Healing Racism, Hatred and ViolenceWritten by Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
The following article is offered for free use in your ezine, print publication or on your web site, so long as author resource box at end is included. Notification of publication would be appreciated.Title: Healing Racism, Hatred and Violence Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail: mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2003 by Margaret Paul Web Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 588 Category: Emotional Healing, Spiritual Growth HEALING RACISM, HATRED AND VIOLENCE By Margaret Paul, Ph.D. Those of us who have been on a path of healing wounded aspects of ourselves know that one of characteristics we often suffer from when we are in a wounded, fearful ego state is that we feel either superior or inferior to others. Because wounded part of us is based on core shame beliefs that we are inadequate, flawed, defective, unimportant, and so on, we may feel deeply one-down to others. In order to compensate for these difficult feelings and protect against feeling them, we may deny their existence and move into opposite position: I am better than others. This position can take many forms: o I am better than others because I have more money. o I am better than others because I am thinner, sexier, prettier or more handsome. o I am better than others because I have a better car. o I am better than women because I am a man, or I am better than men because I am a woman. o I am better than homosexuals because I am heterosexual. Racism comes into picture when false beliefs about being one-up extend to race and religion: o I am better than Blacks, Asians and Latinos because I am White, or, as is rapidly becoming case, I am better than Whites because I am Black, Asian, or Latino. o I am better than Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims because I am Christian, or I am better than Christians because I am a Jew, Buddhist, and so on. All of these false beliefs of wounded aspect of ourselves stem from fear and a deep desire to have control over not feeling fear. Hate and resulting violence are always protections against feeling fear of believing, in a deep, unconscious place within wounded self, that we are unworthy.
| | Power and PoliticsWritten by Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
The following article is offered for free use in your ezine, print publication or on your web site, so long as author resource box at end is included. Notification of publication would be appreciated.Title: Power and Politics Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail: margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2003 by Margaret Paul Web Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 660 Category: Emotional Healing POWER AND POLITICS By Margaret Paul, Ph.D. Many of leaders in our society are guided by unhealthy intentions. Instead of seeking to serve people and heal our nation’s ills, their actions and decisions are primarily motivated by their desire for power. Many of people running our country are run by their addictions to approval, sex, power and control. Unfortunately, few truly healthy individuals want to submit themselves to necessary abuses inherent to our political races - verbal abuse both given and received, huge amounts of money spent, integrity sacrificed through concessions, lies and manipulations offered in order to win. Our system of electing our officials is so corrupt that there is little possibility of attracting a person with a strong, personally responsible, loving inner adult self. This is not to say that none of our elected representatives are honest and caring. Some are certainly motivated by positive intentions but, unfortunately, they constitute a minority. There is no training required in personal responsibility to run for office. Our leaders are not required to heal their dysfunctional aspects in order to become honest and trustworthy people. The prerequisites for political positions mostly include having enough money, enough powerful people behind scenes, being male, and being white. Our political arena is designed to attract wounded people who need approval and power in order to feel worthy and validated. Obviously, such a person, with little or no internally derived sense of self-worth and integrity, is very susceptible to corruption. As adage says: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Power corrupts when a person is motivated by his or her desire for power over others, and few people have accomplished enough inner healing to transcend desire for control over others. A healthy person in office who is more concerned with serving people than with getting re-elected could accomplish a great deal. Such a person was depicted in movie Dave. In this film actual president is in a coma and White House officials, seeking to conceal truth from public so they can maintain control, put a look-alike into president’s seat. Dave, however, is a man of heart, and rather than allowing himself to be controlled he sets about making necessary changes - cutting money where it is not needed and allocating it into more crucial avenues, like child care and creation of jobs. He even takes responsibility for corruption of actual president and gracefully "dies" as actual president is dying so vice-president, a man of great integrity who was maligned by power structure, could take over in his rightful place. The movie is, of course, a fantasy. Sadly, we would never elect a man of such integrity - a straightforward, honest, caring, and financially middle-class man like Dave. Our election process does not allow for this.
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