Hallowe’en

So, you enjoyed Hallowe’en this year? Did you feel you were drawn to scary stuff ? Just a little bit? Take it as normal?  Most people do.
 
There’s a tendency to the thrill, the adrenaline rush. Much like the thrill of rubber necking after an accident.
 
But understand that encouraging the enjoyment of someone being frightened, is after all, a violence. A low level violence, of course, but still violence. Something one might need to feel fully alive – when you live in a  world of low empathy, a world where the feeling function has already been suppressed, and you enjoy the jolt of being frightened in order to feel really alive.
 
Taking an extreme example: look at the scenario of gangs of young people hanging out together, thinking that to beat up an a homeless drunk is fun. Rejects themselves, from dysfunctional families,used to  being put down and making the other feel small is a daily drug they take.
 
It becomes power and authority over feeling for each other. Raised in a power and authority atmosphere, and looking for love, you would of course gravitate to those who seem to care for you and  end up in a similarly dysfunctional group, learning even better how to put fear in others to make yourself feel powerful.
 
We take our version of Hallowe’en for granted because we’re used to the paternalistic power and authority model of relating as normal. The one who’s boss can put fear in everyone else. And by that gain control in the situation, gain more power. The one who shows empathy for others is seen as the loser, as losing power.  Having feelings or showing your feelings is seen as a weakness.
 
It’s no wonder that our education system has been slow to educate the emotional body: the mind  – yes, the physical body – yes-, but emotional? -a little suspect that. Even 10 years after EQ – emotional IQ was recognized, we still see precious little being done to educate our children emotionally.
 
But the bigger we grow spiritually, the more our feeling function develops, the more compassion we demonstrate and the less need we have to put fear in/ subjugate others. The less we enjoy seeing someone hurt or upset or in pain. Because we’re all one after all. What hurts/ is frightening for you also hurts me….hurts us all.
 
Instead of banning Trick ‘r Treating, let’s ban the frightening of children.
 
Visit:  FrightFree.com