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            %COERCIVE VIOLATION OF SELF'S INTEGRITY 870506

     Violence    has    to    do    with    fragmentation,
disintegration,  separation, alienation,  dichotomization,
splitting,   coercion,   forces which  divide,   repulsive
conflict,  etc.   Violence has to do with threatening  the
integrity of a whole and its coherent tendencies.

     A virus does violence to a cell by getting inside the
cell  and  doing things which  disintegrate  the  coherent
structure  of the cell from within.   It does so by  using
resources  within  the cell and redirecting them  to  ends
which destroy the integrity of the cell from  within.  The
cell's own sources of strength are used from inside itself
to do violence to itself.

     In  like  manner certain ideals and values can  enter
into  the  mind,   soul,  body and spirit of a person  and
threaten the integrity of the person from within.  Certain
ideals   and   values  redirect  a   person's   attention,
motivations,  understandings, and desires  in such ways as
to redirect the person's resources in  ways  which destroy
the person's integrity,  and destroy the integrity  of the
community which nurtures the  person.  Such  violence from
within  is  the  ultimate  means  for bringing  about  the
disintegration of something which is whole.

     Violence  from  within a person is most  likely  when
there  is  confusion about the importance of personal  and
communal  integrity.   When people do not  understand  the
importance  of both  personal  and  communal integrity  in
balance with each other, they  permit other considerations
to threaten their personal and communal integrity.   Other
concerns  can  become so important  that  people  fail  to
perceive  the  disintegration of the whole which  is  most
essential  to their survival in  a  meaningful  way.  Some
ideals and values can become so dominant that people  fail
to  perceive  the  disintegration of that  which  is  most
essential  to  their survival in a meaningful way.    Some
ideals  and  values can become so virulent and  infectious
that  in the service of them people do things which  bring
about    fragmentation,    disintegration,     separation,
alienation, dichotomization,  splitting,  etc.  within and
among  themselves.    All  this  happens  with  sincerity,
respectability,  conviction and self sacrifice in the name
of idols  who  are regarded as God-given.    It is usually
truly a tragedy.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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