I Beheaded a 6 Year Old Boy

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At least, that was the shocking mental image and epiphany that shook me out of a mental barrage to change my perspective at a deep level.

Needless to say - this has been a very difficult post to write - and hence have been sitting on it for far too long.

Let me start at the beginning.

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Over a week ago I came across a post about a mother and a 6 yr old boy who were on their way to pray at Mekkah. On the way there the cab driver who was driving them asked what denomination they were. Upon learning that the mother and son were of the "wrong" denomination, the cab driver pulled over, broke a glass and slashed the little boys throat as the mother fainted in horror.

I am usually very careful of the kind of things I read or listen to, and allow into my headspace. For many good reasons. You see - when I read this piece of news - I didn't experience it FIRST hand, I wasn't there. I am blessed that my REALITY is peaceful - yet when I read this, it become my HORROR to live through - as I saw/experienced it in my MIND. Hence, it became my reality too.

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Some say the news helps us understand what's happening in the world, but one should also ask how much of what we read do we know to be irrefutable facts/truth?

Many spiritual teachers would not recommend reading so much negativity - for good reason too. We are inviting the 10% of things NOT right in the world, into the 90% of things that ARE RIGHT in our world. Our REALITY is after all, what we SEE, HEAR, THINK and FEEL - why intentionally inject this with horror.

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BUT of late - I was particularly attracted to a lot of these horrid news on acts of inhumaneness. So I read on. (Yes, I will be addressing this rather aberrant behaviour of mine below)

My first reaction was of course outrage. Anger. Sadness. I cried for the mother, I cried for the boy - but mostly I cried for myself. I cried because it was insane that we live in this world - where we can kill children, torture animals, poison our home and continue to reap destruction on a regular basis.

We have heard of such news all too often - shootings, wars, famine, animal abuse and the list sadly continues - potentially for pages. In fact we have come to desensitise ourselves in order to get on with our day. Unless of course our day is SHAKEN up by something similar.

WORSE yet when WE ARE THE TERRORISTS.

That's right, WE are the terrorists, bullies, and trolls. Before you stop reading thinking this isn't about you - consider this - IT IS.

We are ALL to blame.

We are ALL the cab driver, we are ALL the mother, we are ALL the boy - WE ARE ALL THREE!

As outrageous as this sounds since we have NEVER HURT a FLY, let us consider this human interaction model proposed over 40 years ago by Stephen Karpman - the persecutor, rescuer and victim triangle.

Here, the cab driver is the persecutor, the mother and boy are the victims, and WE the outraged onlookers are the rescuers - even if it is thru our reaction, thoughts and comments that we wage war against cruelty in the world.

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You may think I am stretching this analogy a bit much. But this phrase by a famous teacher comes to mind - "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone".

You see, I was ruminating over something that had upset me. A personal turmoil. Although I didn't think I was being self-righteous - I found myself casting a LOT of judgements UPON the "other" individual. WORSE - much of it was based on assumptions.

Sadly, the reason I was attracted to the news above was because I had certain judgements of righteousness running through my mind - such a strong rescuer and victim concept. So - naturally I sought things that would corroborate my need to be righteous.

We ASSUME a lot in life. When someone says and acts in a particular way in front of us - we judge it. We cast our PERCEPTION upon it. We come to our conclusions based on our RIGHT and WRONG.

We are constantly spewing out such projections into the world without much thought.

It doesn't become an issue - at least not until there is an altercation. Not until we have disagreements.

In essence - all acts of terror stem from this same CORE set of thinking patterns. Judgements. Perceptions. Righteousness. Leading to ... resentment, anger, blame etc etc etc.

So it was a SHOCK to my system - when I saw this mental image of the small boy being beheaded by ME. How I was throwing out my judgements much like that cab driver. In my mind - I was justifying my thoughts, my perceptions - much like the cab driver.

Sure, we have control - MOST of us , to varying degrees. We would NEVER commit such harmful acts. Hmmm ... surely not.

Well, let me be the first to confess - when I heard about abuse happening very close to home one day, all I wanted to do was cause harm to the abuser. In my thoughts - I had VIOLENT thoughts - many of them.

My response to violence - was violence.

Sure - we've heard enough of this amongst peace advocates, and many spiritual teachings. We change, not by using the same force that has created the chaos - but through raising our vibrations and standards. In this case - LOVE.

It was a wake up call for me - when I SAW MYSELF as the perpetrator. I don't often STOP to think of myself as a VILLAIN. But, that was the image shown. It shook me up.

You see, we all hold our opinions to be right or true. We hold others on the wrong, lesser knowledge, etc etc. When we're right, we're right. The other is wrong.

I'm not saying everyone now has the right to do what they feel and induce chaos. No - we have an internal moral compass. For the most part - we put our judgements aside to "DO" the right thing.

BUT here's problem - we are at a point in our lives where we can not ignore our damaging thoughts anymore. It is not just directed at ANOTHER, it is directed at ourselves - self depricating, judgemental thoughts appear in many shades of wrong.

It is time we looked at ourselves not as an individual having a private thought - but as a collective having MANY harmful thoughts.

Some 8 billion of it - and on average humans have some 40,000 - 70,000 thoughts a day.

Without first becoming self loving - we can not hope to change the way we THINK.

When we observe and FORGIVE our broken and harmful thoughts - we forgive the broken parts everywhere. We don't change by pointing out mistakes in another. We change by reminding ourselves of OUR TRUE NATURE - LOVE.

As a result we remind all those around us of THEIRS TOO - becoming a mass catalyst for change.

Marrianne Williamson said it best in this passage below:-

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Again - this is so cliche these days - or maybe it is a wild concept for some. BUT the call for being more loving in our thoughts, words and deeds is more DIRE now than EVER before.

If you think we have no consequences to answer to with our thoughts - look around. It is our thoughts, beliefs and actions OR lack of, that has brought us to a strange precipice in human history.

I would never wish chaos upon anyone, but as it turns out we all have our share of bumps on the road already - some personal, some societal, some at a national level.

We need not look far. Taking stock of our thoughts for just one day would reveal a lot. Perhaps consider the cab driver and the 6 year old boy - how far are we from casting stones and slashing throats?

Too dramatic? Yes, perhaps. It was for me too - I guess it's what I needed to wake me up.

It does not mean - we sit still nor in SILENCE - but we think and move about with greater awareness on our intent and impact in this world.

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