Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

I chose the water cooler area to post this question because it doesn't really fit anywhere. I've been listening to the news and heard that a 19 year old male wanted to commit suicide so he went to an upscale mall and randomly shot and killed 8 people, wounding others. When I read the news story online, there were reader comments about changing gun laws. There were comments that involved name calling and passing judgements.

The more often this kind of thing happens, the more troubled I become about it. Not just that someone doesn't have the necessary coping mechanisms with which to filter the events of the world and so ends up committing murder and then suicide, but that the reactions from other people can be so vulgar.

I don't think the situation will change just by changing gun laws. That's just a band-aid fix. I think it's all about giving our children the stability and coping mechanisms they need to survive in the world. And if the parents fail at doing that, then it's up to the community to show an ounce of caring for a troubled soul.

I'd really like a discussion here. One without name calling and judgements. I want to know how far a reasonable adult should go to try to help a “lost” soul who seems troubled?

For instance, if an older teen showed you in confidence his gun, what should the responsible adult do? What if a teen was a loner and threatened the life of your teen? Would you personally seek help for the one who issued the threat? Or file a police report?

What about starting a discussion group for teens so they can air out their issues, is that something that would help the life of a lost one?

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

  This is a wonderful post.  In my thoughts is that we should begin  by honoring and respecting children.  Our culture in the USA appears to disenfranchise children from birth.  They are taught “to be seen and not heard”.  Meaning that they have no voice in the home. They are taught to say no to drugs while their parents pop them from daylight to bedtime.  A pill,  a shot for everything. We have put up no consistant barriers for the children to not do drugs. Legal or not drugs are drugs. Where do children or teenagers go if no one will honor them and listen to them at home? They are always toldthat they are wrong,  wrong,  wrong so home is the last place that they want to be.  Children who live in the streets can tell you why they are there.Because of criticizm,  judgement and the lack of respect for a childs voice about anything they are driven from the homes. Not one of the shootings are any different. None of the kids who did these things hae felt like they were wanted as they were.  Everyone wanted them to change so they felt like failures.  How many days,  months and years can a child take of this before they want to get out of it any way that they can?  Better parenting skills are needed and more people skills from all of us so that one child can know that they are not bad, not wrong,  not trouble for the grownups around them.Each person must learn to treat children as people and to listen to them and honor and respect them.Peace

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

So, what I'm hearing in your post is that everyone must make an effort to change in their communication tactics:

Each person must learn to treat children as people and to listen to them and honor and respect them.

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

After reading these three posts and feeling the compassion and love there what I'm about to say may sound a bit cold and uncaring but I'd like to offer up a few things to consider.

First of all children are precious yes.  There is no question about that.   We bring them into our experience for many reasons but regardless of the reason they are beings that have been placed in our care.  If one is open to and believes in the concept that we are all simply energy, that our energy never dies but travels from one life to the next becoming new and different beings with each cycle of our existence then at some point we must realize that our children are simply the embodiment of a soul taking the next step in their evolution.  I guess what I'm saying is perhaps we need to begin to understand that the 'soul' residing in every childs body is equal to ours and only the physiological aspects of their existence, their outward appearance, is an infant then a child and then one day an adult.  How many times have you encountered a baby or young child that seems wise far beyond their years or far more perceptive and thoughtful than some adults you know?  How often has the world held up child prodigy's for all to see amazed that their advanced way of being. 

For this reason I'd have to say I totally agree with treating them with more respect.  I agree we should honor and listen to them….not because they are helpless but because they are other beings that are equal to us on the energy or spiritual level.  For far too long children have been discounted as being able to understand complex adult things.  Granted that children should never be asked to act like or required to think like adults or be asked to have to handle adult situations still it happens and when it happens us adults need to respect them for it.  I've found when children are thrown into adult situations they are often wiser than the adults because their 'soul' hasn't been around long enough to pick up all the spiritual baggage, hang-ups and anxieties that we adults tend to accumulate.

Another thing that often tends not to be a very popular concept is that we are ALL, every being that exists, on our own journey at our own pace.  Who of us is qualified to determine that another person, whether it be a child or an adult, travel this journey at a pace different than they are?  It is believed, and I am finding through my own personal experience, that we ALL attract into our experience things/obstacles/traumatic situations/joy/love or whatever because there is something our spirit/soul/essence/energy needs to learn…some experience or person or event that we need to learn from in order to evolve further spiritually.  I often wonder if we are meant to interfere with other beings journeys even when they appear outwardly to be horrific and painful.  Unpleasant things happen to all of us beings at some point in our lives, learning experiences for our souls, some of us learn and go on to live happily to evolve…some of us don't learn and blame our problems on that experience…some of us for the remainder of our phsyical existence this time round.  I'm not saying not to help people because we are all in this together and most certainly are meant to grow together but that said there are just some things that certain souls must learn on their own and those souls do not always exist in an adult body.  For instance I have a 30 year old daughter that has appeared to be on a self-destructive self-pitying mission her entire life.  I used to worry about her and I also used to try to help her by showing her other options…by trying to make her change into someone who won't continue to attract such traumatic events into her life.  I turned out to simply be enabling her to continue on the path she currently chooses.  So finally after all of these years I've figured out that I can't change her.  But I can change myself to understand that this is her cross to bear and the best I can do for her is to love her no matter what she is or does and to be here for her when she finally learns on her own that she has the ultimate power over her emotions, her life and her destiny.  I support her growth but not her dysfunction.

In closing I'd simply like to comment that perhaps rather than single out certain groups of the human collective for extra protection or extra consideration or extra respect we need to begin to treat ALL other beings with love, caring, forgiveness, respect and compassion.  I guess it would just be a wonderful thing if as a group us human beings would choose to honor, respect and cherish ALL other beings regardless of age, ethnic origin, financial status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, gender…

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

  I would think that it would go without saying that ALL people must have the honor and respect that I am speaking about but the topic was specifically about teenagers or children as to my understanding.  No person can honor and respect a child,  for that is change, unless they have learned to honor and respect their own Self and all other Selves for all share the same god-fire that represents the Creator of it ALL.  Traditionally children (and many women)  have been spoken at or denied a voice at all.  That is more what my post was about.Peace

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

Patricia,

Apparently I misunderstood the subject line as I didn't percieve the shooting in Omaha to be about teenagers or children.  I guess I just missed something in the posts I read.  While it may be true that children and women have in the past been denied a voice…to continue to 'sing that song' so to speak, even when we are trying to make it better, only confirms what is.  We speak it, we think it and it is until we speak or think differently.

I truly feel the best thing we can do for anyone who is not being heard is to hear them ourselves and support their being heard by others.  However our support should not come in a negative way speaking out against those who aren't listening to women and children.  Resistence creates resistence.  There are other ways to affect change but no matter what they are all change begins within us first.

It is a human fact that we can't help others by pitying them or feeling sorry for them.

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

Thank you, Patricia and Cheryl, for participating and raising these interesting points of view.

I often wonder if we are meant to interfere with other beings journeys even when they appear outwardly to be horrific and painful.

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

I couldn't agree more that the journey also becomes yours when we are met face to face or we are involved in some intimate manner with a situation like this.  It believe it is very difficult to say what anyone, including myself, would do in a similar situation.  Some might fall to pieces and relinquish themselves as a victim while some would stand up take charge and overcome the situation by getting possession of the gun.

I would truly like to think that everyone would stand up and take charge for their sake, the sake of other possible victims and actually for the sake of the person with the gun…but since we are all traveling our own path at our own pace anything is possible. 

I think perhaps what I meant by interfere was misunderstood.  We should never allow anyone to hurt anyone else if we are in a position to stop it by getting involved.  I would like to think that would be something everyone else feels as well.  But as we are all unique with unique life experiences, hang-ups, insecurities, fears and such predicting what others might do is difficult at best.  It's even difficult to predict with 100% accuracy what I would do because I have never been faced with such a situation.  I would truly like to think I would act nobly putting my own life in danger if necessary to protect others but until I am in the situation the most I can do is hope I'd react well.  In my experience it is often very easy to say what we would do in a given situation however if and when the time comes we don't always do what we say we would do.

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

Exactly right. I myself cannot tell with 100% accuracy what I would do in a given situation. I would like to applaud the female security guard who just recently put her life in danger to save countless others. She's my hero, right here in Colorado. (when a gunman entered a church, firing ammunition on people where she was on duty, she demanded he drop his weapon, and when he did not she fired upon him and killed him.)

And you're also correct in that you cannot change anyone else. They must be ready to change first. I think you and I talked about that very subject last year. So I'm still left with the question, what should I do to make a difference? I think all I can do is live with integrity, be a good example, and pray.

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

My personal opinion on what you can do to make a difference is most likely with some people not going to be that popular but I'm going to give it anyhow.

What we can all do to make a difference is to become balanced beings that live in love and peace.  I truly honestly with all of my being believe that what Mahatma Gandhi said is the true answer to creating a peaceful world and his words were, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  He didn't say know that change is needed and try to influence by coersion or force all others to be the change…he meant that we are the ONLY ones we can ever change and if we want peace, if we want abundance, if we want love, if we want tolerance, if we want understanding, if we want forgiveness in the world then we MUST be those things…we must live them ourselves.  Through our more often than not 'silent' example others will see and be inspired to find the kind of love/joy/peace in their own lives that we show to everyone by 'being' (not preaching).  This is how, in my opinion, world change is going to happen and if you ask me it's the only way it will ever happen. 

Take a look at not only history but current times…there are those who think they know all of the answers and they are hell bent for leather going to make everyone else adhere to their way of being in order to acheive the peace they say they want.  Our government is guilty of this, most religions are guilty of this, groups of individuals and single individuals are guilty of this and have been throughout the history of humankind.  Resistence creates equal and opposite resistence. It may be phsyics we are talking about when we speak of resistence creating resistence but if you really think about it the laws of physics apply to EVERYTHING in the Universe…so I'd think it applies to anything and everything that involves energy…either physical or mental.  Anyhow I think we can all agree that trying to make others or even encouraging others to change isn't a viable option since people only change if they truly want to change.  Plus they typically resent being told that what they are being/doing/saying/thinking now is wrong…

Bottom line in my book is that if I as a being truly begin to live in peace, to approach everything and everyone from a place of peace and show others how to be peaceful by example then I have done all that I can to make a difference in the world.

I'm sure there will be plenty of posts asking what's wrong with contributing to charities or joining in on protests against injustice's and such but I think if we are truly honest with ourselves we have acheived very little, if any, positive change anywhere through these methods.  The example I use most when referring to protesting is that protesting did not end the Vietnam war (no matter how much the people who protested want to believe that they forced the government into stopping the war) however the people who marched with Dr. King in the 60's for racial equality achieved their goal because they marched 'for' equality and not 'against' inequality.  They marched in peace always with a positive message of what they wanted and never spoke of what they didn't want.  Dr. Kings famous speech didn't say, “I want the bigots in the world to stop being bigots”.  He told us about his dream of what kind of world we will have one day.  As for charities…we cannot help others with our pity but we can truly help others by being a one of the cogs in the great wheel of the Universe that is peaceful and loving and joyous and lives in abundance.  I also believe that giving people money or food is only a temporary fix and it does not instill a sense of accomplishment in them but only nurtures a sense of helplessness and powerlessness.  It is when we help them learn how to create their own abundance in money and food that we really are helping people.  A hand 'up' is always more successful and supportive than an hand'out'…we see it all the time and may have even experienced it ourselves when we have fallen on difficult times.

All that said I think you have the idea already in what you wrapped up your comment with:  To live with integirty, be a good example and pray.  Praying always helps but we need to remember to pray ONLY for what we want and NEVER pray for what we don't want.  For instance praying for someone to stop doing something or for something to stop happening isn't going to instruct the Universe/God as to what we want or need. 

Blessings,
Cheryl

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

There is a grand truth in what you have stated my friend.  Change will never happen until “we”,  the I AM of all Life,  does the changing. Resistance is what we have always done and one can look around and see where that has placed us.  My experience says that people do not like to hear these things because it places the personal responsibilty for change on their shoulders.  It is so wonderful(and what all have been taught)  to go around and point fingers at everyone else and want them to change. But change must begin within each person.  That is what the world awaits.  For me,  I know that Jesus and all of the Masters taught this great lesson to the people but religiousity changed it in the opposite direction with the worship message. Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is Within and what ever a person thinks will become.  The manifesting power that belongs to each and every being lives in his statement of truth.  “Become A Remarkable Person,  Ramtha teaches which is saying the same thing.  “Know Thy Self”  all focuses  on the power of Self.  When this Self awakens to it's power the world will go forward into Super Consciousness.  Everything changes when we change.Someone siad that the masses do not fear their powerlessness.  It is their power that they fear.Peace and Merry Christmas To ALL.  May Christ-in-mass come forward now.

Re: Helping lost souls...a discussion sparked by news in Omaha

Change I believe has become quite controversial in our society and perhaps how some interpret what change is and what it means to and about them is maybe a bit askew.  I have found, and once felt this way myself,  that change when it is asked of us typically immediately becomes a source of resistance, anger, resentment and guilt.  Why does it bring out this in so many people?  Because when we are asked to change it is very often perceived as a judgment against us and how we were before. 

I find it very interesting that we as a society have put such a negative definition on change.  Think about it…how many people do you know personally who resist every kind of change possible?  So many people fear change and the moment anyone says something is going to change those who fear change become angry, resentful and bitter.  Some people really do want everything to stay exactly the same for the entire length of their lives and when change occurs, as it always will, they resist it with all of their being.  But what so many don't understand is that change is truly the natural state of the Universe and everything in it.  Whatever doesn't evolve or change is destined to at some point become non-existent so if you think about it everyone should embrace change and make it an integral part of their being.  Change is growth…it's evolution…it's inevitable.  Plus if one has a positive attitude it is a whole heck of a lot of fun!!!

However all that said we are changing even if we resist it because to do otherwise removes us from the grand scheme of things and propels us into the realm of extinction.  Personally I have become a creature of change and have let go all of the old societal concepts about change like if someone changes their mind about something they are a flake or if someone changes it is because they were wrong before or if someone changes they are irresponsible or like if someone changes they are unreliable because they can't be counted on to remain the same and maintain the status quo.  It is indeed unfortunate what we beings have done to ourselves with our ideas about how everyone should be in order to be normal or a part of society but we are getting there…we are getting closer and closer to understanding that change is truly what we are here to do…it's what the planet does on a millesecond by millesecond basis and whether we like it or not change is our destiny.

Bottom line is that no matter how much we may resist change it happens with or without us.  Personally I want to be along for the ride…in fact I want to be one of those in front riding the first waves of change leading others into the fun.

Blessings,
Cheryl