Look Inside, Not To God
In the aftermath of the shooting last week on another college campus, I am reminded of a common response to such horrors: to pray and seek solace from God.
In my opinion, the purpose of reflection, meditation, and contemplation in times like these has two purposes. First, cultivating a sense of loving kindness directed toward the families suffering from this tragedy may lift ones own sense of kindness as well as impact those far away. Second, reflection on the cause of such tragedy may increase the application of reason and awareness of the roots of such behavior. The perpetrators of these senseless acts of violence are suffering, suffering from delusional thoughts brought on by brain chemistry and social environments. They are actions that arise when one is disconnected from others, threatened and at times feeling omnipotent. Most of us are spared such intense feelings by our own brain chemistry and social networks that might catch us if we drift too far from what is considered 'normal' behavior. Medication serves to adjust chemical imbalances that lead to psychoses, paranoia, and delusions, but as is often the case, adherence to medication can be problematic.
We need to reflect on the reality that we each have within us: a capacity to harm others - whether the extent of your harm is malicious gossip, outmaneuvering someone in business, or telling a white lie. Science has demonstrated that evil arises in good people all the time, a consequence of both individual biology and social environments.
As members of the human species - of humanity - we need to reflect on our social environments and ways to protect those of us that slip into the dark actions of evil. We need to make access to weapons designed to kill a barrier that is so tall, virtually no one can scale it. We need to increase public awareness of signs and symptoms of mental illness, such that early detection and quick response to such signs trigger immediate action by friends, family and the social environment in which we live.
Reflection and contemplation of our deep interconnectedness - our similarities, if you will - and the capacity for evil inherent in us all - is a valuable exercise. I know that if we reflect on our dependent nature, it may lead to direct changes from within, by your own thoughts, feelings, and actions - by increasing your own awareness. God may provide quiescence for you to contemplate your connection to something larger than yourself, but without awareness of your own role in each and every action of human nature - and human steps of improvement - the inspiration generated is lost.
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Great ... Smalley this is your best blog yet ...
The myth perpetrated by the catholic church is that God has flowing white robes and he lives way out in space somewhere. Jesus said that God was within each of us and we can speak directly to him when ever we wanted to, we didn't need to be in the temple to be with him.
Susan listen to Jesus, go beyond the lie that the church has said about God.
When you go within you can, if you want, cummune with God.
LOOK INSIDE, NOT TO GOD
Quakers sometimes refer to the Creator as the Inner Light, the Light Within. That is where we find our strength and solace, from within.
Many say they want to ban all "mentally ill" people from buying a gun. So, who is mentally ill?
All those diagnosed with a psychosis? Like schizophrenia? Never mind that schizophrenics have no more propensity to violence and murder than the general population.
OK, well, what about those suffering from depression. Those on anti-depressive medication. That's up to about...25
Then, there are those taking medications for various ailments, which cause an alteration in personality and behavior. Steriods and hormones are bad about that, but other medications affect thinking and emotions, also. Want to ban them from gun ownership, too?
That covers just about everybody, doesn't it?
What folks really want is just a ban on private ownership of guns, come on & say it.
And, if that's what you want, you better hope and pray (sorry, Susan S) that your police force is perfect, highly trained, and well-paid, that your area never is subjected to massive devastation from a hurricane, tsunami, or earthquake and civil order breaks down, and that your significant other is always abides by the Golden Rule.
"schizophrenics have no more propensity to violence..
Sez who? Then why has every one of the recent mass murderers had a psychiatric history including inpatient stay or recommended inpatient stay?
And what about depression? If I loved someone who was depressed, I for sure wouldn't want them buying a gun.
As for steroids and hormones, there doesn't seem to be a propensity for murder among major league ball players - so there's really one Olympic sized jump from major mental illness to "just about everybody.
I'm a firm believer in "guns don't kill people, people kill people" but some people shouldn't have guns.
A thorough examination of the reasons why such horrors happen, and prompt steps to prevent others from happening, would certainly be useful. That might include some introspection. However, I don't see what harm there is in turning to God for comfort and understanding, especially for the people most directly affected by the tragedy. Living through such an effect must be devastating. They need all the help they can get.
Dear Dr. Smalley,
Eloquently expressed, indeed. Agape.
America has a monopoly on deceit. Look at business, politics, social classes, race, and regions in our country. This countrys violence is a way of life. Some students got shot, look at the people who died in Iraq at the hands of our soldiers. This violence. And wait until they get back home. We don't know what we have created. People at the bottom of the socio economic classes live in a violate environment every day of their existance. Worrying about how you going to feed your children creates thoughts that could lead to violence. And America does not want to support a minimum wage. Situation like this adds stress to an already hard working low paid citizen. Yet, its those who have the most, tend to apply violence the most to others. If you look at someone whom you think is less than you, that thinking in itself, affects ones interaction with others no matter how hard you try to hide it. An example is Russ Limbaugh and William O Neil. They think of themselves as superior to others, they speak and reveal themselves daily and the skillset needed to speak into a microphone ranks down there with street sweeping when it come to talent. What they say is violent to others. And the results of their speeches reinforces thoughts of entitlement in others. Consequently, people and things that they don't care about have no value. And things and people with no perceived values are disgarded, violated or thrown away
Susan,
I was actually about to praise your piece until you sneaked this little one into the mix... "We need to make access to weapons designed to kill a barrier that is so tall, virtually no one can scale it."
You were doing so well at finally calling to attention, the need for humans to place the onus on THEMSELVES to take responsibility for tragedies like this, instead of placing blame on inanimate objects and turning our country into a "nanny-sta
Why the hypocrisy?
No guns period. Our country is not Switzerland and we are unable to maturely handle guns. Money and a health care system which fully deals with psychological problems. And admitting that people are not simply consumers, they need a point to their lives and if faith helps great. Give everyone more relaxing vacation (paid) time and restructure the economy to really help families.
talk about yourself. If you are not mature enought - do not own a gun
Speak for yourself.
A friend of mine shared a theory of his with me a while back, and the more I see here on Huffpo, the more I think he's right.
People like ndem, don't trust THEMSELVES with a gun. They do not trust their own control, or lack thereof, over their emotions. They project this untrustworthiness on to everyone else. They do this because surly, if a progressive, enlightened individual such as themselves can't be trusted with firearms, no one else can be trusted.
From the hysterical ravings I've seen posted by a few of them on Huffpo, I wouldn't trust them with guns either.
I'm in agreement with Ms. Smalley on the mental illness issue and with luziannagirl on most of what she writes. Anyone who wants to kill will do so. If not by legally purchasing a gun, then more than likely with an illegally purchased gun. I am sure people living in cities with gangs (I do) will be thanking all of us when demand for illegal guns go through the roof after Congress finds some way to dismantle the 2nd Amendment. Plus the attendant gang violence that will go with. Fighting the gun battle is worthless, unless your aim isn't actual prevention, but partisan-o
Faith in God, medication, research, acknowledging the hollowing effects of modern life all sound like fine ideas to me. These solutions might help prevent the handful of massacres cooked up by the perspective-lacking bipolar population that happen to schools in upper-middle class America. Then, maybe, someone will realize that 95% of the murders happen elsewhere, committed by different people, with a different set of problems (or maybe not?). And then maybe, just maybe, we can take up the harder task of making the argument to all of these people that no matter what is going on, violence will not set them free.
I don't think we have to choose between legal or illegal guns. That is a fallacy the NRA has promulgated. Many countries across the globe have instituted effective gun control and have few gun related deaths. They look at the U.S. in amazement, think we are gun obsessed, which it seems we are. We need to work together for gun control, as well as better mental health treatment. One without the other will not prevent more of these tragedies.
NRA fallacy? Perhaps you and I don't have to choose between legal or illegal guns because we aren't buying guns, much less stockpiling arsenals. But then again, what we think, or the "countries across the globe" are thinking doesn't matter. It's what the people who want the guns are thinking. I assure you, if we neglect to address the "whys" behind every gun purchase, any law passed on the state, federal or Constitutional level will be a drop in the bucket.
If we can get to a point where the only answer to the question, "Why did you buy a gun?" is "sporting purposes," we will have completely addressed and solved this problem. Banning guns and re-writing the Constitution is the less imaginative solution.
Thoughtful - and brave - post, Ms.Smalley
That society is the sum total of all of us is a difficult concept to live, but it is the truth. Perhaps we can revisit the issue of the mentally ill and where they end up. Since Geraldo exposed the atrocities of 'institutions', resulting in them being shuttered, the mentally ill now often end up in jail or on the street; and of course, we all pay the bigger price for this.
You know something? I haven't or been exposed to this NIU shooting business at all, in a similar way that I opted not to subject myself to the VA Tech debacle last year.
Sounds callous, but Americans are retarded. We are addicted to tragedy and never do anything about it.
WE NEED STRONGER GUN CONTROL LAWS and until this issue is taken up by our crappy government this is going to CONTINUE to happen.
So look inward, pray, it doesn't matter. So long as the 2nd amendment exists as it does, there will only be more of the same.
I'm sorry but I just don't have any tolerance or sympathy for ignorant do-nothing Americans.
Sigh.
Susan, thanks for your essay. The juxtaposition of these blog entries are very interesting sometimes. Looking inside is necessary and fine, but ultimately it's up to me to do something or the contemplation becomes nothing more than navel gazing. Check out Tom Gerdy's Huffpo posting about volunteering for Habitat for Humanity:
http://www
What's wrong with looking to God when we're reminded of the temporary nature of our mortal relationships?
Actually, we should look to God all the time.
In addition to looking, if we listen to God, we may find that the knowledge given in His teachings, such as can be found in chapter 2 of Bhagavad-gita, give real peace:
"He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain.
"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." - verses 19-20.
"All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?" - 2.28
"O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature." - 2.30
http://www
Self-knowledge is one aspect of finding God, and is incomplete without understanding one's relationship with God.
""O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature." - 2.30"
so then abortion ISN'T murder. because what made the "baby" a human will continue to exist regardless of whether or not the cells themselves are expelled from the womb.
Although the soul is never killed, it is certainly inconvenienced when the body is destroyed. The same truth applies to you. You, the consious dweller in the body, will never die, although your material body will certainly evict you in due time. Yet, until you perfectly understand the difference between the body and the self, you will object to someone killing you. Murder is the same as it's always been, killing to the extent that one can. Don't take the pure goodness of God's words and corrupt them into an excuse to sin.
Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita 2.21, "O Pärtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?" The realization of immortality benefits those who have it. Others suffer repeated birth and death; and for such person who does not understand the soul, he is responsible for murder if murder was his intention.
While it's perfectly understandable that most people cling to belief in god as a means of denying the finality of our death, that belief doesn't mean that god actually exists.
If god does exist, however, god is cruel. He could have prevented all the school shootings resulting in the deaths of so many innocent young people, and the terrible suffering of their loved ones--but he didn't. And he won't in the future. He'll also keep sending new plagues like AIDS to kill millions. And he allowed "the terrorists" to fly those planes into those buildings and kill over 3,000 innocent people. The tornados will keep coming, and little children will keep getting killed by them.
For me, it's a lot better to have no god than to have a cruel one.
Why is it that people like you never pass an opportunity to knock religion? Are you bitter? This post isn't even about whether there is a God or not. I think you need to answer for yourself why you have such antipathy for people who simply believe in something different than you.
Possibly, the antipathy arises out of the things that people do in the name of god.
The things that are not so nice....
It is my understanding of the scriptures that God is a loving and fair God. While it is true, He could have prevented those tragedies you mention, in doing so He would have to remove free will from the equation. People need to be free to make choices and accept responsibility for their choices. It was not God who chose to fly the planes into the Towers and Pentagon, nor was it God who chose to have unprotected sex or share needles. God did not choose to bring a gun to Virginia, or NIU. People chose those actions and through their actions, we should look both to God for guidance and to ourselves for introspection. Tragedies have a purpose; their purpose is to show us that we are imperfect and allow us to consider that our choices can sometimes have far reaching consequences.
unprotected consensual sex and iv drug use are not the only way people get aids. rape victims get aids, sometimes organ recipients get aids, babies contract aids from their mothers while being born, spouses bring diseases home to their significant others after an affair (that one is consensual sex), etc.
if free will is such an important thing why do religious types keep pushing to make abortion illegal?
the purpose of tragedies is to show us that we are imperfect and that our choices have far reaching consequences?? so basically, in all the existence of man, we have learned nothing and will continue to kill, maim, and hate each other. that's a very bleak future.
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