September 11

September 11...

I have a long answer and a short answer. The long answer gets political, so to spare readers any unnecessary dis-ease, here's the short answer.

It's impossible to address the individual lives directly affected by the 9/11 tragedies, each is a story in themselves, and each partook for reasons of their own as their purposes fit into the collective mosaic of what happened, but much can be objectively read from the collective mosaic. Just as each of us makes our own reality, so do those who make up a nation, and a world, collectively craft their destiny. It’s far too easy (though it’s now being done all over the world) to look at what happened as an isolated incident that began September 11, without regard to what brought it about at deeper levels, both spiritually and historically. Anyone can say that madmen wrought carnage on the US and must be punished – who wouldn’t want to agree, but this hardly reflects the big picture, and thinking it does could make our subsequent reactions just as barbaric and unjustified as what we just suffered. The first step towards healing must come from understanding our own responsibilities for what happened.

SPIRITUALLY, to simplify this is much as possible and to get to the crux of the matter… always, thoughts become things… so a people who predominantly believe that it’s acceptable to exert physical force, even violence, upon others WHEN JUSTIFIED (as we Americans believe, as does most of the world)… will meet other people who predominantly believe that it’s acceptable to exert physical force, even violence, upon others WHEN JUSTIFIED (as the zealots believe). So on September 11, we met people who think as we do, and who live their beliefs, just as we do. And each of us views the other, as a terrorist.

HISTORICALLY, we have to realize that we are not just Americans, but citizens of the world… and so we must look at world history and our role in it, to better understand September 11. It’s still unclear exactly who orchestrated the US attacks, but it’s generally thought that the plot was hatched in the middle east, and so for now, this is where to begin any search for clues as to “cause”, and to examine how our own policies and motivations have affected the varying peoples there. For instance, where do our foreign policies aid some, at the expense of others? Where in the name of peace and freedom, have we fought and oppressed? Where have we imposed our values and morals? And where have we remained mute, in light of travesties we could have otherwise influenced for the “better”, in peaceful ways?

I’m not trying to bash America, but I believe each of these questions have answers that would surprise and sadden most Americans. I only want to spark some new thinking by asking some hard questions… questions that DO have answers. The US remains the beacon of hope for all nations who cherish freedom, liberty and democracy. We are the living example of a better way. We are as kind as we are powerful, as generous as we are free, and as spiritual as we are idealistic, yet it would be naïve to think we couldn’t be even greater, or to assume our good intentions take into account all nations and peoples.

I also want to point out that I am in no way implying that anything ever done by the US, in the past or present, justifies 9/11. I can’t begin to explain the horror that that day brought to so many families, any more than I can explain the horrors that are encountered by so many peoples the world over that occur daily, but I can explain that at the deepest levels, we all make our own realities, individually and collectively, without exception, that we’re all responsible for our fortunes and misfortunes, and that there are no such things as “accidents”.

To finally bring about peace on earth, it’ll be necessary for every person and government, the world over, to respect and see the divinity in all, and for this to happen, the citizens of every nation need to understand and accept full responsibility for the actions and inactions of their leaders.

Nothing will bring back the lives "lost", nor ease the suffering around the world caused by this tragedy, but by seeking to understand our responsibilities; spiritually, historically, and in the present, we’ll at least free ourselves from a spiral of violence, that with our old mindsets, would only ever end once a group of people is sufficiently enlightened, or annihilated.

9/2002