the violence of the sun

from we deal in dreams by live:

don't you feel so very pointless
in the feelings of the rain
and the violence of the sun
i must confess that i feel graciously
bigger than the rain
and hotter than the sun
what did you do
what do you say
when the blood spilled is of your loved one
and the kremlins of the world fall around you

oh fearful crying people
the fool is by the river
watching but not swimming
it takes energy not to get used to it
and fall into this place
where everything runs together and dies
this quiet kingdom she is now
forever will she be, in silent celebration

a few years ago i was talking with a classmate, Ran. he was telling me about a short story that he wanted to make into a movie and he compared the violence of a one night stand to the violence of a rape. i asked him what he meant by the violence of a one night stand. and i don't think i understood his answer until a few moments ago.

in december i read rob bell's book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, in it the authors talk about the myth of redemptive violence. redemptive violence, if i understand it correctly, is when a person commits violence to prevent further violence. they call this a myth because violence is cyclical, violence only begets more violence. therefore, there is no such thing as redemptive violence.

so, just a moment ago, i finished downloading Wolfmother's album, Cosmic Egg and noticed one of the song titles: The Violence of the Sun and recognized it as a line from Live's song: We Deal in Dreams. and i had a bit of an epiphany. the word 'violence' is the noun form of the word 'violate,' which is a verb. violence is the same as violation, so to do violence is to violate.

my little epiphany was this: violence is inherently evil. the only 'good' way to respond to violence is to absorb it, to respond with grace. like Jesus.