Being honest with yourself and all others is the definition of purity. ‘To thine own self be true’. If you’re honest with yourself and with others, every waking moment is a selfless act of purity. Plus, big explosions are painful. I don’t like pain.

Awesome! As I was reading your blog I was reminded of the Vietnamese Buddhist Monks who set themselves on fire in protest in 1963 http://www.buddhistinformation.com/self_immolation.htm . The difference in the two acts is of course obvious.

Thich Nhat Hanh (nominated by Martin Luther King for the Nobel Peace Prize) said of the Monks’ self immolation:

“Suicide is an act of self-destruction, having as causes the following: (1) lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties; (2) defeat by life and loss of all hope; (3) desire for nonexistence….. The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire nonexistence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others…. I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of their oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man.”

I think also there must be called forward that these acts of simultaneous suicide and homicide are at their very center violent acts. Any faithful person would say that God or Allah or any Devine being is discriminating and has a propensity towards justice. One might argue that the concepts of justice, mercy, love, truthfulness, beauty, goodness find their unspeakable origins in the Devine. These acts as they are not discriminating of the innocence of guilt of the strangers that are killed make them impure acts.

More than these aspirations for purity seen in these acts of self immolation and suicide / homicide bombings – I note the efforts of those who serve as most pure. The mother Teresas, the MLKs the Ghandis – those who would dedicate their lives to change for those who can not make that change themselves seem the most pure to me.

To me this is the most profound difference between the two – not that one has taken a life or lives and the other has not. But that these pure servants of their fellow beings and of their highest beliefs were willing to spend the time and energy at being the purity they desired to see in the world, and while they certainly risked and some lost their life, they did not loose site of what they were working for.

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

April 3, 1968
On the eve of a protest march for striking garbage workers in Memphis, Tenn., King gave this darkly prescient speech. The next day he was assassinated.
The whole speech http://www.afscme.org/about/kingspch.htm