It is, of course, a most sensitive subject: for most people the idea of a forcible sexual act against a man, woman or child is abhorrent and stories of rape understandably create an emotional reaction, more than most subjects.
Rape is all about power and control, and about dishonour; it is about cruelty and it is the ultimate in selfishness. It turns what can be the highest expression of love into pain and humiliation, and indeed it is the antithesis of love. It is an expression of the shadow in man rather than the light, and while for victim and perpetrator there may be karmic and life learnings in the experience, rape can never be justified.
“Legitimate rape” is an unfortunate and presumably unintended expression used by Todd Akin to describe sexual rape as defined by law, but rape in its broadest sense of violation and abuse occurs beyond the law as well as within it. One of our most important human lessons is about encouraging and enabling the special gifts of talent and personality we each have, in a spirit of compassion, acceptance and respect: anyone who denies us this opportunity to evolve is guilty of rape, whether it is through sexual violation, domestic violence or bullying.
Abuse comes in many forms, and mental and emotional abuse can be as hard to experience as sexual abuse, and it can be just as damaging. All abuse to the individual is abuse to the soul – but from it can come growth and wisdom and a new empowerment, albeit through harsh learning.]]>
With regard to this issue, one must needs go beneath the surface. The GOP in the United States, at the federal level, has a history of utilising some of the most underhanded tactics to win elections, most especially since at least the 1988 presidential cycle, when George Herbert Walker Bush's campaign came up with the infamous Willie Horton attack ad for use against his opponent, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
One of the most recent and despicable efforts to win Congressional and presidential elections has been the current election cycle, 2012. For instance, this past Valentine's Day, I got spammed by my local Congressman, Bobby Schilling - on his own office' letterhead (which is technically an abuse of office in the United States). In my Letter to the Editor of the local newspaper where I live, I exposed Schilling's spam for what it was, an attempt to incite Culture Wars in his district. (This Letter to the Editor and two others are part of my ebook on Amazon.com, Congressman Bobby Schilling: Poster Child for Today's GOP.)
Since it was clear to me as a psychologist that Congressman Schilling didn't have the cognitive skills or smarts on his own to initiate Culture Wars in his district, the obvious conclusion for me was that he had to have some help with this kind of re-election strategy. That begs the question of who gave him such help, and that's where following money trails proves quite useful indeed. In Schilling's instance, the money comes from right-wing groups and members of the country club set in his district, judging by the emails to supporters and Twitter tweets that I receive from his opponent's campaign and have been able to verify on my own. In my most recent Letter to the Editor (http://chamane25.comli.com/Schilling/11082012.html), I call Schilling out for working the local country club gentry whilst basically ignoring the pain of workers in his own district whose jobs were literally being sent overseas - with the humiliating twist of having to train the Chinese workers replacing them, in part so as to obtain their own unemployment benefits. In the process, I expose him for working the local country club set (with House Speaker John Boehner's help) by comparing him and Boehner to prostitutes working in a massage parlour.
Unfortunately, this behaviour by my local Congressman is increasingly typical of how the GOP does business. Even though Congressman Akin's comments about 'legitimate rape' are offensive even to some members of the GOP, they are but another extension of the Culture Wars gambit that is being played out as the GOP - with lots of Super PAC financial assistance this time round - seeks to retain control of the federal House of Representatives and also to regain control of the U.S. Senate. And therein lies the real reason for the good Congressman's comments.
In its own way - and quite indirectly, I might add - Congressman Akin's comments and Congressman Schilling's actions point to a political party that has fallen onto the left-handed path. In antithetical form, such ilk and the GOP as a whole are giving us all clues about what is a truly spiritual path; we just have to pay attention to the details.