The following excerpt from The Tao Te Ching sums up perfectly how I feel about the use of force in my role as a Police Officer.
I include words and presentation as (potential) weapons also.
One may forget how the uniform presents itself; I strive to present an open, non-judgmental presence.
Using force, for some, can become a crutch – the easier way out yet with a terrible price to pay.
I find the challenge and reward of “building a bridge” pays dividends for everyone in the short term and long run.
From a non-duality absolute truth perspective, to harm another is to harm myself and indeed harm all beings.
Policing is FULL of opportunity for spiritual growth!
Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?He enters a battle gravely,
TAO TE CHING (a new english version by Stephen Mitchell)
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.”
Originally posted April 10, 2021
https://beingwalter.com/713/dire-necessity/
Ego loves weapons. They give him false sense of power and superiority, to hide his insecurity and powerlessnes.
Weapon of the true self is love, so powerfull that no other weapon can mach it. So powerfull that any feeling of insecurity and powerlessnes can’t survive in his presence. So powerfull that no weapons are needed anymore.
In loving truth, in loving God, it is revealed to us that everything we do, is being done through us. It is also revealed that everything which appears to us is his form, his manifestation.
When we stop separating his infinite forms into separate realities and when we stop separating ourself from his infinity, we become knowingly his instrument.
In his hands, how can we go wrong?