The Ability to Kill

"If you must begin, then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time....the spiritual path is not fun - better to not begin it."

-Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

If you are a male, your masculine gift is the capacity to kill, if necessary. When this natural desire is suppressed, distorted expressions of this primal urge will be born.

If you are a female, you are drawn to this capacity as a polar opposite. You don't want reckless violence; instead, you are attracted to the capacity because it signals and offers protection, strength, and courage.

Two versions of this capacity offer context: Relative and Absolute.

The relative capacity to kill is straightforward. For example, if someone breaks into your home, are you capable of defending yourself, your lover, and possibly your children, and if necessary, finish the fight?

The absolute capacity to kill extends beyond the physical and is arguably more challenging, yet potentially more critical. The pinnacle of the masculine gift is the ability to surrender the ego to cultivate love. Can you face your death for the sake of freedom from greed, anger, and delusion? This is the absolute capacity to kill.

You live in a time where this responsibility has shifted from the collective to the individual. So, as a society, we got what we asked for in regards to autonomy, but we are now left with the hefty responsibility of developing ourselves.

While linear prescriptions rarely play out flawlessly, they do provide directional accuracy. And in this case, three avenues develop the capacity to kill: Martial arts, meditation, and plant medicine(s).

Lastly, this is not a one-shot deal. There is no completion. It's an ongoing invitation not to some faraway place, but a return to what you've always been.