*** We Must Start Loving the Killers Among Us

Oprah decided to pull the plug on her April 20 show focusing on the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shootings because in her words, “After reviewing it, I thought it focused too much on the killers.” Instead, she ran a rather ho-hum episode about a mother leaving prison.

Oprah was wrong. She shouldn’t have cancelled that show. She should have let it run and allowed that episode to slide into re-runs ad infinitum. Why? Because the last thing we need is more droning on safe, acceptable topics to keep us asleep in terms of our own true consciousness.

I’m referring to the “stuff” which defines the living and very much aware experience of being. Real consciousness. The kind that connects us to our own Higher Self. Read: the Higher Power. Consciousness that enables us to love all.

Yes, including the killers among us.

We are actually in dire need of a serious wake-up call where the emotionally corrupt and morally bankrupt among us are concerned. A huge wake-up call.

Particularly when it comes to killers. No, especially when it comes to killers. We need to know them and remember them. To strive to embrace with compassion and forgiveness those who are still alive and those who have left physical existence.

We need to love them from the deepest part of our being. Yes, you read that right: we need to love them. Killers like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. It is literally put on our hearts as a spiritual test to be able to do so.

Eleven years ago on May 25, Memorial Day, a very dear friend and godfather to one of my sons picked up a 12-gauge shotgun and killed his wife, her two children from a previous marriage and himself. He ended his life and theirs without warning. In a drunken stupor, he pointed that gun at a 14-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl, his wife and he killed them. He killed himself once they were dead. It is considered to be one of the most heinous crimes in the history of Illinois.

Those who knew this family in the suburb of Chicago where they lived hate this man with a passion to this day. They curse his memory. Of course they do. He destroyed something beautiful in their lives. He took the lives of those they loved and cherished.

But it’s important they learn to forgive. That they grieve for these lost lives, but they also pray for Daniel’s spirit. Without that, are we really any better as human beings as we sit in judgment? No.

When such tragic killing occurs, we find ourselves mired in a place of helplessness: How to cope, how to understand, how to somehow find a way to accept the unacceptable and achieve peace for ourselves.

Hating the perpetrators of murder only keeps a negative vibration thriving in the world. Ignoring them only keeps us that much more helpless in terms of spiritual growth. Loving them as in the way that Mahatma Ghandi was able to look at the person who shot him, say God’s name and placed his hand in the prayer position, indicating his forgiveness of the assassin.

That is the kind of love there isn’t nearly enough of in our world, where we realize we are all connected with a universal energy and power referred to by the name of Spirit, Source, Truth, God and others.

For any kind of healing to take place, for the world to achieve a higher vibration in general, it’s crucial that we show radical forgiveness toward those who commit such crimes.

Do you know what radical forgiveness is? It enables us to see beyond the terrible thing that happened and hold that individual in a spiritual light that is filled with nothing but love. From the soul level, we understand and feel great compassion, knowing that person is forgiven in the eyes of the Higher Power. Because we are part of that Source of Light and Love, we also are able to exude that kind of forgiveness ourselves

We understand that within society, there is a debt to be paid for such crimes as murder. But we also feel deeply for that soul, for that life on earth now tragically lost, grieving over the series of choices made that led to such a deadly act.

In essence, we love the killer, we grieve for the killer and we commit ourselves to forgiving him or her completely.

It’s interesting how so many channel their own spirituality through religious doctrine that unequivocally advocates forgiveness, yet what they demonstrate through such beliefs in their daily lives is an entirely conditional way of thinking.

Those drawn toward a more metaphysical path in life are far more all encompassing in the way they forgive. They achieve a deep understanding about the world and are far more accepting of what occurs between us as human beings.

We all need to work toward this, to reach a level of consciousness where we can extend radical forgiveness and genuine unconditional love toward ourselves and others.

After all, we do manifest our own realities. By striving toward a higher vibration in our lives, we can heal emotional wounds by learning the lessons they offer us, achieving greater strength in our trust in the Universe.