When there is Evil Afoot
Years ago. The family and I spent time at a "quaint Quaker boarding school." Kids there were supposedly gifted, but the fact is they were damaged goods, and it was cheaper for their parents to dump them there and pay the tuition than to send them to treatment facilities. In a matter of less than 3 months, my then 12 year old daughter was having sex in the living rooms and parking lots with a nearly 20 year old student, and my then spouse was inappropriately propositioning a nearly 20 year old student anywhere he could get her alone...
All hell broke loose.
I made arrangements. Packed what I could salvage of my life, and hauled my family home to Colorado.
I went to my Quaker meeting there in Denver, seeking guidance and support as I tried to work through the many issues. There's a process in Friends meetings, called "Clearness" in which trusted Friends sit with members in distress and try to work out such heavy issues. The process is supposed to be in strictest confidence. This one broke out all over the whole place, and a witch hunt ensued. Gossip ran rampant and we were eventually run off... I looked true evil in the face right in the heart of what I believed to be my truest faith community and home.
I learned through those months that there is such a thing as evil. That it works in the person of human creatures. That it cannot be "fought" by good people using good tactics. That it will eat good people. That if you are good and intend to remain good, you should turn tail and run when you encounter true evil. Fight it from a safe distance.
swan Link
posted by Sue @ 9:45 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
i am a new poster but a long time reader....your words resonate, swan, in ways that i'm sure you can't possibly imagine.....you simply can't know who is reading this blog, who is changed by the experiences and emotions that you share here - and i very much appreciate the honesty with which you examine your life.....and i understand that if it weren't for Tom's insistence that you do this, there would BE no blog......but i really want you to know, that your words are making a huge difference to me and i believe, to many others.
your story about evil.....ohmygod....what betrayal, cruelty and hypocrisy. about ten years ago, a very wise friend, urged me to read "People of the Lie" by Scott Peck. i was NOT inclined to read his stuff because "The Road Less Travelled" and his other books, held no interest for me.....but because of my respect for my friend, i read "The People of the Lie" and it was all about evil and how in our society, we don't even use that word anymore - but that in fact, there ARE things that are evil......i am doing him a disservice in the way i'm describing, Scott Peck's book - but if you or any of your "blogettes" can find it, i'd urge you to read it.....i am not part of any organized religion, so i skipped that stuff but even so, in the context with which it was mentioned in that book, i was able to tolerate it...
thank you again for your candor about your life - you words make a difference, for sure....
There is evil and you, on your own, can’t defeat it. You need to recognise it, however, and shun it for what it is. The difficult part is to see it in yourself, which is the only evil that can truly harm you, and refuse to succumb to it.
The true meaning of Christ’s ministry was that He, in the body He received from Mary, was attacked by the same evils that you and I deal with on a daily basis. Being devine He was able to combat these evils and defeat them on a level that you and I can’t even imagine. This is how He saved mankind, by breaking the power of these evils and leaving us with the ability, in perfect freedom, to shun them. We also have the freedom to accept them into our life and make them a part of ourselves. Evil is something that attacks from within and is not some exterior person or power. I thank God that, for as long as I draw breath, I have the power to choose.
Jack
It’s odd how assiduously the group appears to avoid the subject of evil.
Why, do you suppose that is?
Jack
Post a Comment
<< Home