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Like all of us in this country and the rest of the world, I have been struggling with making sense of recent events and the issues raised in the aftermath of September 11. Allow me to express some thoughts, while attempting to offer a spiritual perspective on this situation. First, we are connected; that is, we are all one. We are simply part of the same whole. Therefore, what I do to you, I do to me. It's that simple. We have come to believe that we are all separate, and we therefore compete with and fight against each other individually and against other nations. Second, I have learned from the inner healing work I've done that in order to heal or change something, one must take responsibility for creating it. In other words, when we pass the blame, we are giving our power away. We are saying, "I had nothing to do with creating this situation." Denial stops the growth and healing. However, everything can be an opportunity to heal something. Third, one cannot solve a problem at the same energy level in which it was created. If this recent tragedy was created as a result of hate, for example, then we cannot respond with more hate if we truly wish to reduce hate and terrorism. An eye for an eye leaves us all blind. Fourth, everything evens out. Karma is simply cause and effect, and the terrorists will pay a price for what they did. It is not up to the United States or anyone else to punish or seek revenge. Of course, the terrorists must still be pursued, brought to justice, and held accountable and responsible for their acts. But we are all responsible. For one thing, we Americans have created enemies in this world. Many people hate us, and not only due to envy. Over the years, have we not lost some of our ideals of democracy and freedom for all? As a nation, we correctly see our bright side, the good we do, the freedom we have, but we also must be willing to take responsibility for our shadow side. Can we as a nation own what we have created, validate our dark side? Yes, this includes the earlier treatment of Native Americans, slaves, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the treatment of Japanese during the war, actions in Vietnam, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Grenada, Chile, and many other countries. I lived for two and a half years in Central America doing human rights work. So many people would beg me, "Please go home and tell your people what your country is really doing down here." From my experiences and research, I agree that we, too, have been "terrorists" on many occasions. But the past is past. Can we own our present dark side, and what we continue to do, our attempt to control the world and its resources, our racism, our hate, our revenge-focused prison system and use of the death penalty, our militaristic priorities, our overuse and reliance on forests and other resources, our biased support of Israel, our control of the Middle East and our addiction to oil (and profits), our sanctions and bombings of Iraq, and our military support in Columbia? The day of the attack, while watching the TV coverage, I heard many people say some very revealing things. Several politicians and commentators said, "The American way of life will not change." It was almost as though we sensed that, indeed, we must change, as individuals and as a nation. It comes back to each of us. As Gandhi said, "We must be the change." Can we each own and take responsibility for what we have created? Can we stop denying the inner shadows: the hate, the fear, the rage? Our reaction to the attack has largely been one of fear, hate, and a need for revenge. We have to see an enemy "out there," because it hurts too much to accept responsibility, to look within, but inside is where we need to go. The outside world is simply a reflection or culmination of what is within each of us. This is the lesson I have been working on personally these past few years. I chose to wake up and admit that much of the human rights and peace activism work I was doing in Central America was a projection of my own inner hate and rage. I had hidden much of the pain regarding my abusive childhood, and I was blaming the U.S. and Guatemalan governments, among others, and thus adding fuel to the fires. Marianne Williamson, a former peace activist, says in her book A Return to Love, "What the ego doesn't want us to see is that the guns we need to get rid of first are the guns in our own heads." I read a quote in the newspaper last month by a person who said, "I hate the doctrine of hate," not even seeing the contradiction. Then the Rev. Jerry Falwell may have revealed his own hate toward gays, feminists, and others by blaming them for the attack. President Bush has mentioned the words "Wanted, dead or alive" referring to Osama bin Laden, revealing the uncivil and vengeful track we seem to be on. In Neale Donald Walsch's book Communion With God, it says, "Some people are still not understanding that until they correct the conditions in society which create and invite unwanted behaviors, they will correct nothing. A truly objective analysis proves this, yet many people ignore that proof and continue trying to solve society's problems with the same energy that created them. They seek to end killing with killing, to end violence with violence, to quell anger with anger. In doing all of this, they fail to see their hypocrisy, and thus embody it." Attacking the terrorists is the same as attacking ourselves. We are trying to remove the cancer, but the cancer is within each of us. We have bombed and attacked and killed our way throughout history. Has it ever stopped violence? Jesus said "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," not "Get those guys!" If any of us is holding feelings of hate or a need for vengeance, then we are contributing to the problem rather than the solution. Can each of us own our personal dark side and see ourselves, really see ourselves, the love we have hidden away? Can we allow our darkness and our pain to finally come out into the light, where love and acceptance can melt it away? War may kill some of those who hate (along with many bystanders), but it will not kill the hate. Only love can do this. Roy Holman teaches meditation and yoga classes in the Everett area. He can be reached at <Roymundo@aol.com> or (425) 303-8150. |