From: Karen
Date: Fri Oct 21 14:21:42 MST 2005
Subject: Keep your enemies closer

OK, I've Net-researched it a bit, having thought that the screenwriter of "The Godfather" borrowed it from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," but that quote, as such, didn't appear there. It gave some interesting advice on espionage, though ;-) Rod, I think you have the right idea when you're considering whether there's a craving for power...power for power's sake. The ethics of violence seem to be based in the spirit that drives the action: spirit of power/manipulation ("Dark Side") vs. spirit of love/justice/righteousness. I think violence often "works" when it isn't justified, and also I think that violence may be justified even when it doesn't "work." Like the blilly-clubbed Civil Rights marchers would have been justified to fight back in self-defense, like Jesus would have been justified to fight back against his attackers, but in terms of what needed to happen for things to "work"--first on the spiritual level, then on a physical one--folks had to turn the other cheek, intentionally, with courage.

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