A dialogue on abuses of power 

Eugênia, do you want to speak to our netizens?

Yes.

What subject would you like me to address? 

The subject about abuses of power. 

Right. What do you have to tell us?  

That it is human nature to commit abuses of power, even if it is in a very subtle way. For instance: the father who overly punishes his child, or belittles his or her opinions, for being a child; the wife who exploits her frail and needy husband, vampirizing him financially; the businessperson who abuses the needs and goodwill of their employees, who are earning little and working hard. 

It is very difficult for people to see themselves as abusers. Usually, they have eyes only for those who abuse them. 

That is exactly why I asked for us to speak about this. In this age of consciousness awakening and of universalized protest, individuals are, due to their low degree of psychological maturity, prone to see themselves as victims. This is not useful. It is important that each one sees, in oneself, what needs to be changed, instead of searching for flaws in others, because, proportionally to the level of conscience and to the personal history of conveniences or difficulties that each one has, very often the accusers have much less rights than the ones that are being accused. The mere fact of adopting the accusatory posture already denotes a certain deficit of lucidity and intellectual-moral development. Those who have matured have a high level of tolerance for the deficiencies and ambiguities of others. They defend themselves, but in a careful and controlled manner, never transforming the defense into a vengeful attack.  

Abuse has many forms, not merely one. Sexual abuse is perhaps the least important one, except when it comes to children, who always deserve our full protection, because of their immense emotional and mental vulnerability, besides their obvious physical weakness. In the adult life, abuse is commonly generalized to one’s feelings, opinions, way of being, their choices, preferences and affinities. The look of criticism or disdain is often considered acceptable and normal, but, after a thousand times, it can lead someone to suicide or insanity. The sarcastic word or the initiative to humiliate someone, so common in interpersonal relationships, greatly reveals how people, on Earth, have strong inclinations to abuse, especially to abuse the weakest, or those of whom seem unable to protect themselves from the onslaught of others. Cowardice and vileness, thus, express themselves without punishment, and precisely because they choose situations where there are no punishments, these people are even more condemnable, contrary to those who, at least, have the merit of courage to confront what was established. 

 Do you want to say anything else about this? 

Let each one of us remember the scene in which Jesus, before the adulteress caught “in the act”, at the imminence of being lapidated (stoned). He turned to those of whom felt so clearly superior to her, at the point of placing themselves in the position of divine avengers, decreeing and provoking her death: “Let anyone who is without sin throw the first stone.” And we could still give continuity to the Master’s thought and paraphrase Him: “Whosoever has the lesser sin throw the first stone.” 

The adulteress could be rebelling against the abusive dictatorship of the time, of being forced to marry those she did not love, which today would be very well seen and even applauded, as an unprecedented courage of confronting murderous conventions, such as those of Jesus’ time, in the name of an ideal. But the question is this: at the time, she was regarded as a marginal of society, and the Christ was considered very merciful for defending her. Perhaps, it was not just that, but also the fact that the Master was protecting those who deserved protection, in a moment of extreme injustice. 

In that occasion, Jesus releases the condemned woman and tells her to not “sin” again. Studying etymologically the meaning of the word “sin”, we will find the indication that the term is about “missing the mark,” which, without a doubt, what she had done, to a certain extent, was to confront an entire social system that would not change overnight. With that, we want to draw attention to the fact that, often, what is seen as a great mistake, in a certain time, can become, in future generations, not only not a mistake, but an exceptional accomplishment, just too avant-garde to be assimilated by contemporaries of the one who makes him or herself the messenger of progress. And, therefore, often those who attack someone for considering him or her an “abuser” may be acting much more like abusers themselves, in the eyes of God and His representatives, than those who they accuse. And, without a doubt, standing against the Creator Himself and His Emissaries does not seem to be good business for anyone. For no other reason, Jesus said: “You will be measured in the same way you measured others,” or, even more emphatically, “Do not judge other people. Then you will not be judged.” (NIRV, Matthew 7:1-2) 

Spirit Eugênia-Aspásia 

Medium: Benjamin Teixeira de Aguiar 

February 15, 2004