We are Talking about Death

We scarcely remember our lives. One day, we were born, and we knew what it was to reach out for the touch of a fellow human being. Then a brief time passed, and we learned that we could, by touch or by sound, give comfort to another.

Then, it must be fairly said, we first encountered a stern word or touch (or withdrawing of touch); we encountered the first instance of disciplining. And, like the ages-old objection against the punishment of Adam and Eve (they were punished for doing that which made them aware of good and evil, and were therefore punished for what they did in a state of innocence) we were first initiated into the cycle of transgression and consequence by feeling the consequence.

These realities are the basics of what it is to be a child; mankind has never lived any other way, nor ever devised any other plan. It should scarcely need to be said that the concept of justice has little place here; how many millions of young people have said, “I didn’t ask to be born!”? How many times have children responded to a rebuke—often correctly—with “I didn’t know!”?

And yet even more sobering is the realization that the life of a child (or of a person relegated for some reason to a child-like state) is the only real “human life” that is ever experienced. When we become morally aware (when we, metaphorically, eat of the forbidden tree), we assume the power to level judgment against others and against ourselves. As the teachings of Jesus—and teachings consonant with those of Jesus—will reveal, this assumed power threatens spiritual death to those who are its victims, and assures the spiritual death of we who wield it.