Who is The Devil's Advocate?

The Devil’s Advocate made an interesting comment on my previous post The Truth is Out There…

Normally I wouldn’t honour such an obvious troll with a response, but in this case I will make an exception, as I think it illustrates some significant points.

Firstly I am not entirely certain what point The Devil’s Advocate is making.

To me they seem to be offended by my attitude of not wanting to let myself be distracted by the pursuit of justice for those responsible for 9/11, in favour of focussing on the bigger picture of wanting the human race to take responsibility for its long-term survival. But I am not sure.

So I would encourage you to read the original posting and his (or her) comment on it, and make your own minds up.

Anyway...

Apparently the notion of keeping an open mind and an open heart makes The Devil’s Advocate barf.

What’s the alternative?

A closed mind? Fixated on a singular interpretation of the events around them, to reinforce beliefs already firmly held?
I won’t even bother going into the obvious insecurity that implies.
Still, if you are going to do that, why bother taking part in any of the human experience at all? You already know what you believe, and nothing you see or hear can alter that. You may as well stay in a closet, surrounded by comforting ideas, if you are not prepared to consider concepts that challenge your current interpretations and beliefs.

Essentially you have “peaked”, you will be nothing more than you are now, and are for all intents and purposes marking time, waiting for death to end an unchallenging, unchallenged and unfulfilled existence.
How truly sad it is for anyone to have reached that point in their life.

As for the Truth lying within you being New Age spiritualist crap, well of course The Devil’s Advocate is welcome to his or her opinion.

But the concept stems from religions and belief systems that are many hundreds if not thousands of years old: Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism (including Jewish mysticism/Kabbalah), Islam, and Christianity all have a common theme of finding the Truth (or Faith, or Salvation, or Nirvana, or Moksha, or Oneness) within you through meditation, contemplation, and prayer (amongst other things). Surely these are not all New Age spiritualist movements?

As for real justice being end at the end of a rope – now it is my turn to barf.

If you are a Christian (and I suspect that you think you are) then surely it is not our place to judge or mete out justice: that role is God’s and God’s alone.

What you call justice is little more than vengeance and revenge. You practically admit that yourself by saying that “The atrocities… need to be avenged”. Your own words betray your real intent and motivation.

And what proof is there that bringing the perpetrators to your kind of justice will end this?
Throughout the ages, wars and other acts of violence and atrocities have been committed in the name of justice:

• The Crusades
  
• The Inquisition
  
• Wars too numerous to mention
  
• The Holocaust (Hilter’s “Final Solution” was no doubt justified in Nazi Germany as a way to bring the Jews to justice for the apparent “crimes” they committed against good Christian Germans / Arians, though the Truth is somewhat different…)
  
• The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  
• The Nuremberg War Trials
  
• Vietnam
  
• The Gulf War
  
• The numerous and un-ending wars in the Middle East
  
• Saddam Hussain’s recent execution
  
• Etc etc etc
  

All of the above were committed and excused by people in the name of some kind of “justice”.

What has any of them achieved? Have any of them stopped further atrocities against the human race from being committed? If so, why is the list above so long and un-ending?

In fact all that they have achieved is to perpetuate hatred, distrust, and a sense of in-justice in some part of the collective human race, and thus continue the cycle of self-destructive behaviour.

And before you suggest that my attitude is in someway insensitive or disrespectful of the victims of 9/11, I would like to state that I have the greatest symapthy and respect for both the victims who lost their lives, and those who survived with shattered or scarred lives.

But I simply don't see how applying your kind of justice to those responsible for 9/11 either honours the victims, or commemorates them, or in some way lessens or alleviates the horror of 9/11.

So it seems to me that your kind of justice has more to do with your agenda and making you feel better about 9/11, than anything that would really make a difference.

As for what my agenda is, and which side I am on: to me they are one and the same thing.

I am on the side which wants to focus on and help humanity’s and this planet’s prospects for long-term survival.

Which side are you on?