“Hell is Empty, and the Devils are All Here”, …. (William Shakespeare, The Tempest)
“And thus I clothe my naked villany, … And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.” (William Shakespeare, in the words of King Richard III)
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A pl
ay on words from the Rolling Stones most pertinent commentary song ‘ Sympathy for the Devil’ circa 1968. The song was on their ‘ Beggars Banquet’ album , which , ironically, was released right after the murders of Martin L. King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
One stanza of the song rings so true to those of us who believe there is a Deep State which runs our traditional government: ” I shouted out who killed the Kennedys when after all it was you and me!” Now we know that Jagger and Richards, the songwriters, wrote the song from the perspective of the Devil, the narrator. So when they include ‘ it was you and me’ they are intimating that there is more than one devil out there. So it is.
There have always been cabals in perhaps every elected government throughout time in memoriam. These are simply evil and greedy human beings who are obsessed with power and control over the rest of their citizenry… plain and simple. The dictionary defines evil as ‘Morally wrong or wicked’. Well, we can sit and discuss what the extent of evil deeds is all about for hours, even days. The bottom line can be found in the biblical precept ‘ Do unto others as you would have them do unto YOU’ . Thus, when those in positions of power disregard the needs and the will of their people, or other peoples…evil is prevalent. Millions, perhaps billions of spiritual seekers follow the story and precepts of Jesus of Nazareth. Do they remember this one:
The Rich Man
16 Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher,[a] what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
17 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep[b] the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man asked.
And Jesus replied: “‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.
19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c]”
20 “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The late Kenneth Wapnick, a clinical psychologist and foremost teacher of A Course in Miracles, wrote a wonderful book ‘ Forgiveness and Jesus ‘ in 1998. His book expounded on the theory that what we call ‘ The Devil ‘ is in reality NOT a being or spirit but the mechanism of our Ego, whenever we allow it to do and think evil. Wapnick expressed his feeling that we are all here in this 3rd dimension and given ‘ free will ‘ by our creator.
We ALL have, according to his theory, the choice to live in the light of goodness and truth, or that of our ‘ lower, carnal selves, which can be defined as ‘ evil’. Regardless of one’s beliefs in the spiritual or denial of anything of that sort, Wapnick’s understanding of the power of the ego, or ‘ Devil ‘ as many call it, is real. Thus, the ‘ evil ones ‘ follow the path of their ego, or carnal self, and …..
Now here is the kicker. There are always but a few of truly, as defined earlier, evil people compared to the overwhelming majority of the populace in any given area of the world. Yet, what about those of the remaining perhaps ‘ Silent Majority’ who know that evil or wicked deeds are being done and do not really care?
You have heard it before: ” If it doesn’t affect me or my family, or my business, I really am not concerned.” Just like the wealthy out there who have great health and dental coverage, how many of them drop some sweat thinking about their fellow citizens’ healthcare?
The ‘ We are at war ‘ analogy is even better. As long as our 20 something young Americans do not have to serve in the military, many lose any sense of caring about what in the hell is going on overseas! As many should know, during the ( so called ) Vietnam War era, especially as the mood of our populace turned against our involvement, 20 something and even 30 something young men were very keen to keep abreast of things… especially if they had a low draft number.
As far as our new era of ‘ Perpetual War’ this writer has friends who invest in the stock market. Many were and are quite satisfied with our Wars on Iraq and Afghanistan because they had stocks that went up because of them. They will shed crocodile tears for the dead US soldiers and none at all for the ‘ ten times more dead’ A-rabs. Is that evil? Maybe a little bit would you say?
The old adage ( I’m lying. I just made it up ) of ” If you believe there is a devil, then you must believe there is a God too.”
PA Farruggio
May 2018
Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn , NYC longshoremen. He has been a free lance columnist since 2001, with over 300 of his work posted on sites like Consortium News, Information Clearing House, Global Research ,Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch, Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust., whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has a internet interview show, ‘ It’s the Empire… Stupid’ with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at [email protected] )
