THE SLAUGHTER OF CHILDREN AND SOCIETY’S SOUL
by Gary Rosenberg

In the aftermath of yet another mass shooting, this time at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida it is time to seriously consider:  What kind of society allows their children to be slaughtered by guns?

The same society that feeds them food laced with pesticides and herbicides;

that lets them drink toxic water laden with lead;

that has 21% of all children living in poverty;

that forces them into long term debt in order to get educated;

that politicizes the education system making it less effective in preparing for the future;

that demands babies get ‘immunized’ with vaccines containing mercury and other toxins before their immune systems are even developed;

that prescribes them neuro-toxic, homicidal and suicidal drugs;

that dulls their brains with distractions and technological gadgets;

and, that feeds them violence, fear and exploitation through all sorts of media, essentially teaching them that these acts are acceptable.

This is the same society that was founded on fear, violence and exploitation;

that is the only country which used atomic weapons of mass destruction to unnecessarily kill over 200,000 people;

that is the largest arms dealer in the world;

that legally allows military grade weapons in its streets;

that has the largest number of firearms per person in the world;

that promotes war as business;

that has been at war 91% of the time since its inception;

that has a military presence in 177 countries;

that spends 54% of its federal budget on the military;

and, that is seen as  the greatest threat to peace by the world

So, the fact that we as nation continue to do nothing while our children are killed in what should be safe places such as schools is a symptom of a much bigger problem.  America is a nation which continues to elect spiritually primitive leaders who are influenced by a spiritually primitive power structure.  By spiritually primitive I mean that these people are driven by their egos’ desire for personal self-benefit with little connection to their souls’ altruistic desire to bestow on others.  They dissociate and alienate themselves from the wider population and continue to disregard voters’ overwhelming wishes. 

However, this is not the only problem.  The majority of people in our country are also driven by the desire for personal pleasure and self-benefit.  This is why, in part, major societal issues like the slaughter of our children receive periods of non-stop media coverage after each shooting and then taper off into the ether.  People find it uncomfortable to confront these kinds of truths about ourselves for long and would prefer to get back to the ‘American Dream’ of consumption and pleasure.

As I have discussed before, Kabbalah addresses this aspect of the human personality.  We have been designed by the Creator through the ‘Thought of Creation’ to receive pleasure which the Creator bestows on us.  This is the first step in our spiritual evolution.  Our world is the first world on the ladder to the Divine.  So, it is realistic to expect that human personality traits emphasized by the desire for personal pleasure and self-benefit would be heightened in their presence at this time.

However, at some point we need to wake up and recognize that this is not all of who we are.  At some point we need to understand that deep inside us we are more than this.  At some point we need to know and accept our connection to humanity, Nature and the wider Universe.  At some point we have to know the greatest desire of the Creator is for us to be like this altruistic Source and begin a determined path towards our spiritual evolution.  And, that this path leads us to infinite pleasure, infinite joy.  For more on this see my two postings:  Kabbalah, Bestowal, Creation of the Spiritual Creature and Our World, 4/9/17 and Healing Humanity, 10/16/17.

If we want to stop the carnage in our communities, country and world, there is a particularly important reason for us to individually and collectively desire and engage in determined fashion our spiritual evolution – our path towards self-realization:  The spiritual world is the world of cause and our corporeal world is the world of results.  If we continue to attempt to change our world without connecting to our spiritual selves – we will continue to fail.

There needs to be a spiritual revolution in this country before there can be any political revolution.  This does not mean we don’t take action that we are moved to take.  For action is part of our spiritual growth.  Remember the concept I discussed in an earlier writing of Thought, Word, Deed – the process of how we create our reality.  Deed or action is a key component.  However, we need to have the strongest spiritual intention behind any action we take if we are to muster enough power to confront the strength of the egos of those who rule the country. And, we need to purposely seek out others who are of like mind and spirit.

Let’s be clear, not everyone in America owns guns.   A 2016 study by Harvard and Northeastern University put the total number of privately-owned firearms in the U.S. at 265 million, with more than half of that - 133 million – owned by just 3% of Americans who have an average of 17 guns each. A 2017 poll by the Pew Research Center found that the number of Americans who actually own a gun is at about 30% of the country's citizens. Consider that the Small Arms Survey estimates there to be around 650 million civilian-owned firearms total in the world.  In contrast, about 200 million firearms are owned by the armed forces, while 26 million are in law enforcement hands. So, we have 3% of Americans owning about 20% of the world’s stockpile of firearms.  Big Think

Spiritually evolved people don’t need guns because they don’t fear each other.  Spiritually evolved societies protect and cherish their children and all life. As we all continue on our spiritual paths, let us do so with the greatest intention to do the greatest good for our children, for our families, for our communities, for our country and for the world.  For the desire to bestow the Creator’s Goodness is our true destiny.  And the act of bestowal of this Goodness on others is how we change our world.

DETACHMENT AND THE SEARCH OF TRUTH
by Gary Rosenberg

“I hold that believers who have to see the same God in others that they see in themselves, must be able to live among all with sufficient detachment.  And the ability to live thus can be cultivated, not by fighting shy of unsought opportunities for such contacts, by hailing them in the spirit of service and withal keeping oneself unaffected by them.”

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Whether we recognize it or not, we are all on a path towards Truth.  Truth is the essence of Life, sometimes referred to as The Source, The Universal Mind, The One, The Creator and God.  Our path is an eternal one and for those of us on this planet, we find ourselves at the first of a series of evolutionary realms or worlds we pass through as we become more spiritually aware.

Our spiritual awareness depends on our personal intention and desire to seek Truth.  While our sole purpose in Life is our spiritual path towards Truth, it is our awakening to this purpose and our intention to live our lives for this purpose that determines our progress in our spiritual evolution.

At this time our collective Humanity is what some would call spiritually primitive.  This is not a judgment, though it may sound ‘politically incorrect.’  It is simply stating an observation by those teachers, sages, gurus and others who understand these things.  Though any of us individually may be at different levels of spiritual growth – as a whole just looking at the world Humanity has created (or destroyed) can help us see just how spiritually primitive we are. 

However, this does not stop us from our path towards Truth, but should encourage us to be that much more determined in our spiritual search and move us to an intention with the strongest desire to make our spiritual path all important.  For as you will discover in this and my future writings, the Spiritual is really all that matters, the rest is illusion.

If we are to be serious about our spiritual path in this world, then we have to understand the importance of detachment.  The Hindu and Buddhist spiritual systems refer to a practice of renunciation.  Renunciation is giving up our attachment towards worldly pleasures.  This does not mean we live like paupers, ignore our responsibilities towards our family, friends, fellow workers and communities.  What renunciation or detachment does mean is that we place into perspective the importance of the material relative to the Spiritual. 

To detach ourselves from the world of material form and things requires that we play the role of objective observer as we participate in worldly events and things.  It requires that we do not become attached to the acquisition of material things or ideas; that we understand things have their place in our material existence and not much more.  While material things may give us some comfort and pleasure, detachment will not allow them to become the most important part of our existence as has been the case of most of Humanity. 

What causes us to be so attached to the material world of things is our ego, for our ego was designed to seek and receive personal pleasure and benefit in all things material.  It is our ego which allows us to believe in illusions of pleasure even when these illusions will ultimately cause us harm.  It is the ego which drives us to exploit other people, animals and Nature for our own personal self-benefit.  It is the ego which will delude us into thinking lies are truths and truths are lies.  It is the ego which sees us as separate from each other, envious and fearful of each other.  It is the ego which has worked to stifle our soul and reign supreme over the world of material things.  And it is the ego which is ultimately destroying the world as we know it.

Without detachment from our world of material things and our egos, our search for Truth and truth becomes distorted through continual distractions.  Our desire for knowing becomes a desire for more and more pleasures and material possessions.  Without detachment, our connection with our soul and our path towards Truth is prolong.  As long as we allow our ego to lead us, we will continue to experience struggle, challenge and pain in our lives and what has been manifested as a world on the edge of extinction will truly be our demise.

And yet, we must not pass judgment on any situation.  Detachment forces us to accept what is with the intention of correction.  Because we do not judge anyone or any situation does not mean we accept those things which cause harm to us or others.  Detachment simply means we recognize when the ego has manifested our world and dig deep inside ourselves with the greatest of desires for the goodness of our soul to take us on a different path.

The ego has been very active in our world for far too long.  It has distracted us from facing our most pressing problems.  It has deluded us with lies and made us incapable of logic, inquisitiveness and reasoning.  It has given us leaders who lead only for their own self-benefit to the ever- likely destruction of all of us.  It has dissociated and alienated us by political parties, religion, philosophies, gender, race, ethnicity, geography and age.  We have allowed the ego to reign supreme.

We have to awaken to cut through the curtain of illusion and delusion the ego keeps around us.  We must detach ourselves from our ego and its insatiable material desires if we are to allow the goodness of our soul to manifest and create a world of true beauty and love. 

Detachment does not come without the strongest intention and desire and it requires us being honest with ourselves about what is truly important to us on our current spiritual path and our search for both truth and Truth.   A strong desire for detachment means we recognize that our time in this world of material things is limited and that there is something much grandeur in Life which we seek, are part of, desirous of and raise above all else. 

Once we start practicing detachment and understand our true purpose is spiritual evolution we begin to lose fear, understand and love more people, appreciate the beauty and interconnection of Nature, know truth, feel joy and bestow love.

For the way to spiritual growth is detachment from what impedes us along our path, the knowledge that our true essence is love and that anything but Truth is an illusion.