Having people split on the rack, drawn and quartered, crushed, their limbs severed or heads cut off is no longer seen as reasonable, just or appropriate. The oppression of women, the exploitation of children, the subjugation of a race or class of people because of a manufactured notion of inferiority or the contrived superiority of others has fallen from grace, if not totally from practice. Simply put, it is fear. The key to the denial of reality, of growth, of our own value and our common human connection, is fear. But it is the lesser-self part, the negating part.
Fear is one of the pieces of the human puzzle, but only one.
It is as powerful as we allow it to be. Another piece, even more powerful, is love. Yet as much as we claim to recognize the power and authority of love, we too often lack the courage to make use of it. The existence of fear in all of us, however, provides an opening, an opportunity for those who wish to exploit others for their own purposes. And exploit them they will, often in ways so subtle and ingenious they are difficult to detect.