Violence

Violence begets violence. To indulge in violence for entertainment or aggression brings violence in return. The true tragedy of September 11, 2001 is the failure of most Americans to see their hands in creating the atmosphere for that horrific act. America's history of aggression and support of violence, since World War II especially, in the name of capitalist ideology is at the root of the hatred against it around the world.

American culture is violent. High murder rates, gang violence, domestic violence, violent media. These plague American culture. Yet many continue to iconize violence for profit. The film industry, the computer gaming industry and professional sports are vendors of violence for profit.

Violence porpogates more violence. A personal practice of peace eliminates violence from the seeker's life. Violent speech and fascination with violence are as corrupting as violent behavior. Striving for personal growth and peace for many begins with channeling impulses to be violent into conscious intentions to promote peace in all situations, moment by moment.

Sports

The top photograph to the right was recently taken in front of the Science Museum in Boston. The museum is hosting a corporately funded exhibit on Olympic sports history. The photo below it replicates a Nazi propaganda poster which was used at the time of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which were presided over by Adolph Hitler and are considered the beginning of the current commercial Olympic movement. This represents the same genre of propaganda used to equate teamwork with family with social responsibility.

The sad truth which history conveys is that genetic-family-centered, sports-centered societies are less socially responsive to social needs. In fact, these societies, like ancient Rome and ancient Sparta, were war-centered and brutal to those in their societies who did not measure up to the warrior classes. These societies, like the current American society, were fractionalized by gangs, political factions and family feuds.

As a taller-than-average boy with a father who was compulsively driven to conform to conservative heterosexual values, I was cajoled and then bullied into participating in basketball games. I had no aptitude or interest. The result was a widened permanent rift between my father, my older sports-minded brother and myself. I was verbally demeaned and humiliated within my family and in public for the remaining years of my childhood and adolescence in my working-class environment. While ineptitude at sports was the overt reason for ridicule, the subtext was my suspected homosexual nature.

This was valuable training for my personal evolution. I saw through the mindless popular myths about sports and masculinity and aptitude. I was able to work out that the men who were most driven to conform and comply with these myths are the same men who support war, child abuse, the abuse of women and the suppression of their own homosexual feelings. I can only assume, from my experience, that the women who are similarly driven are similarly motivated by rage and fear.

I firmly believe that organized sports as they exist are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I believe they are impressed on youth to produce compliant citizens who will join armies and fight real or virtual wars for the corporate powers. The merging of nationalism or global capitalism with organized team sports is glaringly obvious everywhere. I am sure my simple assertion of this opinion could throw indoctrinated team sports fans in to blind rage. This would simply prove my point, in my opinion.

The men responsible for creating democracy in modern times, men like Adams and Jefferson, did not play team sports. They did not learn the politics and philosophy of liberation on a football field or basketball court. Far from it. They read books, studied history and promoted cooperation of the many against the gangsterism of the few.

A world at peace would indeed have plenty of teamwork to do to correct the negligence and environmental corruption caused by corporate power. The time, money and energy spent on corporately sponsored team sports may eventually be put to better use. This would indeed be an evolutionary step for mankind.

Baseball

Hitting a ball with a stick. This will not stop global warming. It will not deal with overpopulation. It will not lead to human evolution. Charging large sums of money for overweight fools to watch men hitting balls with sticks is a game older than the Roman Coliseum. Wake up. The time of a single life is short. There is so much to do.

Aggression

Human life comes with aggression. It is simply part of being an animal. It is hormonal. It is hard-wired. Learning to first recognize aggression in one's own consciousness and behavior is a challenging practice. Road rage, cutting into lines, racing others to check out counters...these are easy examples. However, the harder examples are the subtle forms of aggression that occur when we compete unconsciously with others. This competition is increasing as the world becomes polluted and overpopulated. Resources are dwindling. Capitalism encourages aggression. In fact, anyone who is awake can see the increase in female aggression in the new economy of the US, where women are striving with men for economic equality or dominance. This alone explains to me why capitalism does not bring peace. An economic (survival) system that is based on aggression has not and cannot possibly foster world peace. Propaganda about professional (capitalist) sports as a medium for cooperation and peace is so obviously flawed, when one considers the history of violence at Olympic games and the increased occurrence of drug abuse and corruption in the whole arena of professional sports. People increasingly find surrendering their aggression in capitalist societies frightening. It is the surrendering of a significant defense against poverty and the delusion of control. Yet, no human, male or female, will evolve beyond basic animal behavior and consciousness without surrendering voluntary aggression as a first step to enlightenment, mindfulness and compassion.

How to practice the surrender of voluntary aggression in daily life? First, it is important to recognize the simple physical signs and behaviors of aggression, such as increased heart rate, blood rushing to the face, increased vocal volume, clenched jaw and/or fist, increased driving speed, rushing, and many other signs which must be observed, accepted and recognized in the moment they occur. Otherwise, how can anyone practice control of aggression?

Then what? The daily practice to control aggression by recognizing impulses to be aggressive takes many years to develop. It also requires patience with and acceptance of one's own animal instincts. That is, patient acceptance that we are indeed animals. If a person is wedded to religious notions of man as non-animal, that person will never understand his aggression. Let alone control it and evolve away from it. He will live in denial of it.

Finding and fostering affection and compassion in one's life for oneself and others equally facilitates the process of managing and evolving beyond aggression. I recommend it. It takes time, meditation, determination, and, above all, practice, practice, practice.

Sport

Sport for some is meditative exercise. The player who focuses on the ball and its goal with absolute concentration is voluntarily coordinating human conscioussness with his animal brain-body coordination. This is indeed a form of meditation and integration of mind-body. And this is beneficial and transforming when it becomes a practice for self improvement. However, spectator sports do absolutely nothing for the spectators other than distract them from self improvement. It is the capitalization of sport which is dysfunctional. It is the mob violence aspect of sport that comes from this capitalization, whipped up by those who profit from it, similarly to the way that others whip up aggression to profit from war. Sport is generally a rough form of ativistic community building. It is quite frankly a crude method, which tends to attract those who are prone to violence and narcissistic demonstrations of superiority and dominance. Incorporating physical exercise into a daily practice is important. However, the practice of individual human evolution requires solitude, meditation and inactivity as well as social exertion and activity.