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After it happened I could not speak or even write for a long while. Then one day, THIS poured out:
"Most people, sometime in their lives,
stumble across truth. Most jump up, brush
themselves off, and hurry on about their
business as if nothing had happened."
--Sir Winston Churchill
Dear Friends and Fellows,
At first I was afraid. I was very afraid and so I began to pray...I closed my eyes and looked within. All I could see was darkness. I prayed more, meditated and I cried. I looked out at the world and gathered my children close to me. Yes, at first I was very, very afraid. I was not afraid for myself but for my children---all children and the future of the world as we know it. So I just prayed and I waited...waited and I prayed. I saw the people dying, crying and fleeing the destruction. Those poor precious souls. I thought, “There but for the grace of God go I…you, them and us ALL.” I prayed for our Creator to give me some answers and show me the way through the darkness. For a time it seemed that there were no answers. I just waited. I continued to pray and wait. The answer began as a flicker and has now been transformed into a flame...a Light. It is funny. It is a Light that has always been there. I had only to choose to see it and there it was before me. I believe that I am to share this Light with you and you are to share your Light with me. The Creator sent us all here with unique gifts and it is our sacred duty to share them with humanity. The world needs desperately for us all to do this…now more than ever before. We are all to share our Light with each other, combine that Light into the ultimate force for good that it was intended to be. We can go from darkness unto Light, from hate unto Love and from death unto Life. We must make this world a better and more Light- filled place for our children to inherit from us:
"Let there be LIGHT!"
God
Our sense of peace and well-being has been shaken to its very foundations. We all struggle to understand how and why we lost our sense and state of peace and how we will ever regain it. I feel intensely inspired to express my inner knowing of the nature of violence in the face of this tragedy. It is imperative that we all understand this dark force in the face the recent atrocities committed against us in NYC this past Tuesday. You see, I know that violence only begets more violence. I also knew however, that the righteous anger that would understandably fill all of our hearts would make it difficult for many of us to consider that Divine Truth. Still, you reap what you sow. Whatever your reasons for the seeds that you sow, what you plant is what you will grow. Does anyone truly believe that the “evil-doers” will not reap the rewards of their actions? If we trusted in a just and REAL Creator we would.
“Et lux in tenebris lucet”-and the light shineth in the darkness. ---Viktor Frankl
What was planned and done in darkness will come into the Light and what was reaped will most assuredly be sown. I have not made that up. Pull out your Bible if you dare. Read. Learn. Know. Study your Bible or almost any other sacred text and you will see what we are taught of reciprocity as a Universal law. The evil human byproducts that instigated and perpetrated these heinous crimes against us shall be rightfully punished for their acts. We begin to see the Light when we acknowledge the fact that we do not have to join them or fall for the temptation to meet abject evil with more evil. If we let the enemy dehumanize us and disavow what we know to be true, right, just and good, the enemy has already won. These sick, evil individuals shall most assuredly reap what they have sown. Believe that. It will be a challenge for humans to see the Light en masse in this day and age but some already see it and may be able to illuminate the hearts and minds of the rest of us.
Peace is impossible to those who look on war. Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace. ---A Course in Miracles
The dichotomy I was faced with when asked my feelings on these current and tragic events was how to I relate my anger toward what has been inflicted upon us directly, indirectly, en masse and individually without feeding into the sentiment that we should rush to strike out in hatred and revenge. I also wanted to know how I should express this without seeming as though I was advocating that we should just lie down and be slaughtered. Neither of those two “options” is what I am saying. Either extreme is an over simplification used by common dissenters in order to invalidate a legitimate and complex point. Those who waste time with such arguments waste the time of those of us who would earnestly seek for Truth, Light and Justice. Some benighted souls however, will choose to remain in darkness no matter what anyone says. That is their choice. I am not speaking to them. I am speaking to those of us still loving and smart enough to know that we do not know everything. I am speaking to those who still know the way to bended knees and heads bowed patiently in reverent supplication for the Truth and the Light. We can know the Truth. We can see the Light. We will ultimately perceive light when we choose to invite it into our hearts and minds. We can be led out of the darkness if we illicit God's help, direction and grace in whatever path we choose. If we could only pause long enough to do that our Creator would help us to crush and utterly destroy evil:
"Ask of me,
and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. "
Psalms 2:8-9
The images of our people being slaughtered in what was no more than an instant of condensed hatred and evil, shook me on a spiritual and cellular level. As I watched the smoke and flames rise over Manhattan, I felt intense love, grief and empathy in my heart for our brothers and sisters that were trapped in the destruction. At the same time I could feel the seeds of a deep-seated anger/hatred weighing down like acid in the center of my gut. In my state of physical, spiritual and emotional shock, I was at a loss for the words to express this inner conflict and conundrum of seemingly opposing polarities in my psyche. What was experienced on the physical level was duplicated for a time in the inner emotional realm. My pulse raced. My heart pounded. My flesh quivered upon the bone. I felt deep pain and experienced profuse confusion and disbelief. We all did. When asked about my feelings shortly after the attack, I could only say that we should pray and of course find out who actually put their energy and focus into perpetrating this specific act of cowardice against humanity. I also wanted to say that we should not be proponents of acting out in the same way that these cowards have done and even our own country has done in the past. For as we know, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. We cannot in this era afford to repeat old mistakes. If we feed the demon of violence hate and destruction it is true that it may consume our enemy but when its voracious appetite has finished one meal, it will seek another. We will eventually be the ones devoured by this demon if we do not utterly condemn hatred, ignorance and violence once and for all. That is what I wanted to say but I said nothing. I was paralyzed. I was somehow afraid that addressing this catastrophe directly would make it true and I was not yet ready to believe what I saw. I also felt inadequate to speak in the presence of the suffering and loss of so many priceless and Divine human beings.
So, at first I was afraid. So much darkness! I could only pray and ask God to heal the devastation and destruction that was unfolding before the eyes of the world. Only the Creator of All could address this apocalypse. That was obvious. So I prayed along with multitudes of others in this nation and the world. My prayer from the start has been, "God please bring Light into the darkness God....Light into the darkness. Please bring Light into the darkness and tell me what I should do...Light into the darkness God...Light into the darkness..."
"If My people which are called by My name
shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14
It took some time, but the darkness was eventually disturbed. Something began to flicker. My fear began to dissipate. I had been searching for my place in all of this. I opened myself to service and asked to be used if I could be useful. I sought my vehicle of service. The answer was not given to me as much as it was revealed to me that it was there and I had known it all along. I have been blessed with gifts of expression. I know my service lies within the utilization of those gifts but I felt at a total loss when searching for the words to express any cohesive thought or idea around this dilemma. I continued to ask, pray and meditate. I wanted to know how we are to speak the Truths that are not as easily accessible by people in pain, fear and anger. How are we to be blessed with the courage of our convictions and the inspiration to our gifts to shed Light? I continued to pray and tried to model to my children the way in which one keeps on going despite adversity and upheaval. I knew from the onset of all this that the most important thing we can do is model to our children and young people how one faces adversity, fear and even devastation. Everything and every moment is a lesson for children and indeed for adults as well. These recent events will pose some of the most difficult lessons of all for this Earth School of ours. I showed my children how I focused on my search for the Light and my reverence to God:
Turn toward the light, for the little spark in you is part of a Light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever.
--A Course in Miracles
First I went to one of the last classes I must take toward my degree in Holistic Counseling. I looked forward to the diversion. A woman was there whom I had never met before in the program. She had long black hair and dark, striking eyes that appeared to show as much as they saw. When she spoke her accent confirmed the origin of her exotic features. She said that she was born in Lebanon and had been raised in Africa. Our instructor asked her if she would be willing to share some of what she knew of the kind of violence that had just occurred on American soil because she had seen so much of this kind of thing in the Middle East. She breathed a sigh of inner preparation and began to reach within for the gift that she was there to give.
As she began to speak her small body remained in the room while one could see her eyes begin to focus on some distant place and time. One was drawn into the energy of her huge spirit as she ministered to us & told us of this world from a much broader perspective. She said that when she saw the news reporting the bombing of America, she literally threw up. The surface of my skin began to tingle with nervous energy and goose bumps as she described the kind of hellish existence she had lived as a youngster. She said that in the Middle East and Africa these kinds of things have happened and are happening all the time. She said that many of the things that happen there are a lot more violent and devastating than what recently happened in NYC. Can we as Americans even conceive of that? As one blessed enough to have lived my over 30 years of life on the blessed soil of America, I have tried to think on the state of humanity from a global perspective but I know that I am not really able to do that. I am ashamed to say that I have never even been out of this country.
She looked to the space in front of her and one could see her 'seeing'. She described a life that seemed more like a nightmare. She said that she often saw buildings exploding and people shooting guns in the streets. These kinds of things happened on many occasions. She looked back through time and space and showed us through her half-choked words the scenes of women being raped and killed right in front of her. With a nod toward the window behind her she said that it was commonplace to look right out of your window and see defenseless children crying in the streets while trying to rouse the bodies of their slaughtered mothers. As she told the class of these things one could feel her deep sadness and it only intensified the despair that was already weighing upon the souls of everyone--especially those of us who thought this class might offer at least a couple hours of escape from reality. I am not sure if all of us wanted to hear or were ready to hear of the things she spoke of, but ready or not just like a thief in the night or a sudden bomb out of nowhere, we were confronted with the cold, nasty realities of a human existence that most Americans have had the luxury to ignore and deny.
She expressed a wisdom that seemed to go beyond her years, as is often the case with people who have witness and survived sustained devastation, destruction and death. I focused in to hear every word she uttered and suddenly a Light began to flicker, for she began to echo the sentiments that I had held within my own heart but had yet to voice. Now before me was an individual who had even more reason to step gingerly when speaking of these things in this country because of the ignorance and racism that people are feeling justified in spewing toward people of Middle Eastern decent since the terrorist attack. Despite all of the potential for a negative response she was unafraid. Individuals studying to be Holistic Counselors are not usually going to be a very threatening group, but it still took courage and resolve for her to speak to the group in this context. I admired her. She was speaking to a class many of whom were strangers with honesty, integrity, compassion and so...so much love. That kind of spiritual generosity nurtures real healing in this world and in the hearts of the individuals who experience it.
She said that we must process and express our anger, our tears and all of the emotion that these events inspire within us but we must not act out as individuals or as a country in anger, hatred and revenge. "Because that will not help anything," she admonished. She told us that that kind of energy would only feed into the evil and multiply it. I can see so clearly what this woman was trying to say to us. If we act out in revenge and hatred our society will be brought down into the level of barbarism that the terrorists issue from. We will degenerate instead of evolve:
"I know not with what weapons World War III
will be fought, but World War IV
will be fought with sticks and stones."
- Albert Einstein
It was reassuring to hear the words of this young, intensely loving Lebanese woman. In her presence is forced to see how absurd it is to hold all Middle Eastern people responsible for the acts of a group of insane terrorists. To do so would be akin to holding all Americans responsible for the acts of the Ku Klux Klan. One can only hope and pray that we as a nation have evolved and learned from the evil we perpetrated against our Japanese American brothers and sisters during our conflict with Japan. This woman spoke on the fact that it will be harder for our country to combat this evil because of the inner conflict we have due to so-called differences in race and even gender. Deep down everyone knows that no race is better or worse than another. Just as that essential Truth lies somewhere deep in our collective Mind, the Truth that racism and violence will not serve us in this new millennium lies within also. We must wake up before it is too late. Racism is not the answer here. It never was nor will it ever be. We are one. Scientists have recently cracked the genetic code and have already informed us that genetically all human beings of every race are genetically 99.9% the same. We all evolved from a tribe in Africa. Get over it, get real and let us get on to the real tasks and challenges at hand.
From all this we may learn that there are only two “races” of men in the world, but only these two--- the “race” of the decent man and the “race” of the indecent man. --Viktor Frankl
The real difference in human beings at this time in history is the varying degrees of emotional and spiritual evolution. Many in this world and even in our nation are emotionally and spiritually bankrupt. They cause fear and pain on the interpersonal level if that is their scope of influence and if their influence is broader they cause fear and pain on national and international levels. The real war is the war within the human heart and the capacity for evil that each human being shares. How can such a war be fought? Mainly through example. Did Christ not save the entire world through His exemplification of the Divine?
But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. D Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6: 27-31
After the woman from the Middle East spoke, I experienced an initial flicker of Light and my solitude was lifted just a bit. I had believed that part of me died when I watched the live coverage of the second Twin Towers Building as it collapsed. I was acutely aware of the fact that there were actual human beings in the building I was watching as it cascaded to the ground. My heart fell with it. Perhaps that part of me did not die, however. Maybe it was just paralyzed somehow from its violent collision with reality. Perhaps I was merely in shock. Something has been stirring within me from that moment though. It is energy. A force. It can take any direction that I choose. I choose the Light. I choose Love. I choose to be guided by the Divine. I have invited our Creator to pour Light into my mind and to saturate my spirit and my tongue with it. I have been blessed with certain gifts, as have we all and I have vowed to God to use them toward the edification of the Light and the banishment of darkness. Perhaps in my lifetime I will not see the Light shine as brightly as it ultimately will shine, but I know that my children will. They must. If they do not, there will not be another generation of children to shine any Light on. Darkness does not dispel darkness, Light does. Violence does not dispel violence. It never will. If humanity must survive much more senseless violence and war in this age, it will result in a very mean and sorrowful existence indeed for us all…if any existence at all, that is:
Mankind must put an end to war
or war will put an end to mankind.
Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible
will make violent revolutions inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
A wonderful as she was I knew that it was one thing to hear this from a Lebanese woman regarding our country’s response to this attack. It would be another thing altogether to hear from an American born US citizen. I continued to offer up my request to the Creator. The flicker began to glow even brighter this morning when I watched Maya Angelou speak of this event with Ted Kopal on the news. She articulated my thoughts with the precision of a fine wise sage. She never fails in this regard. Her voice and message of truth brought tears to my eyes because I knew that many, many people were hearing her words just as I was. I knew that if people had any Light left within their souls whatsoever they would hear her when she said, "We must not seek revenge. We must seek JUSTICE." There is a difference between the two. Revenge seeks to return evil for evil and in so doing converts the victim into the villain that (s)he would destroy. Revenge is the path to inevitable self-destruction. Justice is the higher path to take and it achieves the punishment of the true villain while uplifting and transforming the 'victim' to victor. I believe we can do better and be better than the detestable individuals who attacked us last week. We can be truly victorious in the 'war' instead of just more deadly in the battles. This is the lesson we must learn. This is the lesson we must teach our children if we want to nurture human beings who will have the emotional and spiritual fortitude to survive through and beyond the millennium.
“Only slowly could these men be guided back to the commonplace truth that no one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them.” --Viktor Frankl Holocaust Survivor
Dr. Angelou’s spiritual fire nurtured the small flicker within me and it grew into a steady flame. Her example was just the inspiration I needed to be able to responsibly address this situation as thinking and expressive member of our now mortally wounded society. We must express our righteous indignation and our anger, as it is a precious and justified anger. What happened to all of those innocent / irreplaceable Americans as a result of the terrorists' cowardly acts was excruciatingly evil and sinful. They have assaulted humanity and the Universe. They have spit into the very face of God. They have incurred a monumental debt to all of creation with their reprehensible acts. None are exempt from Gods laws that lie at the very foundation of the Universe. They owe the Creator. They must pay. They should be punished and so they will be. This however, is not the question. The question is rather; will we join them as a nation when all are called to pay for the brutality, and the senseless murder, war and bloodshed on this little blue planet? We must step back and mindfully assess the situation. There is a delicate balance to the world turning on its axis...very, very delicate.
While we should indeed declare war on terrorism we must also realize that we are a "thinking" nation. We are required to abide by a higher standard of morality than the fiends that killed our brothers and sisters. Quite simply, more is required of us because we are of a higher nature morally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We know better and we are better than these hateful terrorists. There is more than just one form that war can take. There are financial avenues that we can take, there are strategies to implement that would allow us to manipulate the food supply of our enemies, the help of our allies would allow us a broad scope of impact, political pressure as well as firepower. I am no expert on war strategies. I know we need to be more creative, crafty and inventive in our methods to seek justice in this matter. We need to look at the whole picture. We can win. We would be wise to utilize all resourceful means at our dispose toward the annihilation of this deadly, sewer lurking enemy of the free world. We have intellectual, philosophical and spiritual reserves that these barbarians lack the ability to use. We are not devoid of reason and intelligence. We have a higher calling. It is not what we do as much as it is how we do it. War in this age must be fought with a sure hand and deft precision. We can ill afford to act hastily. There is simply too much at stake. We have many means at our dispose to deal with and extinguish this evil faction from the earth forever and that is exactly what we must call on our leaders to do:
"It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it." .
-Thomas Jefferson to James Lewis, Jr., 1798.
This morning I rose to check my e-mail before starting on a project with my children. I have been walking them through this dark valley. I try to take a few steps assess the damage, move the glass and snares from the path and usher them on through with me step by careful step. You see, we must all be particularly careful with the precious children. They are the future...literally. We model to them with each gesture, word and step we make. We would be wise to keep that fact ever present in our consciousness. The project I have planned for my children is for us to use our creativity and energy to make small flags to give to the people at the vigil that will be held this evening. It will edify our hearts and souls to make them and it will hopefully be a welcomed gift to our fellow Americans attending the vigil. We must give our children the sense of safety that can only come from an awareness of our connection with the Divine---our inherent Divinity. My children know that there are no bombs, guns or weapons of mass destruction that can harm their essential selves. Still as the natural mother of flesh and blood beings I endeavor to keep them safe physically as well as emotionally and spiritually. I cannot do this alone. Other parents must look at their children and decide the kind of world and legacy that they want to fight for. The seeds we sow today are the fruits our children will reap in the future. We must always remember that. I know that our spirits are eternal and indestructible but as a mother I do not want to see my babies suffer. I do not want to see any babies suffer---from any country. Terrorism must be stopped. This we know. Our children must be able to learn and play during the day and sleep peacefully during the night. It is our job to secure this for them. Can we secure peace through violence? Let us meditate upon that question. Let us ask God. Let us listen. Can this tragedy be transformed?
“"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good" ( Genesis 50:20).
As I write this I am struggling to bring up the perfect words to express the dichotomy we are now faced with. I need to express it so that the words are there…if that makes any sense. I know that we all have some sense of the gravity of this situation, but as a writer I need to know that the words are there and that I was a part of the effort to express them. Writing and reading leads our minds and spirits into mindfulness. Writing out our feelings and thought also helps us to process traumatic events in our lives. It concretizes our painful emotions and puts them into a form that helps us to make meaning. It wakes us up. At times in the heat of action we fall into a trance like state. We need to be keenly aware of all of our thoughts, words and actions at this time. This is a crisis of proportions that many of us have never seen before. We must meet this crisis as intelligent, compassionate human beings possessed of spirits and with a connection to God. In that connection we need to honor our anger in a constructive (at least not destructive) way. We need to cry. We need to laugh. We need to run through the countrysides and walk for miles along the shores. We to talk to God. We need to talk to one another. We need to scream, shout and shake our fists.”
”This is wrong!” we need to cry, “Those bastards! What they did to them---to us…is bullshit!!!!!!!!!”
Yes, oh yes. I do believe that some of us (such as myself) even need to curse, spit, swear and stomp upon the earth. We only need to be mindful. We simply need to make sure that our anger is not turn in on ourselves or directed at others. Not at one another. Not at our sisters. Not at our brothers. Not at our fathers and mothers. Not at our precious children. Let us resolve to take this, our righteous anger to our Creator where it can be transformed. Our anger is a great natural resource. It is a synergetic component of our humanity. We can use our anger to make the world a better place.
The flame I referred to earlier grew within my heart ten fold when I heard Representative Barbara Lee from California speak this morning. She was the only one who voted against taking immediate military action:
''Our deepest fears now haunt us.
Yet I am convinced that military action will not
prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States.''
---Representative Barbara Lee
Bravo!
After airing a clip of her comments, a news anchor said that the representative was lonely or alone in her sentiments. How dare he speak for me! And I know Dr. Maya Angelou does not need him or anyone else to speak for her. She is not alone. She stands where all those with the courage to speak an unpopular Truth must sometime stand. She has true courage. She is right. I stand beside her and if I could I would literally do just that. Again, violence does not dispel violence. That should be common sense. Perhaps it is because as I have so often seen in my lifetime, common sense is not so common at all. This truth was made even more evident by Representative Lee's lone stance on the House floor. We all know that military action will not prevent further terrorism of the nature we have just witnessed. The sad thing is that we do not all care. This lack of caring is a key difference between the urge to seek justice and lust for revenge. Justice acts to balance and equalize. Revenge acts to terrorize and kill. We want to return terror with the hopes that the terror we inflict will be greater and more devastating. We want to kick ass and put them in their places. We know that many innocent men, women and children will die if we just fly off on a big bombing crusade, but I suppose like McVeigh callously deemed the babies during his diabolical acts in Oklahoma, we deem them to be "collateral damage". Also I ask you to ask yourself however, even if we can identify the guilty how can we effectively engage an enemy who is so evil and insane that (s) he has no fear of death? The old rules would have us play right into the hands of the evil-doers. We must see that. There is a better way:
Jesus said, "So be innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Make yourselves like sheep in the midst of wolves." Matthew 10:16
We must think deeply. If we go bombing distant lands at this point we will kill innocent/oppressed people. The people of these lands are not the culprits. This hateful radical meandering group of Nazi-like terrorist and warmongers are the cause of all this destruction. If we do not choose wisely, mindfully and intently innocent babies will die. Some may say that that is of no importance. They will say that we have been attacked and we must simply attack back no matter what. People…children and babies will die in the process. So what, right? That reminds me of the childlike defense, "Well, he hit me first!" or “All’s fair in love and war.” One would hope that we have evolved at least somewhat passed that kind of "logic."
Dr. Angelo reminded us of the importance of patience when she spoke earlier. We need to step back. Lives are at stake---EVERYONE'S lives. We need to have the patience to pin point the specific source of these attacks and to also discover what other agents of evil they have planted in our midst. This is key: as soon as our nation acts out of revenge and hatred on another country the invisible agents of evil planted among us may strike. More Americans will die and be injured. Let us please step back. Let us please think, meditate and pray on these things. The very lives of our precious children are at stake. We must step forth or even strike out if we must, with discernment and good judgment.
A bruised reed shall he not break,
and smoking flax shall he not quench,
till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Matthew 12:20
As a nation we need also to look at the energy that is expressed and the seeds we have sown as a nation. There is more at work in this Universe than the acts of insane terrorists. There are Universal Laws in place. We must mindfully act to tip the balance toward Light and away from darkness. We must remember that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Has this nation always acted out of love? This is not about blaming or casting aspersions. The terrorists are of course the villains here. Our consciousness however, must be raised to the level wherein we can view ourselves as a nation with sober honesty. We have to do an honest self- assessment. We must keep what we need and discard the rest. It is time for us to check in with ourselves and see where we are with regard to our own energy in the world. Is there no blood on our collective national hands? Is domestic violence not one of the leading causes of death for women in our country? Was this very country not built out of the blood, bone & exploitation of a stolen People? Are our hands not sullied with the tender broken flesh of millions of unborn children? Do we not as a nation lethally inject or electrocute human beings each year? Are we not one of the most violent societies on the globe? These are not judgments. These are important observations and self-assessing questions, which we as a people will have to look at later (too late) if we refuse to look at them now. America is a good country. America is not perfect. In our imperfection we need to calm ourselves, review our options and choose wisely and mindfully. We must saturate ourselves in the awareness that what we choose today will have a profound and lasting effect upon tomorrow. We say as a nation that we revere the example of Dr. Martin Luther King. We have proclaimed his birthday a national holiday. Why? When will his ideals be seriously considered? If not now…when? While his words do not have to be allowed to dictate our every action to us, we should at least consider them and reflect upon the spirit of the words of extraordinary individuals like Dr. King when we are searching for guidance:
The need (is) for man to overcome oppression and violence
without resorting to oppression and violence.
Man must evolve for all human conflict
a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience, 1967.
Man was born into barbarism when
killing his fellow man
was a normal condition of existence.
He became endowed with a conscience.
And he has now reached the day when
violence toward another human being
must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Stockholm, Sweden, December 11, 1964.
Let us ask ourselves if we were to model patience, calculated and well thought out judgment what would be the result upon our children and the rest of the world? Our children and the rest of the world look to us to set the example. That is our role and whether we handle it responsibly or not we will be the models for the future, perhaps even the determinant factor as to whether or not there will even be a future at all.
Be patient. Focus on our collective humanity instead of the insanity of the perpetrators of these vile and senseless crimes. Think about how it strikes us when we hear and see the stories of gang members in our urban communities. Let us say that the name of the community is C-City. A member of X-gang on the south side of town secretly offends or 'disses' a member of Y-gang on the north side of town. The Y-gang strikes out blindly and violently killing members of the X-gang---and of course members of the surrounding A-gang, Z-gang and non-gang members all get hurt or killed in the process. The next morning after the smoke clears everybody in the surrounding communities and cities watches the story on the news. 50 people in C-City are dead one and 100 more are seriously injured. Little C-City children have died in the cross fire of drive-bys and exploding cocktails. A few C-City mothers have died and have been injured but all the uninjured are weeping and wailing in the streets because their sons and daughters have been killed. They comfort and hold one another because they do not know nor do they care who was the mother of gang A, X,Y or Z. C-City fathers are devastated and despair for each has been robbed of an heir. Young C-City mothers rock their babies to sleep after telling them that their daddies are dead. In the midst however, there are the C-City youths who have survived. Their hatred swells. A swears to get Z. X swears to get Y and eventually the whole damned city will die. Senseless?
That analogy is grossly simplified but when I think about the force at work here and break it down to its elements, this is what I see. Warring gangs out "get" the other(s). In the end we are no better as nations on the planet than we are as gangs in the cities if we choose to act out in this way. We are one. When we kill one another we kill ourselves and we hasten the annihilation of all humanity. It is as simple as that.
I realize that this country may still be at the level of humanity where military attack seems like the one and only solution. If that is the case, I admonish everyone to please advise everyone you speak with to pray and think about our actions as individuals, as a nation and as the entire human race. If for instance some other intelligent life force were to be viewing our actions, we want to be sure that we do not look like the sorry individuals in my little analogy about the gang in C-City. That is after all the real danger here, for all microcosms, which is what C-City represents are but models of the larger construct. In the final episode of our human story will beings from elsewhere view us and pity the foolish humans who magnified violence until they utterly destroyed themselves? We like to say that we want peace. In order to have a peaceful society and world we have to embody and be "peace". It is just that simple. It takes courage to be what one would have before one possesses it:
One must be
the change
one wishes to see
in the world.
---Ghandi
We must think before we act and be sure that JUSTICE is served upon the plates of all those who truly deserve the taste of gall burning in their miserable throats. If we harm the innocent we miss the guilty and (s)he goes away laughing at us in the sewers, shadows and bowels of the earth.
One must be the change one wishes to see in the world.
I ask each person that reads this to think on these things. PRAY. Our Creator will inspire us spiritually and lead us toward an inner/ real knowing of what we should do in the face of evil. We do not have to figure all of this out on our own. There is Divine assistance in this and in all things if we would take the focus off of ego and put it onto the Light.
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths."
Proverbs 3:5
Yes, meditate, contemplate and pray. We are not called to lie down like sheep and be slaughtered. There is absolutely no way that I am advocating such. I am only saying that we should consider these things and act in a way that will benefit not only America but also EARTH. Please join me in echoing the prayer of Mother Teresa:
Lead me from death to life,
from lies to truth
Lead me from despair to hope
from fear to trust
Lead me from hatred to love
from war to peace
Let peace fill our heart, our world
our universe... peace, peace, peace.
Mother Teresa
Now let us claim our right to simply “be”. Just to “be”. That in essence is the freedom that the terrorists want to rob of us. Let us love and appreciate our families, friends and loved one as never before. Let us help those around us to know and to feel that they are supported and that they are not alone. Let us tip the scales by adding many many random acts of kindness to offset the malevolent effects and energy of this act of unspeakable madness and evil. Let us try to reclaim as much of our lives and normalcy as we possible can. Our children need this in order to be safe and to feel secure. Let us take time for ourselves together and in solitude. Let us experience simple pleasures. Smell the flowers. Watch the sunsets. Listen to the birds sing. Caress a baby’s hand. Let us taste the sublime sweetness of fresh fruit upon our tongues. Let us live. Let us love. Let us PRAY.
One final note, the flicker which became a flame became a full fledge blaze once its embers were stirred by the words of the gentleman quoted below. Please read and I invite you to share your thoughts on our current state of affairs. Let us be thankful that we live in this great nation where you and I may express our thoughts without fear of punishment and torture. That is just one of the precious rights that we as Americans are called to defend.
I wish you love, Light, joy and abundance always and in ALL ways.
p e a c e
Lisa Bartley-Lacey
PS.
COMPASSION AND REVENGE - Gary Zukov
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are occasions of
great significance. They are opportunities for you to feel inside, to
find those parts of yourself that are in fear, and to make the decision
to move forward in your life without fear. That is the challenge for each
individual on this planet today. The pursuit of external power = the
ability to manipulate and control. It creates only violence and
destruction. The painful events in New York and Washington are living
examples of that reality.
The chain reaction that created and nurtured this violence is one in which compassion
and wisdom was absent. Are wisdom and compassion present in you as you
watch the television, and read the papers? It is important to realize
that you do not know all that came to conclusion, or into karmic balance,
as a result of these events. Because you are not able to know all that
can be known about them, you are not in a position to judge them.
When you are able to look at the events of the Earth School from this
perspective, you will see clearly the central importance of the role that
you play in it. That role is this: It is for you to decide what you will
contribute to this world. Many will be asking your opinion of these
events. Each question is an opportunity for you to contribute to the love
that is in the world or to the fear that is in the world. This is the
same opportunity that presents itself to you at each moment.
If you hate those who hate, you become like them. You add to the
violence and the destructive energy that now fills our world. As you make
the decision to see with clarity and compassion, you will see that those
who committed these acts of violence were in extreme pain themselves, and
that they were fueled by the violent parts of ourselves, the parts that
judge without mercy, strike in anger, and rejoice in the suffering of
others. They were our proxy representatives. If you can look with
compassion upon those who have suffered and those who have committed acts
of cruelty alike, then you will see that all are suffering. The remedy
for suffering is not to inflict more suffering.
This is an opportunity for a massive expression of compassion. It is
also an opportunity for a massive expression of revenge. Which world do
you intend to live in -- a world of revenge or a world of compassion?
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