Fw: 9/11
Peggy Holman
peggy at opencirclecompany.com
Wed Sep 12 09:37:35 PDT 2001
>From a friend. Seemed to belong here.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Halim Dunsky" <halim at bigmindmedia.com>
To: "Distribution" <halim at bigmindmedia.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 8:47 PM
Subject: 9/11
> Friends -
>
> At this terrible time, we have the choice to respond in a backlash to
> pain -- or in ways that reflect, support, and encourage the best in
> ourselves and each other. Let us make of this day of tragedy an
> opportunity to see more clearly and understand more fully the varying life
> conditions and ways of thinking that prevail across the world and in our
> own backyard. Let us use this developing understanding to promote the
> evolution of global systems that will serve the health of all.
>
> Here are selections from among the mail I have received today. Agree or
> disagree, but please think about these observations and questions.
>
> Halim
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Doug Carmichael:
>
> The Mayor of New York says "this was an unprovoked act against innocent
> men
> women and children.."
>
> I write to use all means available to simply say, there is no cause
> without
> a cause. The creation of terrorism must be understood and dealt with at
> the
> root of what creates people whose lives are pained enough to make this
> kind
> of move. Everything is provoked. We must understand the deeper picture of
> human reality.
>
> Dr. Douglass Carmichael
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Mark Gerzon:
>
> 9/11: AN EMERGENCY CALL
>
> "After something like this, there will be a desire to strike back. What
> will
> be hard for us, given our national psyche, is that we cannot. We don't
> know
> who, or where, to strike."
> -- General Norman Schwartzkopf
>
> How do we respond to this emergency call? Even our most renowned general
> recognizes that we cannot strike back. We must find something to do with
> our
> anger - and our fear.
>
> We that many voices will call for increased military spending, massive new
> investments in intelligence-gathering, and the creation of a domestic
> security state. So it is important that of us whose work involves
> alternatives to violence have an important challenge ahead of us. We must
> find a way, an EFFECTIVE way, to make clear that a vital part of our
> response must be to understand the sources of the rage against the
> superpower
> we call home and to respond with wisdom. In addition to whatever military
> and
> security measures are taken, we absolutely must reflect on why we have
> become
> a target.
>
> In my view, there are three primary sources of rage. The first is because
> much of the Muslim world believes that the United States is the enemy of
> Islam. There are religious, geopolitical, and cultural reasons for this
> hatred, all of which are intensified by the targeted assassination of
> Palestinian leaders. But we can no longer afford to pretend that this
> hatred
> results 100% from the ideological fanaticism of militant followers of
> Islam.
>
> The second source is the widespread view of the United States as a symbol
> of
> wealth and power, and hence the enemy of the poor and powerless. To what
> degree this is true is obviously debatable, but what is beyond doubt is
> that
> the perception runs deep and wide throughout much of the world,
> particularly
> in the South. Yes, we are still a symbol of freedom and democracy - but we
> cannot afford to let this historic role camouflage the fact that we are
> also
> profoundly hated as a symbol of superpower arrogance and privilege.
>
> The third source of rage is more diffuse, but it relates directly to the
> growing protests against the World Bank, IMF and WTO. As symbolized by a
> series of actions in which we are the Lone Ranger (Kyoto accords, Durban
> racism conference, etc), we are rapidly isolating ourselves from the world
> around us. While on the one hand we are the most "international" global
> nation on earth, we are on the other hand the most isolationist. Like the
> World Bank, IMF and WTO, which we played a pivotal role in creating, we
> are
> seen as orchestrating a world that suits our national interest, regardless
> of
> the consequences on other nations. This view is increasingly common in
> Europe, which is culturally closest to us. If that view can take hold
> there,
> just imagine how much more strongly it can grip other parts of the world,
> such as the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
>
> Rage, of course, is no excuse for mass murder. What the terrorists did in
> New
> York, Washington and Pennsylvania is itself an outrage. But now we, as a
> people, have to choose. Just like the Serbs and Croats in the Balkans, the
> H
> utus and Tutsies in Rwanda, and Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, the
> Indians and Pakistanis in Kashmir, and the Protestants and Catholics in
> Ireland, WE HAVE TO CHOOSE WHAT KIND OF NATION WE WANT TO BE.
>
> Do we intensify the cycle of retaliation and revenge - or do we open
> ourselves to the heart of the hatred?
>
> If, as the Dalai Lama has said, we have moved from a century of war to a
> century of dialogue, then our choice is clear. On a scale never before
> imaginable, we must know our enemy - not forgive them; not excuse them;
> and
> not appease them - but KNOW them. We must know them in our hearts and
> respond to them with a wisdom that passeth all understanding.
>
> Mark Gerzon
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Halim Dunsky:
>
> To Mark Gerzon's comments I would add a challenge to further our knowing
> of ourselves: we must take up the painful question, How are the horrific
> acts perpetrated today similar to acts -- fast and slow -- perpetrated
> within recent memory and every day by the United States, other nations
> with similar blindnesses, and transnational corporations? Can we come to
> acknowledge our share of culpability in fostering the conditions that have
> nurtured the rage and determination we saw today?
>
> Meeting the heart of the enemy means being willing to see ourselves. New
> wisdom in response to a new understanding will demand that we change our
> lives -- not in order to seek greater security, but to stand down from the
> ongoing provocations for which we have been responsible.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Vicki Robin:
>
> As I watched the World Trade Towers collapse this morning and as the shock
> works its way through my body, I am aware that people everywhere will be
> grappling with what this means. I encourage all of you to join me in
> being aware in these next days and weeks of this meaning making activity,
> knowing that how we understand this event governs how we will respond.
>
> If people recoil into fear, vengeance and scapegoating we are in for very
> dark times. Our conversations right now make a big difference in whether
> we as people, as a nation can grieve, search our souls, stay connected to
> all that is good in us. If not, if we as people and as a nation seek to
> relieve our pain through blame, then many, many people here who have
> challenged the status quo will be hurt and the conviction that we must
> live in a police state will not be far away.
>
> Please join me in compassionate conversation with as many people as
> possible - not instructing others in how to respond but in listening and
> feeling together and discovering what our responses might be. May we use
> the power of our words and our inquiry into the soul of "the other" to
> heal. May we flood our streets with love rather than fear.
>
> Thank you for listening.
>
> blessings
> Vicki Robin
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Tom Atlee:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> "What should we do?" Elliot was calling from work, having just heard
> about
> this morning's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We are
> housemates in a 9-person collective house into which I moved a month ago.
>
> My partner Karen, my daughter Jennifer, Adin (another housemate) and I had
> been talking about the crisis for over an hour. We wondered about
> Elliot's
> question. One thing we could do was write to you -- my list of 800 people
> -- who have so many important connections into the world. But what should
> we say?
>
> We thought of sharing a lesson we'd all agreed on: "We can't be secure
> when we are doing so many things that lead people to hate us." We
> wondered
> about saying more. We looked at the role of greed, and then at how greed
> was just one form of power-hunger, and how power-hunger derives from
> insecurity which, in turn, arises from disconnection from other people and
> life. People don't exploit, neglect or terrorize things they love and
> vibrantly relate to.
>
> But, one of us said, there's more than individual motivations at work
> here. The systems we live in and use -- the social, economic, political,
> and other systems -- support greed, power-hunger, insecurity and
> alienation
> in thousands of subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Someone else commented
> that
> the systemic and the individual dynamics feed back into each other.
> Another person suggested there are many positive initiatives that could
> change both the system and the individual behaviors. I suggested evidence
> that -- right now -- the world has the resources and know-how to create a
> just and sustainable world that works for all, but they just aren't being
> used for that.
>
> As we explored all this, we noticed that our individual contributions were
> painting an ever-fuller, richer picture of what was going on and how to
> understand it. We decided that this situation has so many facets that
> high-quality reflection and dialogue -- thoughtful exploration among
> diverse perspectives, such as we were doing -- may be the ONLY way to
> comprehend and creatively address incidents as profoundly important as
> these. In the absence of dialogue and reflection, we oversimply. All of
> us do. We blame an enemy -- perhaps terrorists or "the system" -- or we
> focus on one small part of the web of causation -- perhaps "greed" or
> "revenge" or something else that we particularly understand.
>
> But the signficance of this realization reaches beyond today's attack on
> the World Trade Center and the Pentagon: This horrible incident is but
> one
> in an ongoing chain of incidents of profound social significance. Each
> one
> is an opportuntiy to think, to feel and to talk -- to deepen and learn --
> so that we can act more effectively and wisely, both individually and
> collectively. We saw that hope lies in the kind of "learning together"
> that generates engaged wisdom -- rather than in the kind of reactivity
> that
> supports our weakest and worst responses.
>
> This isn't the first crisis to hit our society. And it definitely won't
> be
> the last. We all know that crises like this can evoke the worst --or the
> best -- in ordinary folks, in leaders, and in whole societies. What can
> we
> do to help the best, the wisest and most useful responses emerge?
>
> Usually in crisis most people watch the news and wait like spectators to
> see what various leaders and governments will do, as if the drama were a
> football game. Meanwhile, those leaders and governments are caught up in
> dynamics which -- to say the least -- do not enhance their wisdom. More
> often than not, their actions -- and our spectatorism -- lead us all into
> even worse problems.
>
> To change that, we need widespread, healthy conversations that generate
> deeper insight and the kind of creative engagement that makes a difference
> in the world. Ultimately, we need to make such conversations part of the
> structure of our culture -- especially of our political and governmental
> systems (see www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_Index.html and
> www.democracyinnovations.org).
>
> But today we can find people we trust and care about, and gather in
> circles, speaking and listening from our hearts. We can listen well to
> those who disagree with us, and ask questions that deepen shared
> understanding. And, for the long haul, we can advocate the
> "infrastructure
> of dialogue" that our democracy so sorely needs -- places we can go for
> high quality public conversation, publicly available facilitators and
> technology, and diverse citizen councils who explore important issues with
> high quality dialogue in full public view, whose findings and
> recommendations have a real impact on public policy and public activity.
>
> We find ourselves in a moment of great danger. It contains seeds of great
> opportunity. Let us each do what we can to promote healthy dialogue that
> motivates wise action at all levels of our society. That one change would
> change everything else: With each successive crisis, we would find
> ourselves moving away from ultimate Disaster towards a world that works
> for
> all, a world that is actually a joy to live in.
>
> Coheartedly,
> Tom
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
>
*
*
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