Orphans, Street Children, Child Trafficking & Child Soldiers

Around the world, children suffer cruelly in many ways, a result of the quality of selfishness because adults who are in a position to help, don't.

Here are some worldwide statistics on orphans, street children, child trafficking and child soldiers:

1. Orphans: According to UNICEF, there are 132 million orphans worldwide (defined as children who have lost one or both parents). Of these, 13 million have lost both parents. [1]
2. Street Children: According to UNESCO, there are up to 150 million street children in the world today. [2]
3. Child Trafficking. According to UNICEF, 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. [3]
4. Child Soldiers: There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today. [4]

We're all one family and we have to start treating each other as one family. We have to change from personal selfishness to mutual bestowal and seek to benefit others (especially children) instead of ourselves.

Round tables need to be established to seek to benefit children in every way: To ensure that all children are raised in loving homes instead of in institutions and orphanages, to ensure that children aren't living on the streets, to stop child trafficking, to stop children from being used as soldiers, and to find new ways of improving the environments in which children grow up in so they're surrounded by love and support in every way.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

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References:

1. Orphans. www.unicef.org. Retrieved Oct 24, 2014.
2. Street Children. www.unesco.org. Retrieved Oct 24, 2014.
3. Child trafficking. www.unicef.org. Retrieved Oct 24, 2014.
4. Child Soldiers. www.warchild.org.uk. Retrieved Oct 24, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Orphans

In this realm, being an orphan may have negative connotations; however, in the spiritual realm, being an orphan is a good thing because it means you're drawing closer to The Creator.

Here's an explanation:

1. When you first go through a change in the perception of your reality, you become an orphan in several ways:
• In your internal qualities:
• Your internal quality of selflessness dies, and you enter into the quality of bestowal, meaning you leave the family of selfishness behind and you're adopted into the family of bestowal.
• In your perception of reality:
• You perceive that your corporeal family is no longer your family, your mother is no longer your mother, your father is no longer your father. You perceive a wider spiritual family, not based on bloodlines, but based on internal qualities.
• Also, you perceive that everyone around you - your family and even strangers - are a reflection of you, they're a mirror of you (known as The Mirror Effect), there's nobody else but you. You lose your family because they actually become you.
2. As you grow in the quality of bestowal, you go through various states, your current state is called 'the parent' and the next state is called 'the son'. When you correct your current state from selfishness to bestowal, 'the parent' dies, your current state dies, you become orphaned and you enter into the next state, 'the son', drawing closer to The Creator each time.

The Bible and The Quran both speak about orphans, for example:

1. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18, NIV)
2. "Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?" (Quran 93:6, Sahih)

One notable orphan is The Prophet Muhammad. He was orphaned at an early age [1]. His father Abdullah died before he was born and his mother Amina died when he was six years old. He was then under the care of his grandfather who died when Muhammad was eight years old. Ultimately he was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib

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1. Muhammad. www.wikipedia.org. Accessed February 16, 2014

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Perception Of Reality - Becoming An Orphan

When I first went through a change in the perception of my reality, one of the hardest things to adjust to was becoming an orphan.

This may seem really strange because my family is still alive, but I perceived that my mother was no longer my mother, my brother was no longer my brother and my family was no longer my family.

As it is written, "I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother." (Psalms 35:14, NKJV) It is also written, "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children." (Psalms 69:8, NKJV)

I had a new perception of reality and my old family was gone. It was devastating. It was a really hard time and a really hard thing to go through. I was alone, orphaned.

I went through a grieving process, grieving the loss of the family I'd known. It was a difficult and painful time, but it was necessary - part of the process of adjusting to my new perception of reality. Let me just say that it's a really strange thing to grieve for someone who's still alive.

I had to learn how to let go of everything, my old life, my old family and my old perception of reality. I had a new life now, a new family and a new perception of reality. I had to face this truth.

When my perception of reality changed, my internal qualities began to change - from selfishness to bestowal.

In the quality of bestowal, you seek to benefit others instead of yourself. This was really hard to do with family because I was grieving their loss, breaking old ties with them, adjusting to my new perception of reality, while trying to seek to benefit them instead of myself. Challenging.

Now it's easier. I've had more time to adjust to my new perception of reality and I've grown in bestowal. Plus, my relationship with God has grown and I'm excited to enter into greater adhesion with The Creator.

Here's a little more explanation about becoming an orphan. We become an orphan in two ways: based on our perception of reality and based on our changing internal qualities.

1. Perception Of Reality:
• When we go through a change in the perception of our reality, we perceive a new world.
• We perceive that our family is not our family, they're not the people we thought they were.
• We become orphans because our old family is gone.
2. Our Changing Internal Qualities:
• When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, and we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves, we change families, we change kingdoms.
• A. The Family Of The Quality Of Selfishness, The Kingdom Of This World:
• When we're immersed in the quality of selfishness, we belong to the family of selfishness, we belong to the kingdom of this world.
• When our internal qualities change from selfishness to bestowal, we rise above our egos, we leave our selfish lives behind and we leave the family of selfishness. Jesus said, "If people come to me and are not ready to abandon their fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as their own lives, they cannot be my disciples." (Luke 14:26, NOGB)
• In this way, we become orphans because we lose the family of selfishness
• B. The Family Of The Quality Of Bestowal, The Kingdom of God / Heaven:
• When we enter into the quality of bestowal, we're adopted into the family of bestowal, into the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven.
• As it is written, "And the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life]. And your Lord is going to give you and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?" (Quran 93:6, Sahih)
• The family of bestowal adopts us, it looks after us, it provides for our needs and it raises us from childhood to adulthood in the quality of bestowal. 

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.