click to look inside the authors book “Values of A Spiritual Mind”

A Spiritual Reply To Violence In The Schools

Violence in the schools is a result of student's disconnection from the divine qualities of their inner being. That inward divinity is the source of all goodness that provides inner peace and harmony within the school environment. The students are prone to violence due to being unaware of that divine inner presence, and are given over to unfruitful behaviors.

The soft moist qualities within students and faculty provide love, peace, faith, and perseverance within the school environment. When that tenderness and softness dries to hardness and “coldness,” hostilities and violence is the result. The students become hard and violent because the divine qualities are harassed and bullied with hatefulness and cruelty. That is a school environment where goodwill, kindness, joy, goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, and self-control are not supported.

HEALTH
The spiritual health of students are not nurtured, which leads to destructive behaviors. The students prone to violence are not blossoming with healthy fruit of love, goodwill, and kindness. That results because those seeds are not sown nor nurtured. Those students become involved in lifestyles that destroy their own body, hardens the divine tenderness, and have no regard for the health of other students. They feel no regard for life.

SECURITY
The students prone to violence do not feel the spirit of peace, safety, and security within their school environment. They respond chaotically to the students, which they hold responsible for their agony, turmoil, and conflict. With that said, every student and faculty member desires an environment where the divine fruit of peace, joy, gentleness, and love is in bloom. However, the effects of hatred, bullying, and harassment causes conflict and sadness, which results in violence.

BELONGING
Students who feel they belong within the school environment live in harmony with one another. They want to feel the spirit of acceptance and love among the student body and faculty. However, when students are brushed aside, made to feel different, and treated with spite, they feel unfruitful in their isolation. Without support to nourish their desire for the fruit of goodness, kindness, and love, they lash out with violence to those who reject them.

SELF-WORTH
The students who are prone to violence do not feel esteem within the school atmosphere. They are made to feel that they are worthless as a member of the student body. The divine qualities of goodness, peace, faith, joy, and harmony are treated with disgust, ridicule, and hurtful rumors. However, they are applauded for their reckless and dangerous behaviors until they respond to their criticizers with violence.

SELF-EXPRESSION
It’s important that students are able to express wholesome values, ideas, and beliefs within the school environment. When the spirit of the divine qualities are responded to with negativism, then peaceful self-expression is being suppressed. When students are not given the freedom to express their goodwill within the school environment, ill-intent begins to form within their hardened words and behaviors. Their speech becomes filled with unfruitful sentiments, and their behavior follows with violence.

Some people want to deny the spirit of peace and harmony within the school environment. Their interest is to teach students how to respond with sadness and anger to the divine qualities within. They will not bring the spirit of agreement to those students who seek to discover the ever-present and all-knowing authority of that inner divinity. They will never accept that everyone should be taught to enter into the source that produces the divine spiritual fruit.

We can assess that the fruit of love, peace, joy, and faith are necessary to produce harmony within the school atmosphere. However, the diagnosis is that bullying and school violence are concerns in the schools today. Therefore, we plan to continue to teach one another to honor the goodness within, and respond to others with the spirit of peace. We implement this plan by focusing on the value of the soft moist qualities of the inner being. That brings us into a divine presence, the producer of spiritual fruit. The evaluation is to see the spirit of peace, joy, and goodness blossom within the school environment, regardless of popularity or academic success.

click to look inside the authors book “Values of A Spiritual Mind”