. This might also be an opportunity for some self-reflection to our own institutions of violence.

Below, is Richard Rohr's meditation on the Spiral of Violence and how it relates to evil and sin.

Blessed be,
Joel

"Healing Our Violence" 

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil:
The Spiral of Violence     

Wednesday, October 21, 2015 

I have used Dom Helder Camara's inspired teaching on the "spiral of violence" for many years, overlaying that phrase with traditional Catholic moral teaching, which states that the sources of evil are the world, the flesh, and the devil--in that order. This model simply illustrates the three sources of evil and thus violence: the world (at the bottom of the spiral), the flesh (in the middle), and the devil (at the top). If evil and institutionalized violence go unrecognized at the first level, the second and third are inevitable.

By "world," I am not referring to Creation, but to "the System." It's the way groups, cultures, institutions, and nations organize themselves to be in control. This may be the most hidden, the most disguised, and the most denied level of evil. We cannot see it because we are inside of it and because we cannot see beyond our own self-interest and self-protection. For example, I have been a Catholic all my life and I have yet to hear a sermon on the tenth commandment: "Do not covet your neighbor's goods." We live in an entire world of manufactured desire or covetousness. It is a virtue to seek to increase your goods. So it's almost impossible for an American to see capitalism or consumerism as a problem or a moral issue, because that is the way our world is shaped. It is in our hard wiring. It's difficult to critique the ground you are standing on.

Thankfully, Pope John Paul II introduced to Catholic theology terms like "structural evil," "institutionalized sin," and "corporate evil." We actually were not free to think this way until the 1960s, which produced hippies, worldwide upheavals, and the Second Vatican Council. Still, only rare prophets like Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton dare to critique systems, groups, and institutions themselves. No surprise that Pope Francis quoted both of these American prophets in his address to the U.S. Congress in September.

Organized religion has put most of its concern at the middle level of the spiral--the flesh. The flesh is not primarily what we think of as sexual sin. Rather, it is individual sin, personal mistakes that you and I make. No one is denying that this is a level of evil and sin, and often the most apparent one. But when we only point our finger at the second level of the spiral, blaming individuals and punishing people, we are largely wasting our time. It doesn't work because we haven't first recognized that culturally we actually admire this vice. Pick any of the capital sins: greed, ambition, excess, vanity, pride, deception, lust. All are on broad public display, and these "sinners" are in fact the cool people. But then individuals are supposed to confess these as private sins, not that they do anymore.

Up to now, there has been little recognition of the deep connection between culture and corporations--which are accepted because they give us our security and identity and wealth--and the personal evil things that individuals do. We are wasting time trying to make people feel guilty about being greedy when, in fact, legitimated greed is the name of the game. We can't reward and promote it at one level and then shame it at the next level. We can't romanticize war, but then rail against the violence in our streets. It will not work. If guns are good in Iraq then guns are good in Idaho."

....

"At the top of the spiral of violence sits "the devil." The word "devil," like "demon," is a personification of a power that is hard to name or describe because it's so disguised and even idealized as good and necessary. If "the world" is hidden structural violence, then "the devil" is sanctified and legitimated violence--violence that is deemed necessary to control the angry flesh and the world run amuck. The diabolical is by definition "too big to fail" and above criticism, which is precisely what gives anything its demonic power. It is a third level of "necessary good" to control all the disorder and violence at the first and second levels. It is sacralized and above criticism. This might take the form of "the military industrial complex," as President Eisenhower called it after he left office, the legal system, the penal system, unjust tax codes and voting rights, the highly self-rewarding medical and banking systems, corporations over people, the idolatry of fame, celebrities, and athletes, and even organized religion itself.

Note the first demon in Mark's Gospel is found in the synagogue (1:23). The only way the devil can get away with being the devil is that he must "disguise himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:15). Devils always look like "necessary evil" or the lesser of two evils, and thus they are "too big to fail" and too important to expose. We need and admire them all too much. So, as we say, they "get away with murder."

If we do not recognize the roots of violence at the disguised structural level, we are largely wasting our time simply focusing on merely individual sin ("the flesh"), and we have almost no chance of recognizing our real devils, who are always disguised as angels of light (Lucifer means "Light Bearer"). The spiral of violence is complete, and much of history has been trapped inside of it, thinking that evil could be eliminated merely by shaming and punishing individuals, who were often just doing what they learned from the system and from the devil.

Reference:

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Spiral of Violence (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2005), CD, MP3 download.