Some of you will have seen the story of HOBO in the Daily Mail. The pictures and account in brief are in the Forum here under 'Rescued Dogs'. The owner responsible is now facing charges. Our first reaction is often anger and the thought of revenge and punishment. I myself, am certainly not immune from such extremes!! But supposing I don't want to get caught up in such reaction,which throughout history to this very day is the fundamental reason for all wars and divisions of all kinds. Supposing I ask the question, WHY? is this happening in our society? What are we doing or not doing? What could we do that's different and could change such situations? I don't claim to know the answer but I have an idea which Nanette and Bertie have somehow instilled in me.
I would like to suggest that we take a long close look at the picture of HOBO (first picture in Forum). We can see that HOBO has been rejected, starved and abandoned....he is reflecting this state physically and emotionally to the point of imminent death! I suggest that as we look at the picture and the natural feelings of horror, anger and maybe revenge arise, we replace the image of HOBO with the body of a woman!! The Owner in fact. Consider perhaps, that it is the woman who felt totally rejected and abandoned and very angry, she also seems to have loathed herself! These feelings were so overwhelming and painful that she externalised them by means of a projection in the world of form... that is...on to her dog.
In this moment we have a choice to become either an 'Observer' or a 'Participant'. By this I mean that we can allow ourselves to be swept up by the ego and react with the natural feelings of disgust, anger and revenge or we can choose to stand back and say to ourselves, 'Hang on a minute, given that for thousands of years, punishment and revenge have only lead to more violence, could there be a different way, a healing way of dealing with this??'
One friend said to me, on seeing the picture of HOBO, 'The owner should be locked up'! Another friend said, 'Oh!! the owner must be a very mixed up, sad person!' What would you say? (You may like to write something about it in the FORUM under 'Rescued Dogs'.) We can see that the owner already feels totally rejected and abandoned, thus to 'lock her up ' would simply compound her problem!! There is another invisible side to it also. HOBO now has a new life, a wonderful new life but as 'Unicorn' has pointed out in the FORUM, the psychological scars are still embedded in his 'emotional' body. I suspect that while the old owner continues in this psychological state, the 'energetic connection' between her and HOBO will remain very negative for both of them.
Just supposing, we take a different approach? Just supposing that the owner's sentence for this cruelty is Psychotherapy ongoing for minimum 3 years plus she is assigned to an official Refuge or RSPCA or Battersea Dog's Home....to work there every day under the strict guidance and supervision of an experienced worker in this field? Feeding, cleaning out and walking dogs who have been abandoned. Like this, she would slowly but surely begin to feel a part of something, to feel needed, useful and develop a feeling of self worth...perhaps come to terms with her feelings of guilt plus experience the unconditional love of the dogs she must care for??
This is just one idea. For sure, there are other solutions but the important thing here is....that she would eventually experience Healing. In that moment, the energetic connection ( which still exists between her and HOBO, please read some modern physics ) would also be Healed. What a magnificent and beautiful energy would be released into our collective consciousness!! Too idealistic Jil?? WHY NOT?? xx