We prevent ourselves from knowing ourselves with thoughts of who we think we are. ‘I am this. I am that.’ Self-concepts are entirely time-bound. Nothing more effectively obscures the real than the clock. Freedom is the recognition of our timelessness. Never born. Never died.
We are violent—of that there can be no doubt. In the 20th century alone, having perfected our ability to deal death, humans killed 200 million other humans. You protest, I am not violent! Not human, then?
It does no good to tell ourselves we should not be violent, that we should not be who we are. All that accomplishes is religion. No, our violence needs to be owned and investigated.
Fear is the miasmic emotion, the one that underlies and envelops everything. Violence comes from fear, that is, from the desire of the self to preserve the self. Violence is fear in its counter-phobic state. It looks like anger but it isn’t. If it wears a uniform, we salute it; if it wears a ring, we kiss it.
Men's Work 