The current demands for defunding or abolishing the police reveal a growing cultural effort to understand the legitimate role of force
Both cultural and personal experience have taught us from even before we are born (it’s in our DNA), that force is necessary for changing and/or managing our physical world. If we want to move a chair, plow a field, or even paint a picture or blow a horn, we need some kind of force, no matter how subtle. In fact, Newtonian physics is nothing other than a study in rules of force and how to use them to manage and shape physical matter. It is therefore not surprising that we humans have always used force to try to solve our societal problems.
Until now, force has been our go-to tool. And with the proverbial hammer, all problems, even human problems, have then become nails.
The Earth is currently experiencing deep changes in consciousness, however. We are beginning to realize we are not just physical beings but energy beings as well, and that our energetic bodies are much larger and more dynamic than any physical part of us. Along with this awareness is a growing, if mostly subconscious suspicion, that force is not appropriate when dealing with other humans.
Think of all the times you may have tried to change someone’s behavior or attitudes through the use of force. How many of those efforts have been successful?
This is because force is not a causative agent in the energy dimension, and human beings, while having physical bodies, are primarily energy beings. This means that when engaging with humans, we need to understand and use the rules of the energy dimension. When it comes to changing behavior and/or creating positive outcomes in human interactions, force is not only ineffective, but counterproductive.
Force is necessary in the physical world because a physical object (matter) is static, that is, when you place it somewhere it stays there until some kind of force is exerted to move or change it. For example, when you rearrange your furniture, you expect it to be in the same place the next morning (unless a large pet or an earthquake has exerted force on it during the night).
However, energy is not static. It is dynamic, with its natural state being flow or movement. Therefore, any attempt to stop it or change it will be met with resistance. Think of trying to reverse the course of a river. You can temporarily stop the flow of a river with a dam, and the resistance this creates builds potential energy for later use. But there is no way you can get a river to reverse its flow.
Working with matter requires force, while working with energy requires simple intention and redirection. Working with energetic rules is therefore simpler, easier and more efficient and effective. This is why martial arts students are taught not to resist the opponent but rather to join with his force or momentum and use it for their own purposes. Rivers can be redirected, but not reversed.
When you use force on a person or population, it’s like damming a river. You build up energy until it has to erupt and break free. George Floyd broke the dam, which is why this movement is not going away. Resistance has been building for centuries!
Police are symbolic of the old belief that we need to use force to ensure public safety. The move to abolish the police reflects the dawning awareness that force has never really been effective and it is time to find a better way. This means reorganizing public safety, the prison and justice system, and even the educational system. And that’s just the beginning.
Imagine how our lives would change if we understood that the use of force actually increases the probability of anti-social behavior. Think of what it would mean if we begin to see destructive acts as built up energy that needs to be redirected in a gentle and respectful manner so that its vast potential could be expressed in ways that are beneficial to both the person and society in general. It’s a win-win for everyone!
No matter how we try to pretty-up force, it is still force, and it will still meet resistance. Diversity training and banning chokeholds will not solve the problem. Force signifies power, and power is addictive. Once tasted, the seductive power of force is hard to lay down, and brings out the worst in even the best of us.
There are no bad people or good people; we all have the capacity for both good and evil. When humans are physically or emotionally abused, forced to do something against our will, or treated like evil or subhuman entities, we will all rebel and act out, and rightfully so.
Bullying, harassment, name calling, coercion, manipulation, unequal treatment under the law, gas-lighting, disrespectful behavior, lying and all kinds of punishment are all forms of abuse, and abuse is an especially destructive form of force even though it may not involve actual physical harm.
Force IS important and effective for creating and managing matter. It IS appropriate and necessary for driving nails, moving mountains and even creating art. But when it comes to sentient beings, we need to move toward understanding and utilizing the rules of the energy dimension.
It is time to recognize energy as a creative tool, and in so doing, unleash its vast potential to transform the world.
(For more on energy and the energy dimension, see “It’s All about Energy: Adventures in Expanded Reality”, available on Amazon, at local bookstores and on my website, www.transformationalexpansion.com.)