Neither Living by the Sword nor Dying by It
Imagination Beyond Domination and Submission
Entering the Via Creativa
Learning how not to live by the sword or die by it is a difficult task, but one that our soul is up for. Once we make the active choice not to live by the sword, not to even pick it up and continue the cycles of violence that the world is mired in, a whole series of new choices appear before us. The question is, how do we combat the real and present evil and dangers of the world if we are not going to take up that sword and act through violence?
Jesus gives us an example when he talks about the binding of the strong man in Matthew 12:29. As we embark on this path, we are taking our first steps into the Via Creativa, the creative way. We are seeking new ways and new images to guide us.
Previously we talked about the moment and decided not to take up the sword.
We choose not to act through domination, coercion, and violence
We still have a choice to deal with: fight, flee, or freeze
In other words: do we continue in the struggle, do we run away from it, or do we pretend nothing is wrong, or the storm will pass.
Notice that fight is still an option yet the choice is to fight nonviolently
This doesn’t force an answer on us we actively consent to remaining in the struggle nonviolently rather then flee from it or pretend it doesn’t exist.
We still must choose what nonviolent action to take
We are actively consenting to seek new actions staying in the fight nonviolently and to refuse the violence, the hatred, the anger, and the rage that consumes the world. We are embodying our compassion in hopes that, through our thoughts, words, and deeds, we can repair the world and leave it better than we found it.
Rejecting the sword is not withdrawal. It is invention. If we do not seize power violently, and we do not submit to it either, something new must be made. This is the third path. Not domination. Not capitulation. But shared power, mutual aid, and embodied care. Via Creativa becomes the practice of imagining forms of life that violence cannot easily inhabit.
Binding the Strong Man
Matthew 12:29 and the Liberation of the Soul
Matthew 12:29
29. Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.
In Matthew 12:29, Jesus is talking about how the kin-dom has come and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, demons are cast out. There has been a lot of debate about how Jesus casts out these spirits and does the miracles that he is doing. Here he is saying that these demons, these unclean spirits, cannot enter the house and plunder it unless they first bind the strong man. Only when he is bound do they have free roam of the house to plunder and do as they will.
In the next verse, Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” This helps us see the context. The strong man is the soul of the individual, and the thief who comes to plunder is the unclean spirit that enters into them. For the unclean spirit to enter the house, which is the body and the spirit itself, the soul must be bound. These binds are the compromises, the limitations that the soul places upon itself, those things that the strong man has already agreed to that keep them passive and restrained while the thief is in the house. The unclean spirit is that spirit of empire, of violence and plundering that puts the needs of greed and hatred and fear above the needs of the soul, spirit, or body.
What Jesus is doing here is showing us the pattern of how empire and violence work. He emphasizes something really important here. Before the unclean spirit enters, the strong man is already bound. If the soul is not already compromised, if it has not bent the knee, given in to fear, chosen to cooperate with the violence, anger, hatred, and greed of the society that it lives in, the robber cannot enter and the soul cannot be plundered. So long as the strong man is free, the thief cannot enter the house. The unclean spirits of empire must first tie him up, or they cannot gain entry.
This idea can so easily be misread. If we believe we can just say “be free” or “get out” like so many do in exorcism work, we are not actually exorcising the demon. We are not actually ridding the soul of the unclean spirit. Slogans and power words do not work here. These spirits are only expelled when the strong man is liberated. If we are not first freeing the soul from whatever chains have bound it, then the unclean spirit will remain plundering the house.
How do we uproot this oppression, this violence, this hatred from ourselves and our society, this indwelling self-harm that perpetuates these cycles? We have to liberate the soul. Find ways to get people to rise up and become that strong man again. This is why the Gospel message of Jesus reminds us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, take care of the sick, the widow, and the orphan, be with people in their sorrow, and visit them in prison. If we are not giving courage and strength to the soul of the oppressed, then they cannot break the shackles of that inner oppression and cast that unclean spirit out from within. This story reminds us that liberation begins in the heart and works itself from the inside out.
What We Mean by Unclean Spirits and Demons
Unclean spirits are the fears, shame, ideas of scarcity, and domination that we internalize. They are thoughts that come from the outside in that we let inhabit us. These can be born from many sources, from how we are taught, the culture that we live in, or as a result of trauma causing us to put up barriers to protect us and make us feel safe and secure. These unclean spirits cloud our judgment and our vision and prevent us from seeing the world clearly and taking right action within it.
Demons are the systems that we live in that control and coerce us through shame, fear, and guilt. They get within us when we internalize these systems and enact them within us. They are the internalized police force that dominates us and causes us to lash out at others in ways that we would not if we were seeing the world clearly without them.
These unclean spirits and demons manifest in the habits that we take on in our thinking and feeling and that we express in the habits of our lives. They are as real as we allow them to be. They are not cast out merely with a word, but through the internal work that allows us to strengthen ourselves, heal our souls, and be able to stand up so that there is no room for them within. The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.
The Work of Liberation
Courage, Teshuvah, and Standing Up
If we are to truly be the liberated people who can stand up, cast out the unclean spirits from ourselves, and go about helping others to find their liberation, we have to do the work on the inside of us. This work is a combination of things. It is a gradual bettering that we do through the process of teshuvah, repentance, where we learn from mistakes that we have committed in the past, errors in judgment, or missteps that we have taken, and we change our mind so that we move gradually more onto the path that we desire to walk.
This work is also cyclical, where we remind ourselves to be grounded in the natural rhythms of life and of our community. We do not do any of this work alone. Some of it we do with only the help of the Holy Spirit in times of deep meditation and prayer. But even then, we are not alone. If we are going to be strong, healthy people capable of bringing mutual aid, care, and comfort to the world, then we have to build relationships with others because we have to practice what we preach.
That practice teaches us so much. We see new things that we need to change our minds about, and we grow and mature. We know that we are ready to go out, not because we have had some grand awakening or feel complete liberation, but because we know that the process works and that others need it too. Once we understand the work of teshuvah and how to practice it within ourselves, we know how to teach it to others. And that is when we go out and begin sharing the work of liberation with others.
Freeing the Strong Man
If we are going to free the strong man within ourselves or others, we have to start building up courage first. We remind ourselves that there are more people who oppose this evil in the world than there are people who support it. We refuse to compromise or accept the lies of scarcity that say there is not enough. Most importantly, we deny the state of isolation that is imposed on us. We are not alone. That is a lie meant to bind us.
Whether we are talking through social media, out in public together, or alone in our house thinking about these things, we are not the only ones considering them. Liberation arises from the knowledge that we are free to make our own decisions. Like bodybuilding, this kind of soul-building starts small, with little choices, little things we can do to defy the powers that be and develop the instinct to say no to corrosive power. Start by imagining ways that you could stand up right now, even if it is just in the room that you are in. Just saying to yourself, “No this is not the way things should be,” is enough to get started. Once we take back that little bit of courage, it compounds and grows.
As we develop courage, we begin to see the binds that hold us. That may be fear for our own safety, the lie that we can be safe while others are harmed. What is done to one of us can be done to any of us. We may be bound by a sense of powerlessness, believing our voice is too small. To let go of that chain, we realize that together we create something far greater than any empire.
We must stop carrying the burden of our past. Prior votes, prior actions, guilt and shame are binds that allow our lives to be pillaged. For those in Christ, all old things have died. What is born is new. To live in that newness, we must shed old habits and then let go of the shame for having had them. If we do not make space, possibility cannot arise.
Savoring What Gives Strength
Jesus reminds us that we know what is good. If a child asks for food, we do not give them a stone (Matthew 7:9). We are created in original blessing and have access to grace flowing through all life. We can see beauty and kindness in neighbors, strangers, and friends. We can laugh and care for one another.
Once we realize holiness and righteousness are just other ways of saying we know how to live in right relationship with ourselves, with others, and with God, it becomes a discipline we practice not a state we live in. It is a discipline like body building that we work out in order to gain “moral muscles” and the courage that we are capable of doing what is right. Grace is the availability of the “weights” and the freedom to use them and grow stronger.
It is more important now than ever to savor moments where dignity is restored and agency exercised. We find awe in those with courage to put their bodies on the line for freedom. We renew our spirits as we witness humanity rising up in protest for what is right. As we savor and delight in these things, we awaken the soul so that the chains fall and unclean spirits lose their hold.
Standing Together Without the Sword
Now that strength is returning and the binds are falling away, we stand strong. We speak truth with compassion. We seek out others for mutual aid and action.
Luke 12:48b
48. ... To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.
We give what we have in time, money, and attention. If we have much, we give more. If we have little, we give what we can and collectively we have more than anyone of us individually.
We refuse rage because rage is the surrender to their control. When we give into rage we are binding ourselves, acknowledging and acting under their control and influence and not through our own power. This is why Elijah had to flee and hide in the mountains. After he demonstrated the power of God he surrendered that power to Ahab and Jezebel by attacking their priests (1 Kings 18). He demonstrated the power of God and squandered it leaving himself powerless before them. They do not have power. They have fear. The project of life’s restoration is standing firm so that fear does not bind us again.
This work does carry risk. But we are not asking for heroics. We go out together. We shield one another through community, de-escalation, refuge, and accompaniment. We refuse violence not as passivity, but because violence entrenches the systems we resist. Mutual care ensures we make it through to the other side.
Now What: Sent Without Coercion
Luke 10:1-12
1. Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come.
2. Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.
3. Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
4. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.
5. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’
6. If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
7. Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
8. Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.
9. Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’
10. But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say,
11. ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’
12. I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
In Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy disciples to proclaim the kin-dom. They are sent throughout the land to whoever will listen. They are told to trust the gospel and carry nothing, learning to rely on God and one another. They are sent as sheep among wolves. When welcomed, they speak peace. When rejected, they move on without anger or shame.
Seventy is the number of completeness. Enough. He sends them in pairs so that they will remember that they are not alone, that we work together in this life, and that none of us are truly alone.
In reminding them that they are sheep among wolves, they understand their job. They are here to shepherd the people, but also to be one of them. They are not to be leaders of the flock, but members of the flock, the ones that guide others home and away from danger.
When he tells them to carry nothing with them, no bag, purse, or sandals, he’s taking away from them the fear that they are not adequate. Most of the followers of the early Jesus movement were poor, and so they did not have extra to take with them. But they would find what they needed along the way, teaching them to trust not only in God, but in their fellow human beings for their support and well-being. This idea is core to the gospel.
He invites them to have three means of interaction with the people there. The first is to speak peace to the house. Peace is the message that we bring, the peace that passes all understanding. When we are with them, we are to spread the word that the kin-dom is around us and amongst us. It is here now. We are not waiting for it. We only have to manifest it into the world. And in the end, if we are rejected, he does not tell us to lash out, to scold, or to shame, but to shake the dust off of our feet.
We should not carry with us any shame, doubt, or grievance when the message falls on fallow ground. We do not leave in argument. We do not leave in anger, and we do not force our presence upon others. We shake the dust from our feet and understand that they have decided to remain in the tragedy of their lives rather than move forward and break free from the cycles that ensnare them. We do walk on and find others and spread hope as far and wide as we can.
Jesus is showing us how to live this message out in the world and what that world even looks like. We go out as we are, taking what we already have with us, not going to prepare, sitting in a state of expectation and waiting. We do not deny the nature of this world or the dangers that lie within it, but understand that our role in it is the liberation of people and the justice that needs to spread out over the whole of the Earth. We do not do this work for our own aggrandizement, to live a life of ease and care without worry.
The purpose of the work of spreading the gospel is to meet people where they are and to accept where they are without coercion or force. We do not give more than we have to offer, and we do not take more than is given to us. We do not force what we have upon others and allow them to receive all that they desire to receive. We do not set out to be martyrs, only to spread the message where the seed can grow, and to move on when we find a place where it cannot. We do not presuppose how the message will be received. We test and see and hold on to that which is true.
Going Out in the Via Creativa
Problem Solving Is Creative
The Via Creativa is more than just our capacity for imagination or creativity in problem solving. It is also the path where we learn that we are as much God’s child as God’s parent. In going out into the world to do this work, we are helping to raise the child within us to be strong and good. But we are also parenting the child in others to help it be strong enough to cast out the unclean spirits that seek to possess it.
So when we go out, we are talking from the Christ in us to the Christ in them. While we are meeting them where they are, we are trying to remind them of who and what they are.
They are an original blessing that through grace can have their eyes opened to a world more profoundly wonderful and interconnected than the binds that hold them down allow them to see.
Begin With Blessing
This is why we always begin with blessing, not shame. Shame tightens the binds and grants more power to those unclean spirits of fear, doubt, worry, and hate. If we can get them to see that original blessing or grace, to have a twinkle of that original mind or wisdom that is within them, then the opening is there. We can use a metaphor like a high tide raises all ships, but we have to explain that in ways that make them feel it in their own lives. We have to awaken that Christ child within them so that they can see how they are woven into the same divine tapestry that we are, and that their actions and our actions are both working towards justice. But we do not need the fear, worry, doubt, or hatred to be our companions along the way.
We have to remember that the average person we encounter is not evil. They may condone or support evil actions, but deep down inside, people are not cartoonish villains wringing their hands and proclaiming their evil villainy. Even the most selfish, greedy, and power-hungry amongst us think that what they are doing is right.
Our task, then, is to not breed shame and guilt within them, because that will only harden them in the place that they are bound. Our task is to release them. we have to let go of our preconceived notions about those we deem as being on the other side. We have to refuse shame and guilt when we are rejected and the anger that might arise in us based on how we are rejected.
The most difficult task in this work is learning to set down our grievance, urgency, and need to convince others. Arguing with people all too often solidifies them in their beliefs. What we have to do is open them up to get them to see the humanity in others and to feel the part that they are playing either in the harm that they have done or the part that they can play in the healing and restoration of the community and the bringing of justice. Their instincts are already good. They are seeking what they consider to be justice, security, and peace. The problem is that it’s just security and peace for them and those like them, and it is our task to open them up to see that what harms one of us harms all of us. If they don’t listen or they reject us, we dust our feet off and we move on to find others that will listen, knowing that the more the truth is proclaimed in the world, the more the light shines and the darkness retreats.
Savor The Bright Moments
As we do this work, we have to remember to savor any moments that we are welcomed and to delight in any hospitality we find along the way. We keep our eyes open for any sign, no matter how small, that the message is landing. We never forget to laugh, to share our meals and our rest together so that we can continue to be strong for the work ahead. We stand firm in the shared dignity that we find with our fellow laborers in this work and never forget to see the dignity in others. That is, after all, what we are offering: dignity and a life well lived. When we are lucky and the stars align just right, embrace the awe and wonder when we see someone recognize this kinship that we are proclaiming and awaken from the darkness that held them captive, breaking the chains so that they can stand up.
Ministry of Reconciliation
We are called to a ministry of reconciliation, where we are repairing the world and making it better. Once we have learned to stand up on our own, and how to reach out to others to help them stand up, we can see how this peace that we proclaim reinforces itself. When we stand arm in arm, connected together, nothing can get past or through us. We are growing something precious and alive. Success is not what we have torn down, but what we have liberated. What have we brought freedom, peace, and harmony to?
This kind of relational repair and redistribution is the hard work that is worth doing. It takes time and patience, and those are things that we are not encouraged to have in our modern world. It requires us to stay strong yet supple so that we can fit where we are, because we are starting where we are and embracing others where they are, to keep that relationship real and alive so that the world can actually be changed and healed.
The River of Trust
As people who have worked on this repair of our souls so that we can stand, and as disciples who have gone out into the world to heal others and to help them find their reparation and ability to stand, we find the wonderful river of trust that circulates and feeds our communities and makes them strong.
This river is kept healthy by our actions of compassion and mercy that bring the gentle acts that fill it with good water. We refrain from the hatred, coercion, and violence that would pollute the river and take away its life-giving waters. All are welcome to come to the river through respect and mutual care.
We have come to realize that we do not have leaders, but spokespeople, guides, and others who help to facilitate the work because no one is above anyone else. We are all co-laborers in the great work of restoration. Our movement happens because it follows the course of this river. And when others dam it so that the trust cannot flow, we know that just blowing up the dam does not help anyone. It produces a flood downstream, causing more harm than good. Instead, we learn to slowly, piece by piece, dismantle that dam so that the waters can nourish the parched land beyond it, so that life can be restored and trust born anew, carried in new relationships as the river continues to flow.
A Shared Life Takes Shape
Acts 2:42-47
42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.
43. Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
44. All who believed were together, and had all things in common.
45. They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
46. Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
47. praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
In Acts, we see this community realized in the Jerusalem church. They devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles, literally to the teachings received by the ones who were told to go out and teach. They came together in fellowship, not a rigid leadership structure, not a community built on rules and restrictions, but in living together. In the breaking of bread, they shared both meals and the life of Christ, and they gathered together to pray, which is both the words that we say in holy and sacred times, and the way we live life.
They lived in mutual aid and mutual care, holding all things in common, making sure that everyone’s needs were met. Every day, they went out to where the people are and spread the good word that grace is available to us all and that we are all created in original blessing. Then, they broke bread in their homes. They were not isolated, and they were not collectivized. They were living in mutual relationship with the community around them.
The world that we see in Acts 2 feels like a utopia. Everyone is taking care of everyone, and they all seem to know what the right thing is to do. It is a hopeful dream of what we could have, which has led many to debate whether or not it actually existed. The story paints a picture of a world where people take care of one another, and no one is left to suffer.
Many have tried to live out the story over the ages. The monks withdrew from the world and created their cloisters where they could inhabit this perfect life together while keeping the rest of the world out. When the Puritans first came, they started a colony based on these ideas. But they lacked the wisdom that we’ve gathered from Matthew 12 and Luke 10. They believed and practiced that people are corrected through law, shame, guilt, and ostracism. They opened their world too quickly because the whims of the king required them to take in people who had not done the work on themselves first or accepted the ways of their community. These newcomers expected the Puritans to provide everything for them so that they would have no need and would be able to just live lazily alongside their neighbors. At least that’s the story as it comes down to us. The problem is that this kind of change requires a cultural shift that leads to personal development and right relationship.
Could a world like this exist? Yes, if we teach people how to do the work themselves, to stand up, to be strong, and to find their way in it. And we knit ourselves together into a tight-knit community that understands that mutual aid and support is how none of us is harmed. That is the long work to get us to this dream. It is possible, accessible, and it does work in small communities. The trick is to teach people and to help people grow into it so that it can grow into larger and larger webs of support.
The work is necessary because if we don’t all come together, then the climate crisis, or some other crisis that is manufactured by the greedy, the fearful, and the power-hungry, will take us back to square one again. This work is alive in us because it is the way of nature.
Nature works more through cooperation and balance than it does through competition. If we can learn to align ourselves with this way, we can build sustainable societies that grow, evolve, and mature, and make the world a better place. We cannot do this simply through law, nostalgia, hope and imagination, or coercion and force. We have to do this by teaching one another to be truly liberated beings, free in this world, yet connected and requiring the mutual aid, support, and care that makes life possible. Law, nostalgia, and coercion cannot build this world. Liberation can.
A Beginning, Not an Ending
If we are going to learn to neither live by the sword nor die by it, we have to learn patience and imagine a new way of living together. This starts, as all things do, with small beginnings. While we can imagine great things, the first steps are always tentative and testing.
The shared life we are working towards is one where everyone can stand up and live their amazing and wonderful truth as a blessing to the world. And that together, we establish systems of mutual aid, care, and support so that no one is left behind, no one is left wanting, and no one is left hurting.
Each and every one of us has a different role in this. For some, it’s telling stories, singing songs, and making art that stretch the imagination and prepare for the changes that need to come. For others, it’s tackling the legal and political systems so that they are actually systems of justice, mutual care, aid, and support for all the people, not just a few. For all of us, it is learning to live again in community, where all voices are heard and recognized, and no one shouts louder than the rest. Where we learn to speak with care and concern, and listen the same way. If we cannot see the pain in the hearts of others, we do not know how to heal them, so they stop lashing out.
For more on Neither Living by the Sword nor Dying by It watch our discussion here: