NP Fw: Gary Zukav's Equinox message

[barbara100 at jps.net]

> COMPASSION AND KARMA
>
> What you sow, you reap.  What a collective sows, the collective
> reaps. What the human family sows, the human family reaps.  These
> overlapping dynamics combine to form the experience of individuals,
> collectives of individuals and the human experience.  Within these
> dynamics, individuals, collectives and humanity encounter the consequences
> of choices that they have made, and are offered opportunities to choose
> again.  With each choice, more consequences are created, and more
> opportunities to choose again present themselves.  A year after the
attacks
> on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the consequences of the
choices
> we made in response are becoming visible.
>
> The brutality of the attacks shocked millions and gratified
> millions. Around the world, individuals who were able to feel the pain of
> others grieved.  Those who could not watched numbly or celebrated the
> humbling of an evil people.  Those who could feel the suffering of others
> cried for them.  Those who could not rejoiced in the pain of villains.
> This is an ancient pattern.  It has repeated itself countless times, and
> the sum of these experiences is the chronicle of human history -
> brutalities imposed upon humans by humans.
>
> The individuals who attacked us could not grasp our humanity - the
> humanity of those they attacked.  They could not step into the horror of a
> family suddenly without a father or a mother, a loved one gone without
good
> bye, or terrible thoughts of those who were dearest in terror and pain.
> They saw instead inhuman, unholy infidels, blasphemers of the Holy,
> scourges of the Earth, and enemies of Good.  They struck mercilessly
> because they believed themselves to be superior, to be right, to be good,
> and to be warriors with the Divine on their side.
>
> They celebrated because, at last, revenge was theirs.  They
> rejoiced because, at last, the pain of others was great.  They laughed
> because, at last, the humiliation of others was deep. They danced because,
> in their powerlessness, they found a brief moment of relief, of bringing
> righteousness to the unrighteous, of imposing themselves.
>
> They could not feel the pain they created, but we did, and so did
> many others around the world.  In the tender weeks following the attacks,
> Americans opened to each other and the world opened to America.  Deep
> bonds of mutual suffering replaced impoliteness, competition, and
> animosity. The impact of so many souls suddenly gone from the Earth, and
> the malicious intention behind their deaths, made us vulnerable.  Our
> arrogance disappeared.  That was our moment of hope.  That was our
> opportunity to change the course of American history, international
> relations, and human evolution.  It was the opportunity to see our brief
> collective experience of grief and loss - of the consequences of brutality
> - as another wave in the ocean of grief and loss that has washed over
> millions upon millions of humans, including those who struck us without
> mercy.
>
> This tender moment was our opportunity to return compassion for
> violence, kindness for brutality, and humanity for inhumanity.  It called
> to us in our pain and our horror.  It said to each of us, in the intimacy
> of our inner lives, "This is what revenge feels like to those who receive
> it.  This is what cruelty feels like to those who experience it.  DO NOT
> INFLICT THESE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES UPON OTHERS.  DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE
> EVOLUTION OF VIOLENCE.  CREATE ANOTHER PATH THROUGH HISTORY.  DO YOU HAVE
> THE COURAGE?"
>
> If we had heard that call, the consequences that we are now
> encountering would have been very different.  If we had the courage to
feel
> our pain, our humiliation, and the agony of our losses we would not have
> been able to create those same experiences in others.  Instead, we saw
> ourselves as victims.  We sought revenge.  We imposed ourselves
righteously
> upon the unrighteous.  We perceived ourselves as right, as good, and as
> warriors with the Divine on our side and, in the process, we created more
> families without husbands and wives, more loved ones gone without
goodbyes,
> and more memories of those who were dearest in terror and pain. We became
> like those who attacked us.
>
> The tender moment after the attacks is gone, but another tender
> moment can be created.  It can be created in you by you.  It requires the
> courage to feel your pain instead of hiding it from yourself with rage, to
> feel your humiliation without concealing it from yourself with
> righteousness, and your humanity.  It requires that you see with
> compassion even those who have no compassion, because if you have no
> compassion for those who have no compassion, you become one of them.
>
> On this anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and
> the Pentagon the compassion that millions in every nation felt for the
> United States has turned into condemnation.  Bitter judgments have
replaced
> open hearts and the experience of our common humanity.  On this
> anniversary, is your heart still open?  Can you still feel the pain of
> others?  Do you care about the pain of others?  What do you feel?  What do
> you care about? What do you want to create next?
>
> Now is the time to create the tender moment again.  Now is always
> and forever the time to create it, to live in it, and to act in it.
>
> Copyright © Gary Zukav 2002