(Self-discipline, fear and Awesome Wonder.)
Dear Editor,
The breakdown in the discipline in schools is symptomatic of the breakdown of discipline in families and societies in general throughout Western culture. So, what is at the root of this societal breakdown?
Simple. There is a general breakdown in the respect troublesome persons have for themselves, which generates from within them a lack of respect for others and especially for those charged to exercise disciplinary positions of authority over them when their behaviours infringe upon the rights of others.
If no one ever offended the intrinsic rights of others, there would never be a need for laws and public officers to enforce them for the common good.
Put simply, if everyone had a healthy love for themselves and their own well- being and this love extended naturally into a love for the well-being of every other person, there would never be a need for disciplinary law. The naturally operating 'law' would be a Universal 'Law of Love' concomitantly presiding over every action exercised by every person in our human family society, forever. Such would be the case of a perfectly operating society.
Sadly, we are not in heaven yet, for such to be the case in our family society, but we all can be taught our need to learn from childhood and beyond, the 'Law of Love', which alone has the capacity to bring us the peace of a good conscience within ourselves, and which alone has the potential to generate a universal peace throughout the whole human family.
Such perfection will never be achieved in this world, but the need for it, and the means to achieve it nevertheless needs to be taught, and practised, in every family, school, and community. (Teach our children the inviolable nature of every human life.)
Peace in society, is comprised of the contribution given to it by every individual person within the community. To create it, and preserve it, every person must stand unflinchingly faithful to 'Love's Laws'. Betray them, and both personal and societal peace are immediately forfeit. The fruit of betrayal is injustice, and the fruit of injustice is loss of peace, both personal and communal.
Underlying all of this, is the one simple 'truth', that so many in society do not have a healthy "fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom". (Proverbs 9:10)
These live, in their ignorance, as though God does not exist, and they think they can facilitate and participate, with impunity, in all manner of behaviours and practices which discord with the three Laws which underpin every action we undertake - Divine Law, Natural Law and the Laws of love.
Any act which, in any respect, contravenes any one of these Laws, is, in its very nature, unjust and evil in its very nature, and any 'Civil Law' which condones and facilitates the unjust disordered act and/or behaviour is itself, in its nature, evil and not a true law at all. Examples of these are 'laws' which do not recognise the inviolability of every human life from its conception, right through until its natural or accidental end are: abortion, IVF, voluntary euthanasia (self murder), and seriously disordered same-sex relationships and behaviours. Also, racist behaviours seriously offend against the 'Three Laws'.
One's personal autonomy and ability to 'choose' is claimed to afford the proponents of these errant behaviours the legal
'right' to perform them with impunity in the face of the three fundamental Laws which condemn them.
One's personal autonomy assumes supremacy over Divine and Natural Laws, because the minds which claim such supremacy,
have no regard for the Divinity Itself and for the self-restraining strictures the Divine Laws require of us.
It is this rejection of the Divine Laws which is the root cause for all of the errant undisciplined behaviours currently afflicting the World. Society has generally lost its moral compass. It has, largely, consigned the Divinity to oblivion. Of the Divinity, it has no awareness, and no fear of a future reckoning with Him Who has created us. It is this lack of healthy fear of the Divinity which lies at the root of the absence of peace in lives and communities. This lack provides a climate, ripe for the widespread acts of injustice we witness - acts which range from minor acts of uncharity to acts of unrestrained carnage.
"Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom", says the Scripture. (Proverbs 9:10) It comes down to what we need, first and foremost, is a healthy "fear of the Lord".
Our society largely exists without this fear and without the true wisdom which this fear brings. And it is the absence of this fear in the minds and hearts of so many in our society which gives rise to so many of the heart-breaking events which daily befall our world.
From the cradle, our children need be nurtured to share in the awareness of the Divinity's Ever-Presence. Take for example the seed in the apple which in due time manifests itself as a tree, a tree which then, itself, bears the fruit of many apples, with each apple itself containing many seeds, the seeds of many trees.
Then help them to see that it is the same for all the living creatures which come into the world. All develop from the seed which contains all of their identity from its beginning, which is then nurtured to grow and develop and unfold to maturity, each according to its own kind. Help them to see the wonder of all that is contained in every seed.
Themselves, ourselves, were all complete in the seed which was created at our moment of conception. All that was constituted in our seed developed and unfolded and matured into the persons who we are. The only thing added to our seed was food to enable us to grow in the sanctuary of our mother's womb until we were ready for our birth into the world. (1 Corinthians 15:35-58)
Now consider the magical wonder of a Mind with the capacity to design and bring into existence a Creation of creatures which develop from seeds, with all of their potential identities and faculties contained and present in each seed.
What Mind is this? What Being is this? Everything is so intelligently and incredibly made. This Creator of Endless Wonders is unfathomable in the Nature and Essence of Who and what He IS, and must be, without Whom we ourselves could not, and would not be - this 'Daddy', Who has generated us all into the world of His Own Life's Presence, to share in His own wonder of what it is to 'BE'.
This is the One we must all hope never to offend, in light of His gift to us all of our own wondrous life and being. And, this too, is the fear we all must have, the fear of ever offending this One Who has loved us so much as to give us to share in the Wonder-Filled-World of His Own Existence as 'Father' of us all. This 'fear' comes in the first moment we discover His Ever-Presence, this moment, from which our awareness of His Ever-Presence constantly fills us with Wonder and Awe.
As the Scripture also provides witness to our discovery, that:
"It is in Him,
(IN His Eternal Essence and Presence,) that we
(and the whole Creation) live and move and have our being." And that, "We are all His children".
(Acts 17:28)
But, for now, our 'fear to offend the goodness of the Lord' must include a love which enables us to live, "without fear of those among us who can kill our bodies, but not our souls: rather, we are to love everyone with a healthy fear of the justice of Him Who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt 10:28) He, Who says to us: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
These are the things we must teach our children and our society, that
Knowing our Father's love, we should ever fear to offend Him.
That we all might become, and ever remain, truly faithful,
Free, to soar with the angels and run with the deer,
To live in His love and to have no fear.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Mitter