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.