Читать книгу Transnational Organized Crime and Gangs - Robert M. Brzenchek - Страница 11

The stars and planets are not just outer entities; they exist within our own bodies and act as guiding beacons. Our own inner lights take shape outwardly and determine our own field of activity in life. Our own soul is itself a star, a sun, a point of cosmic light. Thus, properly employed astrology shows us the world within ourselves. The planets reveal the energies that we need to master in order to calm our minds. For example, Mars represents passion and willpower and is often described by astrologers as a soldier who takes orders from either Jupiter or the sun. When Mars is taking orders from Jupiter within a person, that person is operating his or her passions and willpower for the highest good because Jupiter is a strategic and law-abiding planet. However, a person is operating in lower character when Mars takes orders from the sun. Generally speaking, the sun represents the ego, a need to feel vindicated, important, and at the center of attention. Anger, a typical emotion of Mars, may give a person the drive and bravery to do the right thing and not deviate from it under any circumstances, or the drive to murder in the name of self-respect. The essential principle of both alchemy and astrology is self-knowledge—not only the knowledge of exterior personality or conditioned self, but also our unconditioned, hard-to-identify emotional self, as well. The analysis of memory confines us to a superficial aspect of our being. Astrology and alchemy as spiritual sciences goes beyond this in their analysis of self and leaves little room for blaming bad behavior on Mommy and Daddy’s childhood indiscretions.

So, lets unpack the subconscious memory that reflects true emotions from alchemical and astrological perspectives separately, because they arrive at the same destination from differing perspectives, both of which allow us to understand why this true emotion and self-knowledge is a point of emphasis that offers no relief in the way of blaming others for our behavior.

One of the fundamental principles of alchemy states that everything existing outside of the body also exists inside of it. Obviously, ratios differ. Therefore, no one person, place, or thing is superior or inferior to another and everything acts according to its own true nature and kind. Therefore, nothing is good or bad; it just is. For example, a tiger hunts, eats, sleeps, and travels as he pleases, or rather, as his emotions direct. The tiger is not more or less evil when he kills as opposed to when he sleeps. For humankind, this perspective implies that there is no separation from the subconscious and the conscious memory at birth. Thus, babies act on and do what is best for them, what feels good to them, until cultural and societal boundaries are solidified. Such boundaries force an individual to develop separate memories and motives. This separation leaves the ego attached to an outer-conscious memory that has abandoned and suppressed true emotion, creating the subconscious. Yet, it is the nature of humankind to develop social and cultural structures in this way, which introduces a paradox of the human condition. For the spiritual alchemist, the goal of every human is to resolve this condition by balancing the conscious and subconscious desires of self with social and cultural realities that satisfy the ego, as well. Once a person understands that no one escapes this paradox, the focus shifts from blaming circumstances to paying close attention to all aspects of self and learning to accept everything about self, “good or bad,” in order to express the whole self in ways that are socially viable.

Where astrology is concerned, the energy of the planets inside you are swayed by the energy in the planets revolving through the night sky, directing your behavior and the circumstances you find yourself in, including the family in which you are born or your economic circumstances. So, for astrology, things are just the way they are until eventually a person recognizes the cyclical nature of circumstances in life and wants to define the cycles on his or her own terms. This sort of fed-up feeling is what brings a person to a point of seeking to control his or her destiny, and in order to accomplish this goal he or she has to pay close attention to emotions and learn to work with and accept his or her own true way of being. Again, there is no room for blaming, because both parent and child exist in a rhythmic cycle whether they decide to work with the energies and co-control circumstances or be pushed along by them.

As described, the foundation of both of these spiritual sciences places an equally strong emphasis on the concepts of intention and free will. It is not until a person decides to manifest his own intention that he truly operates in free will. What does this mean? Well, astrologically speaking, planetary influences can be manipulated by intentional human behavior. Personal choice is extremely powerful, and quite often people choose not to make choices. Given such an understanding, we cannot conclude the actions one will take in life based on astrology. We can only determine the influence they will confront throughout life and draw conclusions of how those influences will direct them based on prior history of how a person has chosen to exercise intent—or not.

Let us look at Scott Peterson. He has a close conjunction between Mars and Uranus, and together, these planets are known as being accident prone and capable of sudden fits of anger or aggression. However, the alternate expression can be seen in President Trump, who expresses these same conjunctions through a tremendous drive to lead a movement and spearhead social change. That’s a far cry from the famed Peterson, who murdered his wife and unborn child.

Overall, these concepts adapt a rare approach to gangs. The practical significance of this topic speaks for itself. Gang members or potential initiates need only understand that intentional choice is paramount to changing circumstance and experience.

Thus, Cocoa’s core focus on spirituality and religion in the study of gang members is a significant part of the whole. Recall that alchemy and astrology are foundational principles that guide religious teachings often unbeknownst to the followers of the religion because the lessons of these sciences are simplified via allegory and tradition. Too often, however, religion seeks to direct the behavior of individuals by assigning an overall intent to the entire group. This is empowering from the point of view that having intent makes all the difference in one’s livelihood and well-being. But it does somewhat limit a person’s drive to develop a truly personal intent that satisfies all of who they truly are. Protestant Christianity, for example, has established that its adherents strive for a life that is “Christlike,” while followers of the patron saint Santa Meurthe (a saint revered by many Mexican gang members and Sicario) embrace a hyperawareness of death and intentionally strive to live life for the moment, as tomorrow is not promised. Given this understanding, there is no doubt that religion and spirituality will be designated as a chief ingredient, for students and scholars of gang culture, as well as policymakers and practitioners, in the discussion of gangs and gang prevention. We now will review some foundational theories regarding deviant behaviors and transnational organized crime.