Overcoming violence with good

Many communities around the world are dealing with violence and unrest. Recently, more than 100 people died in São Paolo, Brazil, because of prison riots and outbursts on the streets. Leide Lessa, managing editor of The Herald of Christian Science, spoke with Heloisa Gelber Rivas, a teacher and practitioner of Christian Science who lives in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States but is originally from Brazil, about how prayer can help to turn rioters—wherever in the world they happen to be—in more positive directions.

From a spiritual standpoint, what do you feel the violence in Brazil and elsewhere in the world is saying to us?

It is the suggestion that God is absent or there is no God; that goodness is absent. But I like to think of the universality of God’s presence, that divine intelligence is God Himself, and that each of us—including those engaged in violence—can respond to that intelligence.

Why?

To me, prayer is not asking God to do something. It is recognizing God’s presence. Jesus Christ turned to that presence. He taught “Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.” That’s the Golden Rule, the basic rule of harmony in any society. When that law is violated, people suffer.

So how can we avoid that? By recognizing that God is the Principle that fills the universe. Because there is only one Principle, it cannot be divided. Divine justice, the righteousness of God, is the key theme in the whole Bible. And the righteous individual is the one who respects God, good, as the law.

This is the one universal, ever-presence: God. The divine presence is not localized, or found only in cities. It’s everywhere. The more individual citizens, no matter where they are, turn to that presence and acknowledge it, the more they are sheltered from harm, and are also helping to diminish violence in the mental and physical environment around them.

This passage in Mrs. Eddy’s book Science and Health says it well: “At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good.” If evil is overcome with evil that generates violence. That generates hate. None of this seems like a real solution, does it? So now I have a question for you: What is the remedy for hate?

I would think it’s exactly the opposite, love.

And what’s the remedy for fear?

Also love.

Which means fear and hate are the same thing. Hate has its basis in fear. Fear of not having, fear of being unhappy and needing to get what you want by some kind of violent action.

And again, going back to the passage in Science and Health we were talking about: “At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good.” The next sentence is, “Know thyself, and God will provide the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.” If each one knows himself, respects himself, knows how much he is worth, he’ll find how good he is.

How can we learn to love ourselves, even if we don’t feel worthy of love?

I think it’s a matter of finding one’s own dignity. Nobody’s destitute of dignity. Nobody is unworthy in the sight of God. Every individual is an idea, a creation of Principle. And that Principle, which is God Himself, respects us and loves us. Let’s find that spiritual worth in ourselves and in others, and then we can overcome evil with good.

Stopping violence by recognizing that infinite, supreme presence of God brings peace. It brings peace to one person and it can bring peace to another. That is Love, and it constitutes an armor that surrounds you and clothes you. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.” If you put on the armor of Love, you’re sheltered from evil. God is Love. There is no hatred in infinite God.

The heart that is yearning for respect is responsive to love. And that dignity’s already there—it just needs to be brought out. It doesn’t need to be put in, because nobody is worthless. That dignity is inherent in any idea of God. Every individual is an idea of God, already worthy of the good God is giving him or her.

I don’t mean that people who do bad things in society should be free to go on doing them. On the contrary, they need the help, the protection, and the guidance that will enable them to “overcome evil with good.” To know themselves. And God will give the opportunity for overcoming evil with good.

This type of prayer has a ripple effect, because it touches the truth that God is always giving us. And when you touch a spiritual truth, it doesn’t just reach one person or a few. It goes beyond the one you’re thinking of.

It’s like that passage in which Jesus says, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove to yonder place; and it will be removed.” One person that has that trust can do it. And one thought that reaches the Truth can go far beyond what that one person's thinking.

Because God’s universe is already good. The kingdom of God is already good. The kingdom of God is not somewhere out there. It is already within each of us, because we, too, are good.

Printer friendly