[GreenYes] Off topic - words that may help heal

[Muna Lakhani <muna@iafrica.com>]

Dear Friends...

do read this by Deepak Chopra - at the very worst, food for thought..

Muna


The Deeper Wound

        As fate would have it, I was leaving New York on a jet flight
that took off 45 minutes before the unthinkable happened. By the time we
landed in Detroit, chaos had broken out. When I grasped the fact that
American security had broken down so tragically, I couldn't respond at
first. My wife and son were also in the air on separate flights, one to
Los Angeles, one to San Diego. My body went absolutely rigid with fear.
All I could think about was their safety, and it took several hours
before I found out that their flights had been diverted and both were
safe.
        Strangely, when the good news came, my body still felt that it
had been hit by a truck.  Of its own accord it seemed to feel a far
greater trauma that reached out to the thousands who would not survive
and the tens of thousands who would survive only to live through months
and years of hell.
And I asked myself, Why didn't I feel this way last week? Why didn't my
body go stiff during the bombing of Iraq or Bosnia? Around the world my
horror and worry are experienced every day. Mothers weep over horrendous
loss, civilians are bombed mercilessly, refugees are ripped from any
sense of home or homeland.  Why did I not feel their anguish enough to
call a halt to it?
        As we hear the calls for tightened American security and a
fierce military response to terrorism, it is obvious that none of us has
any answers.
However, we feel compelled to ask some questions.
        Everything has a cause, so we have to ask, What was the root
cause of this evil? We must find out not superficially but at the
deepest level. There is no doubt that such evil is alive all around the
world and is even celebrated.
        Does this evil grow from the suffering and anguish felt by
people we don't know and therefore ignore? Have they lived in this
condition for a long time?
        One assumes that whoever did this attack feels implacable hatred
for America. Why were we selected to be the focus of suffering around
the world?   All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its
basis.
Isn't something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name
of God ?
Isn't God invoked with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India,  Pakistan,
Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America?
        Can any military response make the slightest difference in the
underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity?
        If there is a deep wound, doesn't it affect everyone? 
        When generations of suffering respond with bombs, suicidal
attacks, and biological warfare, who first developed these weapons? Who
sells them? Who gave birth to the satanic technologies now being turned
against us?
        If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will punishment in
any form toward anyone solve the wound or aggravate it? Will an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and limb for a limb, leave us all blind,
toothless and crippled? 
        Tribal warfare has been going on for two thousand years and has
now been magnified globally. Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is
patriotism and nationalism even relevant anymore, or is this another
form of tribalism?
        What are you and I as persons going to do about what is
happening?
Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer?
        Everyone is calling this an attack on America, but is it not a
rift in our collective soul? Isn't this an attack on civilization from
without that  is also from within?
        When we have secured our safety once more and cared for the
wounded, after the period of shock and mourning is over, it will be time
for soul searching. I only hope that these questions are confronted with
the deepest spiritual intent. None of us will feel safe again behind the
shield of military might and stockpiled arsenals. There can be no safety
until the root cause is faced. In this moment of shock I don't think
anyone of us has the answers. It is imperative that we pray and offer
solace and help to each other.  But if you and I are  having a single
thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this
moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.               

                                        Love,
                                        Deepak


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