RR-ESM. An introduction

1. A Course in Miracles Overview
2. Your Will and God’s Will are the same
3. The difference between Course and Christianity
4. Original Sin, Christianity’s most destructive teaching
5. Why Christ was really crucified
6. My analysis of the ego
7. An overview of the world we live in
8. The American economy
9. About marriage and relationships
10. The pickle jar
11. Drugs and alcohol and why people use them
12. Vegetarianism, the wave of the future
13. David Hawkins. Truth vs. Falsehood
14. Exorcism, a relic from the dark ages
15. Race and racism
16. The culture of death.
    • War
    • Abortion
    • Capital Punishment
17. Life before and after death
18. Our living companions on this planet and the difference between them and us
19. The possibility of life in outer space and what if anything it means to us
20. Three explanations for the way things are
21. The value of the workbook and memorizing text
22. E-mail and FAQs
23. Donations
24. In Conclusion
25. Videos
    
26. Spiritual Revelation
    

RR-ESM

16. The culture of death

In the world of time we are constantly preoccupied with thoughts of death. But from a Course viewpoint death is only an illusion. I want to establish that right up front. Reproduced below are pages 66 and 67 from A Course in Miracles, foundation for inner peace version, manual for teachers’ section.

That’s what A Course in Miracles says about death. I have another thought I will share with you before I launch into this chapter.

Think of death as the grim reaper, traveling the world with his sickle, harvesting those whose time is up, and a few prematurely. But here’s the thing. He’s not making any headway. In spite of all the plagues and wars and killing he is losing the battle. The world’s population is 6.684 billion in 2008 and is projected to grow to 9 billion by 2042.

This chapter is divided into three sections, A, B, and C.

• Section A is about war.
• Section B is about abortion.
• Section C is about capital punishment.

Let’s get started.

SECTION A: WAR

I have to admit this is a tough one. It’s going to be a real challenge because I typed history of war into the Google search engine and it gave me sixty three million four hundred thousand hits. But anyway the longest journey begins with a single step, so let’s jump right in.

First of all war is not good or bad, right or wrong, justified or unjustified, it’s just what we do. Your first reaction to that statement might be, that’s absurd. Now ask yourself, is it really? Remember, I got sixty three million four hundred thousand hits for history of war from the Google search engine.

But we have a choice, you might say. We can have peace if we choose. Sixty three million four hundred thousand hits for history of war would seem to indicate otherwise. Actually I think of humanity much as I think of a beehive. A beehive has the worker bees, or drones, the queen bee, which corresponds to our ruling class, and the guard bees, which correspond to our gladiators. In our infinite wisdom we assume the bees do not make choices. They are just born to do what they do and they do it. We assume because we are the supreme species on this planet we do make choices. We can choose to have war or not and who to wage it on. But I have two questions to ask, and think about them. I mean, really give it some serious thought. Who is to say that the bees do not have conscious thought processes? How would we know? Here is the best question I saved for last. How do we know and who is to say that we really make choices regarding the waging of war and the killing of our fellow man? Are most of us programmed to be non-violent workers? What small percentage of us are programmed to be gladiators? This question really gets to the heart of the issue. I believe I have found an answer to this question. Charles Grennel and his comrades, veterans of the Global War On Terror wrote this letter. Mr. Grennel is an Army Reservist who spent two years in Iraq and was a principal in putting together the first Iraq elections in January 2005. They wrote it to Jill Edwards, student at the University of Washington, who did not want to honor Medal of Honor winner USMC Colonel Greg Boyington. Ms. Edwards, other students, and faculty do not think those who serve in the U.S. armed services are good role models. For the purposes of my essay on war I have reproduced the letter in its entirety with a point-by-point analysis using Course principals. Before launching into this project I wish to thank Charles Grennel for his very well written thoughtful essay.

Actually for the most part going off to war isn’t a sacrifice because young people don’t know any better. It’s just a great adventure. I tried to enlist in the Army and go to Vietnam when I was 18. I was just going because I grew up in a small farming community in the Midwest and enlisting in the Army and going to Vietnam sure looked a lot better than staying there. Fighting for my country didn’t enter into the equation at all. Fortunately the Army knew better than I did and made me 4-F because I had asthma. I would probably have come back in a basket with missing body pieces.

Private Eddie Slovik would probably disagree with that, if he were still alive, that is. Private Slovik was executed in World War 2 because he was a sheep, and refused to fight. He knew he was a sheep and accepted that. But unfortunately back then there was dishonor in being a sheep.

William J Bennett, in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997 said,

Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures that can only hurt one another by accident. We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkable rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people, not capable of hurting each other except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

That’s a reasonable assumption and it’s probably a good thing. If most of the people in our society were gladiators we would spend all of our time killing each other.

Then there are the wolves that feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there that will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

The fearsome wolf that preys on sheep and humans is a creature of myth and folklore. Wolves are shy reclusive creatures that prey on small animals and old and sickly larger animals. In truth we have almost exterminated them, either by killing them outright or by destruction of their habitat.

The idea of evil men is highly subjective. The people trying to kill us believe we are evil, and that is the reason they are trying to kill us. This leads to another problem. Since they are fanatics who are trying to kill us because they believe we are evil we cannot reason or otherwise co-exist with them in any way. At this time it appears that we are unable to make any headway in our war on terrorism and sooner or later we’ll have to wage a thermonuclear war on the host countries.

Then there are sheepdogs and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive psychopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? You have a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the uncharted path, who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

That sounds great and wonderful. You have a love for the sheep, walk into the heart of darkness, and walk out unscathed. It sounds good until you come back from one of our wars with several body parts missing and wind up in a VA hospital receiving substandard care. If you ever become whole enough to seek employment then you find out nobody wants to give you a job. As of this writing I’m 62 years old. During my lifetime I’ve known a lot of World War 2 and Vietnam War veterans and I’ve yet to meet anybody who even wanted to speak of the experience, let alone describe it in those terms.

We know that the sheep live in denial, which is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kid’s schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard. So they choose the path of denial.

Who in their right mind would want to send their child to a school where it was necessary to have armed police officers to ensure their safety? There is no such thing as complete total safety for anyone here in the world of time. Even our gladiators are killed or seriously injured on a regular basis. And they are highly trained people. But if you want to do everything you can to insure your children’s safety in their schools here’s what you need to do. Make sure you have a good education and will be employed in a high paying job. Marry someone from a high social economic bracket and buy a home in one of our upper income areas. That way you won’t worry about whether there are armed guards in your children’s school or not.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog that intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not is a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land.

The two sentences highlighted above are a complete total fabrication. There is no truth to them what so ever. I have in front of me an item I pulled off the Internet on 8/8/2008. It reads as follows.

The article is quite lengthy but Mayor Calvo said, “We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us.” He further stated that their two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them “for sport,” gunning down one of them as it was running away.

Here’s the bottom line. Innocent people are harmed or even killed by police on a fairly routine basis. When President Richard Nixon signed the so-called no knock drug law into effect there were hundreds of incidents where the super cops broke into the wrong house. That was a number of years ago and things haven’t improved much since then. If you live in one of the better areas maybe you are a little better off, as far as being safe goes. If you live in Beverly Hills for instance you’re probably less likely to have the swat team break into your house and shoot you than you would become a victim of gang members if you lived in Hollenbeck. But that’s not much comfort when the swat team kicks in your door because they have the wrong address.

Actually the typical police department swat team is an accident waiting to happen. Maybe there’s some justification for thinking of the patrol cops as sheepdogs, but there’s no way that could be said of the swat team. Those people could best be described as action junkies. Contrary to what you see on television it’s not all big drug busts of international drug kingpins. Those events are rare. I know this because I had a job for forty years myself. I worked as an aircraft mechanic for a major airline. Once in awhile we would do something great and wonderful but mostly it was a lot of boring routine work and down time. It’s much the same for the swat team. So when something does happen they are all primed and ready to go. If you’re lucky and it’s your house they break into you won’t get killed.

The FBI has started a civil right violation investigation of this incident. It remains to be seen if anything comes of it.

They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go Baa until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

I don’t know about you, but I never heard a sheepdog go Baa in my life.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them.

I really don’t know where to start with this one. I didn’t highlight any of the sentences because there’s just too much good material there to comment on. First of all he says the students were big tough high school students. Give me a break. Just because you’re six four, weigh 220, and play football doesn’t mean you’re tough. You can play football, get a spinal cord injury, and then you’re not tough anymore. And most of the students aren’t six four and 220. They are just average people, sheep, much like the rest of us. They would not have had the time of day for a police officer. Actually that’s not true. A lot of high school kids seek careers in law enforcement. The officers had to peel those clinging sobbing kids off them. I’m sixty years old. They would have probably peeled me off of them too. And anyway the swat teams were trained gladiators; the high school kids were not.

This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard of the door. Remember how America, more that ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be.

As stated elsewhere on this website we are all here doing God’s Will. Whether we are sheepdogs because we choose to be or because we are doing God’s Will it’s still good. I’m even willing to grant that perhaps the sheepdogs of the world are a little bit morally superior.

Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter. He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.

It’s not so much that us sheep pretend the wolf will never come, it’s just that there’s really not much to be done about it. This is the world of time, and when your times up its just up. I’ll give you one quick example. I used to be the maintenance crew chief at the station in Los Angeles for a major airline. One of the mechanics that worked for me had a son on the LAPD. One night him and his partner answered a domestic disturbance call and when his partner got out of the car someone shot him in the head and killed him. This was a highly trained police officer, but all of his training and the power of the government didn’t help him at all. It’s much the same with the rest of us. We live in better neighborhoods and hope the criminals will stay in the poor areas. We lock our doors and windows and hope the criminals will find another house to break into. Even though the sheepdog lives for the day when the wolf comes the chances that he will be around to protect you when you need him are remote.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens on America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that would destroy 98 percent of the population.

Mr. Grennel, I wish you could have been on one of those airplanes too. Maybe you would have made a difference. But here’s another thing. There were any number of things we could have done to prevent 9-11 and they weren’t done. Right at the top of the list we should have not let those people into our country. They all hate us, every last one of them, and the only reason we let them into our country was to make money teaching them to fly airplanes. That was the first mistake. Then we let them get on commercial airliners with weapons. That was because prior to 9-11 there was no security, zero, none. The next mistake we made was it was just too easy to break into the cockpit. Those doors could have been made much harder to break through with little effort. And the last mistake was the pilot and co-pilot were unarmed. It reminds me of the final scene in Clint Eastwood’s movie The Unforgiven. He was confronting a group of men in the town saloon after they had killed his friend and placed him in an open coffin outside the saloon. He asked who owned this establishment and then killed him with his shotgun. He was unarmed. Gene Hackman, in a horrified tone of voice said, “You just shot an unarmed man.” Clint Eastwood replied, “he should have armed himself if he was going to make a spectacle of my friend.” That’s about the way I feel about the pilot and co-pilot on commercial aircraft being armed. It should have happened years ago, not after 9-11 when it’s too late.

Research was conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

That makes perfect sense to me. I have much more to say in section C about our prisons, so I won’t get into it here.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

This paragraph is interesting because even though I’m an Enlightened Spiritual Master and Mr. Grennel is a Gladiator it’s almost like we are on the same page here.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When they learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd and the other passengers confronted the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers-athletes, business people and parents-from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

Thank you Mr. Beamer and passengers of Flight 93. We owe you a debt of gratitude.

Edmund Burke said, “There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.” Here is the point I want to emphasize; especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They don’t have a choice.

As I’ve stated elsewhere this is the world of time, where all things end. There is no safety for anyone here.

But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you.

And the chances are good that there won’t be. That’s just the nature of the world. If someone is breaking down your door and you call 911 the police might show up in a half an hour or so, just in time to bag and tag your body. As Clint Eastwood said in The Unforgiven, “you should have armed yourself.”

If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

It might be worth a little time to think once more about the value of this world. Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of value here. The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned with you, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. It gives but to rescind, and takes away all things that you have cherished for awhile.

No lasting love is found, for none is here. This is the world of time, where all things end.

This business of being a sheep or a sheepdog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and of the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between.

That was very well said. There is really nothing I can add to it.

Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. Its OK to be a sheep, but do not kick the sheepdog. Indeed, the sheepdog may just run a little harder, strive to protect a little better and be fully prepared to pay the ultimate price in battle and spirit with the sheep moving from “baa” to “thanks.”

Thank you and you’re welcome.

We do not call for gifts or freedoms beyond our lot. We just need a small pat on the head, a smile and a thank you to fill the emotional tank that is drained protecting the sheep. And, when our number is called by The Almighty and day retreats into night, a small prayer before the heavens just may be in order to say thanks for letting you continue to be a sheep. And be grateful for the millions of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.

That’s a good idea. I will close this section by extending my personal thank you to you and the other Sheepdogs of the world. Thank you Mr. Grennel.

SECTION B: ABORTION

In beginning this section we should first establish an exact definition of abortion so we can be sure what we are discussing. For my dictionary definition I will once again utilize the Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia.

An abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. The spontaneous expulsion of a fetus or embryo before the 20th week of gestational age is commonly known as a miscarriage. Induced abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus by medical, surgical, or other means at any point during human pregnancy for therapeutic or elective reasons. The approximate number of induced abortions performed worldwide in 2003 was 42 million, which declined from nearly 46 million in 1995.

That’s the dictionary definition, black words on a white background describing a medical procedure. But anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the last forty years knows it’s a highly charged emotional issue that brings out the worst in people. That being the case lets examine the issue from three different viewpoints.

First we will examine the issue from a Course perspective. Actually A Course in Miracles doesn’t even mention abortion. Since death doesn’t exist it’s a non-issue. The physical body and the ego ultimately perish anyway, and at what point they perish is immaterial. Whether they perish before birth or 100 years after birth the end result is the same. In the end it’s as if they never existed. Only God and the Eternal Spiritual world really exist.

We will now examine the issue from the right to choose perspective. That’s really a simple viewpoint and there’s not much to say about it. Most women believe they have the right to regulate their sexual and reproductive lives, and no one else has a right to make those choices for them. The United States Supreme Court, in the case known as Roe vs. Wade affirmed the right of women to have legal abortions. In the years since it has been under constant attack by political and religious conservatives. That’s a short version of the turmoil this issue causes. As an Enlightened Spiritual Master I have no interest in this issue, except I feel it’s a woman’s right to choose, and nothing more. Here’s the reason I feel that way. A Course in Miracles hits on this theme numerous times, we have no control over the external world. For instance let’s say I became really upset about this issue. I make up signs and march up and down in front of an abortion clinic. The only thing I would accomplish would be if it were a hot day I would sweat a lot, and if it were a cold winter day I would freeze. Other than that I would be wasting my time. The women who wanted abortions would have them so why bother? That’s what I could accomplish if I were to get upset about the issue. But actually that would never happen because the issue upsets me not at all.

Now let’s look at the issue from the perspective of my favorite people, the religious right. There’s a website for an organization called the Army of God that I look at on a regular basis. It’s a fascinating website. They are about as far to the right as it’s possible to be. They are the American equivalent of the Arab terrorists in that they are just as stupid and just as dangerous. In addition to the usual religious nutcase stuff they have lots of graphic pictures of dead fetuses. Only they don’t call them fetuses, they call them dead babies.

I will now tell you about Paul Hill, the anti-abortion warrior. On the Army of God website there is a memorial page for this butthead. All these religious fanatics praise Paul Hill as a great martyr and talk about the great and wonderful cause he died for. On July 29, 1994 he killed John Britton and his clinic escort James Barrett and also seriously wounded Barrett’s wife. He was executed on September 3, 2003. I accidentally read about his execution the day after it happened in the Kansas City Star. I was browsing through the headlines and I found a short paragraph on page five about it. I didn’t even realize it was done by injection when I read it. I thought he got the chair and I was really happy about that because the Florida electric chair has a history of malfunctioning and I thought if he caught on fire that’s what he deserved. Before I go on maybe I should explain that I wasn’t an Enlightened Spiritual Master then so perhaps those who read this will forgive my unworthy thoughts regarding Mr. Hill. But here is the main thing I want you to remember about this whole issue. In 1994 when he killed those people there were 1,423,000 abortions performed in the United States. In 2003 when he was executed there were 1,287,000 abortions performed. You have no control over the external world.

There are several other things I wish to point out about the Army of God. I was raised in a small Midwest town and grew up in the Lutheran church. I’m also familiar with other main line Protestant denominations as well as the Catholic Church. Every normal church and the people I’ve ever been around have a social organization. They have programs for their young people, they have singles organizations, and whole families, men, women, and children, meet on the front sidewalk after church services on Sunday and socialize. The Army of God has an Internet church, they are all men as far as I can determine, and they kill people. There are about 40 of them doing life terms for abortion clinic violence. Thirty- eight of them are men, and two of them are women. What the hell kind of a church is that?

I have one last thing to note about abortion. Before abortion became legal in the United States you had two choices if you wanted one. If you were poor you had an illegal abortion and assumed all of the risks that went with it. If you were middle class you flew to Sweden and had a safe legal medical abortion. If the right wing politicians and religious fanatics overturn Roe vs. Wade that’s what we would go back to. I’m sure any sane normal person would much rather Roe vs. Wade remain the law of the land.

SECTION C: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

You know what? I’m going to spare you the dictionary definition of capital punishment because we’ve all seen The Green Mile so we know what we’re talking about. Wasn’t that a neat movie, especially the part where Percy didn’t wet the sponge and poor old Edward Delacroix caught on fire. Oh, heck. Doggone it, I’m sorry. That was before I became an ESM too. I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy it now. On the other hand as I’ve stated before we all have an ego.

Well, anyway let’s get started. Once again from a Course perspective death doesn’t exist, so there is no capital punishment. Now maybe someone who’s going to have a needle stuck in their arm in a couple of hours would have a hard time understanding that, but it’s true. We are not punishing them; we are only disposing of their physical body and ego.

In my role as an ESM I will now explain how capital punishment, which doesn’t really exist, relates to our existence in the world of time and the purpose it should serve. In the world of time all things end, and all physical bodies perish. Some of us perish due to murder, rape, and other assorted forms of criminal violence. From a Course perspective it doesn’t really matter because the end result is the same. Never the less we would all like to have some degree of physical safety here. As an ESM I’m not as concerned with my physical safety as other people are, but I do understand their concern. It’s perfectly reasonable that we don’t want to be the victim of an armed robbery, or have our wives raped, or our children molested.

The people who do these things are human predators. They just do what they do because they do it. The concept of punishment or rehabilitation is not valid in their case. To judge them as evil and “punish” them or incarcerate them is not a valid reaction and is a waste of time. Evil describes a judgment made by people about other people and is subjective. Predator describes what people do and is easily seen and evaluated as predatory activity.

Having said that I do not hate criminals and human predators. I view them as rodents. I have nothing against rodents, and if they stay outdoors and feed the feral cat population I leave them alone. However if they infest my home and spread disease and eat my food and leave droppings then I have to do something about it. The first thing I do is put out traps and poison, and if that doesn’t do the job I call an exterminator.

Human predators are supposed to be useful productive human beings and not harm other useful productive human beings. Having failed to do this they need to be exterminated, much as rodents who fail to stay in the great outdoors and become cat food need to be exterminated. I don’t really think of capital punishment as capital punishment. I think of it as predator removal.

That’s what capital punishment should be, predator removal. Our current penal and predator removal system is a failure. It exists not as a predator removal system but as a multi-billion dollar industry full of highly paid jobs with good fringe benefits. For instance the state of California just built a new multi-million dollar death row facility to house the six hundred and twenty inmates on death row here. That’s right, it’s not a misprint. In fact I very meticulously spelled it out and highlighted it so you would not misunderstand it. These people are alive not because they deserve to be, but because a lot of people make a lot of money keeping them alive, especially the lawyers who file endless appeals.

Our penal and predator removal system needs to be overhauled. First we have to get over the idea these people can be rehabilitated. Let’s face it. When someone makes it to one of our major institutions they are beyond hope. They don’t throw you into San Quentin the first time they catch you shoplifting or doing graffiti, so once someone makes the big time they might as well go.

Here are two ideas to improve our penal system. Let’s use the example of a prison designed to hold 1000 inmates. When number 1001 walks through the gate the inmate with the highest seniority is executed to make room for him. When that is done there will not be a great rush to get back into prison and be with your fellow gang members, because you know there is no benefit to building up seniority. The second way is a prison is designed to hold 1000 inmates. When you get 1000 inmates inside you remove all of the guards and employees and put a tent over it, pipe in the gas, and start over. Either of these ideas should work quite well to reduce the demand for government paid housing.

IN CONCLUSION:

This chapter was titled The Culture of Death. A Course in Miracles says death does not exist and our world is but an illusion. But it sure seems real to us. I tend to think of Course ideas as a metaphor in that death isn’t real in this way. Death isn’t making any real progress. Our population is only increasing.

Actually I think of Mr. Death much as I think of Mr. Sheepdog. Mr. Sheepdog is doing his best to make the world safe for the sheep, and receives little or no gratitude. In fact he is often killed, injured, or otherwise abused.

Mr. Death, War, Abortion, and Capital Punishment are trying to curb the scourge of human overpopulation and give the other life forms such as the Polar Bears a chance, but instead   of being appreciated and encouraged to do their job they are feared and encouraged to go away.

RR-ESM

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