Mass Shootings Are the Symptom, Not the Illness

The recent barrage of mass shootings has emphasized the need for less tolerant gun laws and for other restrictive measures. While it is obvious that mentally unstable people should not be permitted to carry or own guns, it is also evident that gun restrictions alone will not abate gun violence. The whole society has become violent and aggressive, and people’s sensitivity to violence is decreasing. Today, people almost expect mass shootings to happen. Therefore, stopping it requires more than gun laws; it requires finding its root and plucking it out.

For any transformation to succeed, our rule of thumb should be enhancing the positive rather than constraining the negative. If we work in this way concerning violence in the community, we will succeed. If we settle for stricter gun control, matters will continue to go downhill.

Even a few decades ago, people did not feel so removed from one another. Alienation in society has increased to such levels that today’s normal levels of antagonism toward society would have been diagnosed as narcissism at the turn of the century. Worse yet, the level of division and hostility in society is constantly rising, and at an accelerating rate.

The ego itself is not inherently corrupt. Our entire development has relied on our ego. As it evolved, it developed human society, technology, art and culture, and medicine. Were it not for our ego, we would not have civilization.

However, because the ego is the basis of our actions, whether we are aware of it or not, there are always aggression and violence between us. At times it is overt, and at times covert, but it is always there. This is why for all our efforts, we cannot create a just society.

Human nature demands superiority, dominion, prominence. As a result, as long as we do not change human nature, there will always be ubiquitous oppression and abuse in our society, in every conceivable and inconceivable form. We conceal that drive for superiority behind “benign” terms like “competition” and “motivation,” but underneath lies the same evil inclination that pushes us to climb to the top of the heap, preferably by stepping on everybody else’s heads.

Therefore, in order to curb violence, including mass shootings, we need to “self-reform” human nature. In other words, we need to decide that we must change ourselves if we want our lives to be safer and more peaceful.

Even more important, the urgency for change must percolate large portions of society because one cannot change one’s attitude toward society without a society that supports it and strives for the same goal. Therefore, once we decide to change, we must establish community-wide educational programs that will focus not on curbing violence, but on enhancing empathy toward others, on fostering solidarity and mutual responsibility.

In order to succeed in the transition from an alienated and violent society into a cohesive and caring one, it is important not to focus on the negative, but to enhance the positive. Because the ego is constantly evolving, focusing on the negative makes us try to suppress it until we are exhausted and it bursts out even more violently than before. In addition, we have wasted our time on futile efforts and did not build an alternative to violent egoism, so there is no alternative to choose instead of more violence.

To create a positive alternative to egoism and violence, we need to foster positive values in society so we can base the relationships in our communities on them. The more energy we put into nurturing positive connections among people, the more positive will be the atmosphere in the community. This, in turn, will diminish the overall levels of violence and aggression.

For any transformation to succeed, our rule of thumb should be enhancing the positive rather than constraining the negative. If we work in this way concerning violence in the community, we will succeed. If we settle for stricter gun control, matters will continue to go downhill.

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Iraq – Ties with Israel Punishable by Death

On November 30, 1947, one day after the League of Nations (precursor to the UN) announced the end of the British Mandate in Palestine and the establishment of two states—one for the Arabs and one for the Jews—Palestinian Arabs began to attack Israeli settlements. That was the beginning of Israel’s War of Independence. On May 14, 1948, when the British officially left Palestine, David Ben Gurion announced the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, namely the State of Israel. The very next day, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt (joined by Saudi and Sudanese forces), and Lebanon, declared war on the fledgling state and their armies invaded the country. On July 20, 1949, the final armistice was signed (with Syria), and the war was over. Israel was now a fact. The only country that never signed an armistice with Israel is Iraq.

We can change Iraq’s attitude toward us if we choose to. We may not know it, but Israel holds the key to the world’s attitude toward it. If we change how we feel about each other, Iraq, and in fact all the countries that hate us, will also change how they feel about us for the better.

The War of Independence was not the end of wars for Israel. Nevertheless, following many years of frequent clashes, all the countries, including even hostile Syria, are now in an official state of peace, or at least an armistice with Israel, if not complete normalization of relations. There is no love lost between Israel and its neighbors, as much as Israel would like there to be. However, there has also not been a state of active war with any of them for several decades.

Iraq, however, remains the one exception. To his day, it is in an official state of war with Israel. Recently, it underscored that point when Iraqi lawmakers have passed a bill criminalizing any relations with Israel, including business ties. According to the legislation, violation of this law is punishable by death or life imprisonment. A parliament statement also said the legislation is “a true reflection of the will of the people.”

Israel has no border with Iraq, no conflict of interest over water, oil, or waterways, and no religious conflict as Iraq is not particularly fanatical about its Islam. Iraq’s policy toward Israel is driven by one and only motive: hate. It simply hates the fact that Israel exists, and this is all the reasoning it needs.

Hate is a very powerful engine. With hate, you can keep a nation united. Every politician knows it, and Iraq is no exception. Its hatred of Israel keeps it together.

However, we can change Iraq’s attitude toward us if we choose to. We may not know it, but Israel holds the key to the world’s attitude toward it. If we change how we feel about each other, Iraq, and in fact all the countries that hate us, will also change how they feel about us for the better.

Israel is always at the center of attention. Just look at the latest report by the UN Human Rights Council. Other countries may commit the worst atrocities, but only Israel has a mandatory agenda item aimed at condemning Israel in every single commit of the council.

Because we are constantly at the center of attention, the hatred between us makes the world detest and despise us. This is how the world is built, and there is nothing we can do to change it.

Therefore, if we want the world’s attitude toward us to improve, we must improve our attitude toward each other. This is how it has always worked, and it will never change.

Moreover, when we fight among ourselves, the world accuses us of inciting wars throughout the world. When we make peace with one another, the world thinks of us as peacemakers. Until we accept this fact and act accordingly, nothing will improve in the world’s relation toward Israel.

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The Desire to Make It Big

We all want to succeed, to achieve things. That is what society instills in us from a very early age. Some people end up being very successful, and some simply shuffle along through life. In this endless quest, few stop to think: what should really be considered success in life? With what should we reach the finish line so that we can sum up for ourselves in the last moments the measure of our success and say: “Great! I succeeded in life!”

This is how we have lived from generation to generation, but today we are already beginning to see a change. More and more people are asking themselves, what is the point of all this success if it is clear in advance that we all have an expiration date?

Our inner engine is a desire to have pleasure and enjoyment. That's why we want to achieve all kinds of things, and when we succeed in achieving them, we feel satisfied. We have existential desires like the desire for food, sex, family; human desires like the desire for money, honor, control, and also a desire for knowledge and education.

The mix of desires we have at any given moment is influenced by our personal inclinations and the environmental influences we absorb. As a result of all these, we set goals for ourselves. On the way to their conquest, we usually encounter competitors and try to win. Achievements and successes are measured in relation to them, of course.

Margaret Thatcher was the daughter of a small grocery store owner. At the age of 24, she ran for a seat in parliament and lost. Thanks to her adherence to her goal, she finally managed to reach the position of British Prime Minister and became known as the "Iron Woman". For many, she is a symbol of a person who built her success from scratch.

In contrast, those born with a golden spoon in their mouth and who reach high positions through the arrangements of their parents, are treated as less personally successful in life. This is to say: success is measured by one’s degree of investment, effort, and achievement. As we proceed through life, the desire to succeed becomes increasingly clear, sharpens, focuses, and overcoming obstacles on the way to the goal requires that we go through internal changes, building ourselves.

Throughout history there have been people who have aroused a desire to be unique—a desire to realize life to the very fullest. They set themselves the goal of exploring the secret of life itself, the secret of success from a top-down perspective.

These same individuals asked themselves: Are we born to live, and die like all other creatures in the world, or is there something higher we can achieve during our existence on earth? Is there some eternal goal which will remain in our hands even after the death of the body? After all else—family, wealth, respect, status, expertise, education—all of these things that we cannot take with us when we leave this world?

Usually, people do not think about success at such a level for the simple reason that there are no apparent answers to such big questions. And if this is the case, then why should I delve into such matters? It is better to flow with what unfolds without over scrutinizing. Just set goals for ourselves, invest, achieve, succeed in life like everybody. Eat, drink, enjoy as if there is no tomorrow, because tomorrow we may die.

This is how we have lived from generation to generation, but today we are already beginning to see a change. More and more people are asking themselves, what is the point of all this success if it is clear in advance that we all have an expiration date?

The most advanced discoveries of science, too, reinforce the sense that there is something beyond what we are now able to perceive in our senses, beyond what we now describe as a solid reality. They explain that the image we perceive is completely subjective, and if we were different, we would probably perceive a different picture of reality. ?

The real space of success is open to those who do not agree to continue living only for the sake of living, but to those who aspire to reveal a wider picture, a higher reality beyond our narrow existence. Gradually, through this research, we are able to attain true success: When we learn and understand that there is a colossal mechanism surrounding our life and our world, a great system which operates and guides us. This goal prepares us in great depth to develop from the animate level to the human level, to enter the wide world of eternity and to understand why it exists.?