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Articles and Teachings, Page 4
by dr. michael ryce

Tools used to produce a result, produce a result just like the tools.

At HeartLand, we offer tools that have been used by thousands of individuals. These tools (worksheets, StillPoint breathing, "all of the above" as I say in workshops) have healed marriages, families, and individual lives. The fact is, we're using tools in our relationships and communication all the time whether we are aware of it or not. We have either chosen them or they were chosen for us and accepted by us at a young age. How those tools serve us can be seen by the results they produce. Let's take a look at the results of some of the "tools" used in society today.

War and terrorism are tools that have been relied on for thousands of centuries to produce a result. Killing has been deemed a criminal act throughout most of that time. However, criminal acts have not been determined by the action itself or by what law has been broken, but by who sanctioned the act. Is murder justifiable because millions are killed and we call it war?

And the institutionalized terrorism that exists in many of our prisons, what has been the result of that? A productive society will never generate enough wealth to build the number of prison cells necessary to house the criminals that punishment produces. After thousands of years of punishment, you would think it would be obvious that the only benefit that kind of tool produces is tyrants. If it worked, it would no longer be needed. Punishment is an old belief that leads to abuse, resentment, and less Love—the root causes of crime.

If you think, "This has nothing to do with me. I've never even been in a prison nor a war. I have nothing to resolve here," I suggest you think again. This dynamic touches virtually every aspect of every life, every day. It is an expression of an old philosophy that uses the reasoning, "An eye for an eye," to justify punishment, however subtle or blatant it may be. Under this interpretation, every injured party is justified in taking retribution.

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