What would be the "spiritually," correct stand on the matter of capital punishment?
Hilarion: Under the Mosaic dispensation, the old rule was that if a person took the life of another, then he himself must die at the hands of society. This law was given at that early time because of a desire to speed the setting aside of karma. The society of the day was such that no positive rehabilitation of murderers was thinkable and therefore any murderer who was left alive would not have any chance to improve from a spiritual point of view.
Indeed the very act of murder creates an energy field around the murderer which acts like a gate, preventing spiritualizing forces from having access to him, and tending to keep him unrepentant to the end of his life. Thus, by handing down this law, Moses was attempting to speed the spiritual evolution of the murderer by having him meet the karma from his act (by being put to death himself) so that he could be reborn into a new set of circumstances, without the inhibiting "field" around him.
However, man today understands the power of love, and understands that it is able to sweep all obstacles away--even that arising from the act of murder. Therefore, a murderer, even though his act still creates the field of negativity around him, can still hope for the possibility that he will make further spiritual progress in this same life.
Because of the shortness of the time remaining before the entry of the New Age, we think that, whenever possible, murders should be at least be offered the chance to change their violent pattern, through being exposed to love from others. It is a difficult question on which to give hard and fast guidance, since each case differs from all others. From a higher point of view, of course, it is inevitable that the karma will at some point be set aside, even though this must await another life.
"Answers," by Hilarion/ Maurice Cook published in 1983
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