{"id":995,"date":"2016-04-16T10:55:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T14:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/spiritualitychannelseries\/?p=995"},"modified":"2016-04-25T18:59:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T22:59:14","slug":"donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump is Only the &#8216;Monster&#8217; We Create Him to Be"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/spiritualitychannelseries\/files\/2016\/04\/Trump.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1018\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1018\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/spiritualitychannelseries\/files\/2016\/04\/Trump.jpg\" alt=\"Trump\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in <a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/spiritualitychannelseries\/files\/2016\/04\/Iraq.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-997\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-997\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/spiritualitychannelseries\/files\/2016\/04\/Iraq.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"124\"><\/a>front of his wife and family; and I cry silent tears every time Donald Trump is lambasted in the latest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/mar\/12\/sanders-attacks-trump-vicious-campaign-chicago-backlash\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">demonization<\/a> of this Republican frontrunner. Why? Pull up a stool and I\u2019ll tell you why . .<\/p>\n<p>Not because I support or supported any of their ideologies, actions, or moral rationalizations on anything; not because I don\u2019t believe the world would be better off without their questionable contributions; not because I secretly laud their brazen acts of defiance; and certainly not for their seditious and inflammatory words of violence and vulgarity.<\/p>\n<p>I cry silent tears for the assassination of anyone\u2019s character and for the defaming, dehumanizing, or execution of any human being for the following two reasons: <strong>1)\u00a0<\/strong>No-one alive has the moral authority to physically, emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually crush another human being no matter who they are are what they\u2019ve done. Period.<\/p>\n<p>However distasteful and repulsive it may seem to many, every living, breathing entity on earth, came from a nurturing mother\u2019s womb into a world of possibilities and pitfalls . . Just like you and me. The path and trajectory of their moral and spiritual journey is <em>theirs<\/em> to own and take responsibility for to the end. Not yours or mine. As parents, companions, mentors, or probation officers, we can guide and help those who have fallen into aberrant \u201cways\u201d; but we can\u2019t complete their journey for them. That is theirs alone to do.<\/p>\n<p>And <strong>2)<\/strong> When we viciously assault or \u201cneutralize\u201d (a nice military euphemism for killing the \u2018enemy\u2019) another because of the threat they pose to us; or by virtue of our moral justification to do so, we are in effect creating a consciousness blueprint of the very circumstances we dread and that vitriolically repulse us. In other words: Whatever our emotional or thought patterns create on a daily basis, is <em>precisely\u00a0<\/em>what will rebound into our cozy little orbit sooner or later \u2013 often with added interest.<\/p>\n<p>As Deepak Chopra <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chopra.com\/ccl\/video\/a-global-meditation-for-peace-join-us-august-8-2014\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">put it<\/a>\u00a0in his 2014 \u201cA Global Meditation for Peace\u201d . .<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><em><span style=\"color: #008000;\">The World is a reflection of who we are, and if we don\u2019t like the reflection, it doesn\u2019t really help to break the mirror.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>A Fragile Species<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Why is it that we turn on others so easily when we\u2019re pissed, scandalized, or outraged? What are we possibly projecting from deep within the recesses of our own consciousness?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At a fundamental level, we are a fear-ridden, suspicion-driven species, who has lost its sense of divinity. We have allowed our fears, rapacious grabbing, and unexplored human insecurities to get the better of us. We don\u2019t know who we truly are or where we truly belong. \u00a0We\u2019re restless, impulsive, competitive, and afraid; so afraid of the stranger, the unexplored, the unknown. We\u2019re xenophobic, homophobic, and claustrophobic, to name a few of a million phobias. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>But most of all we\u2019re afraid of ourselves. Afraid of our demons and afraid of what we\u2019re capable of.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>A Deeper Wisdom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As my good friend and fellow Patheos <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/companionsonthejourney\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\">blogger<\/a> Sean O\u2019Laoire, PhD (Spiritual Director of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.companionsonthejourney.org\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companions on the Journey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) puts it:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><i>When love is turned inwards it becomes self-esteem; when love is turned outwards, it becomes compassion; when fear is turned inwards, it becomes depression; and when fear is turned outwards it becomes anger . . . .\u00a0<\/i><i>Wisdom is the heart\u2019s commitment to turning all experiences into love, and ignorance is the ego\u2019s addiction to turning all experiences into fear.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Speaking of wisdom, I\u2019d like to close out this reflection with the beauty and lyrics of Christina Perri\u2019s \u2018I\u2019m only Human\u2019 . . .<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Christina Perri - Human [Official Video]\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r5yaoMjaAmE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>I bleed when I fall down . . . Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up then I fall apart \u2019cause I\u2019m only human . . .<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Cover Photo: DonkeyHotey\/<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Donald_Trump_Caricature_by_DonkeyHotey.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikipedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Image Insert: Wikipedia Commons<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry silent tears every time Donald Trump is lambasted in the latest demonization of this Republican frontrunner. Why? Pull up a stool and I\u2019ll tell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2586,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55,19,56,57,58],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-binladen","tag-consciousness","tag-donaldtrump","tag-innerwisdom","tag-saddamhussein"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Donald Trump is Only the &#039;Monster&#039; We Create Him to Be<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Donald Trump is Only the &#039;Monster&#039; We Create Him to Be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-16T14:55:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T22:59:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/04\/Trump.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gerard A. Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html\",\"name\":\"Donald Trump is Only the 'Monster' We Create Him to Be\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-16T14:55:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-25T22:59:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\"},\"description\":\"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Donald Trump is Only the &#8216;Monster&#8217; We Create Him to Be\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/\",\"name\":\"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2\",\"name\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gerard A. Murphy\"},\"description\":\"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes &amp; Noble.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Donald Trump is Only the 'Monster' We Create Him to Be","description":"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Donald Trump is Only the 'Monster' We Create Him to Be","og_description":"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html","og_site_name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","article_published_time":"2016-04-16T14:55:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-25T22:59:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/675\/2016\/04\/Trump.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gerard A. Murphy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gerard A. Murphy","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html","name":"Donald Trump is Only the 'Monster' We Create Him to Be","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-16T14:55:30+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-25T22:59:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2"},"description":"I cried silent tears the day they hanged Saddam Hussein; I cried silent tears the day Bin Laden was mowed down in front of his wife and family; and I cry","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-is-only-the-monster-we-create-him-to-be.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Donald Trump is Only the &#8216;Monster&#8217; We Create Him to Be"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/","name":"Pit Stop for the Spiritually Bamboozled","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5608648e5b0572a68caea83a994fe2","name":"Gerard A. Murphy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d179225d56f8a110fdf2c61df79c8a?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Gerard A. Murphy"},"description":"Gerard A. Murphy is a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA. He has an avid interest in evolutionary spirituality and cultural trends. His debut book, 'Do It Anyway: Deep Spirituality Meets Real Life' was published by Patheos Press in April 2017. It is available on Amazon and Barnes &amp; Noble.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/author\/gmurphy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}