It looks like human beings have a long history of violence. From what I learned in a recent class about History of the Samurai, some historians postulate that human beings did not begin killing each other in warfare until the advent of agriculture.

And recently I am reading "Dungeon, Fire, and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades" by John J Robinson. It covers the history of the Order of de Molay, the Shriners, and the Freemasons: who all share common origin with the Christian Crusaders.

That book is so filled with violence that it is difficult to read very much at a time, I have to put it down every now and then the amount of torture and killing.

Basically the book is saying, men did not know what to do with themselves, so some men figured out if you channel their aggression you can kill for fun and profit in your spare time.

And of course the Bible the Old Testament has a part about dashing children against rocks. Also the Dungeon Fire and Sword book said that incest was very common in that period of time also. That developmentally human societies went through a period where they thought incest was A-ok.

Also I seem to remember in a developmental psychology class is a matter of the brain's wiring, how much aggression manifests. Because the scientists showed how if you touch an electrode to the brain in the most violent criminals, then they lose their aggression.

Which makes you wonder why does God/dess create these kinds of flaws in the machine? For example where is the quality control when s/he releases the jeeva from the factory? If humans were cars surely there would be recalls from the factory due to class action lawsuit from Consumer Reports.

Sigh...

Which makes you wonder why does God/dess create these kinds of flaws in the machine? For example where is the quality control when s/he releases the jeeva from the factory? If humans were cars surely there would be recalls from the factory due to class action lawsuit from Consumer Reports.

One theory is that our physical body mirrors our etheric body which is determined by the level of progress we have reached in our particular path of spiritual evolution. Supposedly the most violent are younger souls who have not mastered their lower nature yet. So we have only ourselves to blame if we remain on that primitive level.

Though I have a laundry list of design improvements to offer if we ever get the opportunity for a body upgrade. :)

I just saw that show for the first time last night...such a great episode, although disturbing as all hell.

Yes, this was a particularly disturbing episode, to be sure. Overall I love the show, though. :)

Thanks, that was a good answer Tapati.

Speaking of body upgrades,
have you seen one of the more recent OUT Magazines, "the transgender issue" with Tilda Swanson/ Swinton [sp.?] on the cover?

There is a funny article in it about how "We are all becoming Posh and Becks!" i.e. the trend for people to become more and more androgynous.

So with the etheric body model, some schools say that when you are fully enlightened your ida and pingala are fully balanced, i.e. male and female energies.

So that people are even getting to that point externally, ladies getting more in touch with their confident, capable, assertive side; men getting more in touch with their inner gopi, kind of all goes with the theory you mentioned ~? Possibly?

I wanted to write a letter to OUT about it, but I don't know if the readership could relate to it. What do you think?

Sometimes I see letters to the editor in GLBT magazines that say they want to read more spiritual things and something for aging GLBT people besides the focus on the body.

I haven't read that article but I don't see why, with enough background, they wouldn't be interested in the theory.

Personally I also think that transgender issues make more sense when you consider reincarnation and how a person may feel out of synch with, say, a male body after a recent lifetime as a female. Although most of us don't remember past lives, some people do in varying degrees. Isn't it possible that a person feeling like the body they have isn't the gender they feel they are inside is remembering being the opposite gender to some degree?

There are lots of GLBT people interested in alternative spiritual viewpoints, so I say go for it!

Edited at 2008-03-19 05:39 am (UTC)

Interesting ideas. Bright blessings 2u!