1. SUMMARY 1. OVERVIEW This morning I broke down. I was listening to the John Lennon's "Imagine" (which appears at the beginning of "Getting to Resolution") and I just started to wail. At that moment my mission seemed clear. I have been screening what has crossed my screen for the past month like ground zero workers sifted rubble. I have been seeking, looking for what to do, and praying for some wisdom that will help slave wounded psyches and bring healing. It has taken a month get near the bottom of the emotion and shock. I even had the experience of halucinating about events of the past month while under the influence of pain medication recuperating from kidney surgery (it was arthroscopic and successful.) All that did was intensify the frustration and internal wailing. Like many other joys of "adulthood" there are no right answers here - only opportunities for deep reflection and choices about how we live our lives. Meister Echert said that life is about becoming In observing events unfold over the past month I am mindful of three arenas of action that seem necessary to accomplish the mission at hand: Military / Context / Learning I think that people must listen and clearly destructive Military action does wake people up. To get people to hear messages we need a Context of receptivity. Full stomachs, and a sense of possibility about the future is needed so people will be Learning - applying what they heard. The violent acts are being supplied by both sides of this conflict. If civilization is to prevail, in the long run, minds must be captured! Young people in the religious schools run by the Taliban who are provided with food, shelter, and information are being given a context, albeit a programmed, inaccurate, and narrow education. My attention goes there because I believe terrorism comes from desperation and desperation comes from a sense of poverty and resignation. The key is to break the cycle by providing a new context that contains both hope and reliable information. The challenge for all of us is to remain mindful that our context is not necessarily the white knighted one with all the correct answers. As americans we live within a paradigm that creates a bias in our thinkng. As we grow to understand other cultures, so must we grow to understand ourselves. I think we are engaged in an evolutionary battle for the survival of our species. When I listened to much of the public debate and reporting of events I have been troubled in a way I had not been able to articulate. It is clear that the context in which we are examining and assesing current events is old paradigm thinking. The right / wrong, good / bad, win / lose analysis will not help us resolve the situation. Using traditional ways of thinking revels a ledger with entries on each side. Debating or judging based on traditional standards will only perpetuate the violence. The only way to the other side is to faithfully leap into to the void - to choose a new future because the transactionn costs of the current conflict are too great. The only way out is to forgive, let go and create a world that works for all. (Of course, that's after the criminal conduct is addressed.) I tend not mediate with parties who have lawyers because it is diluted mediation. The presence of some institutional structure stands in the way of real communication and resolution. To a degree the paradigms of law, economics, politics, labor negotiation and diplomacy all militate against resolution. Operatives within a particular systems are biased by their own paradigms. They have a vested, but often hidden interest in perpetuating the system that supports them.Only beyond the paradigms do we experience the letting go needed for resolution. One of my greatest "ahah's" was the realization that lawyer's were not ill intentioned, just operating within a paradigm that in the name of being the best lawyer they could often trampled other dearly held values. I suspect that's true for Muslims, Terrorists, Isrealis, Palestinian's and Americans. Until everyone realizes we are all right, and we are all wrong, we will continue killing each other in the name of god and country. All this while god the trickster muses in wonderment at the mess we make of the paradise bestowed on us. We all need to be thinking differeently about our current planetary situation. Fifty short years ago the earth was an unlimited resource. Today it is crowded and rapidly depleting. If we are to get along on this biosphere we must learn how to share the planet wisely. Wars will not do it. No one can win because of the cost of victory. I came to the same conclusions when thinking about litigiousness in US courts. "Civil" actions were destroying people and fighting seemed a senseless way of resolving problems. We needed new ways of thinking about and processing difficulties. I took on the task of articulating new ways of thinking, and new models for resolving conflict. A few years ago a friend called me a "Resolutionary." Although I have used to moniker, I have not capitalized on it. I have been slow to take a visible public stand for the values and processes I work with. I now have resounding evidence of how well they work, and I am ready to engage in broad-based educational activities. We must all be reschooled in new ways of thinking about the current crisis, lest we quickly destroy the planet. What follows are some thoughts that helped me recognize what my mission is. Please join me, or engage in something equally compelling. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Please take action. Our lives depend on it! IMAGINE Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try Imagine there's no country, it isn't hard to do You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one Imagine no posessions, I wonder if you can You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one John Lennon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 2. HIGHER PURPOSE The poet David Whyte has framed the inquiry beautifilly: Beyond the necessary apprehension of Bin Laden or the destruction of the networks that brought this woe upon us, we have another long term task; to understand in our bones the daily quality of fear,powerlessness, grief and sheer fragility which accompanies most human beings into their beds at night. Most of humanity does not fear Armageddon the way we in the developed world do, because for a majority of them, Armageddon has already arrived and is for them a daily experience. There is an endless stream of young people in the world who have given up on their own desires and who, because of that, will willingly put themselves in the thrall of those whose desires would manipulate them for brutal, more abstract ends. At present these dispossessed young are out of our conversational remit and for all of us it will take personal and political courage, and definite acts, to bring them into a world in which they feel they have an imaginative or economic stake. Almost always, the courageous conversation is by definition the one we do not want to have. For each of us, in this season of falling away, at this threshold of history, when the old has gone and we are yet bereft of the new, what is the conversation, that until now, we have refused? -- David Whyte What is the higher purpose of this crisis in human evolution? What is the opportunity for all of us to learn. What is really sitting between us and self destruction or a war of terror that will not end. If for a moment you stand in a place of self rightousness go visit a native american reservation or just reflect on that part of our history. My work with conflict instructs me again and again that if we ignore what is so it will surface in some way to remind us of our delusion. We have just been subjected to a big wake-up call. Hence, compassion must be our shadow as we move forward. This story drives the point home. PAINFUL ROOTS Even if it is difficult, when Americans reflect on what occurred, they must struggle to understand why any group of people would feel compelled to do what was done. At this juncture, we must remember our common humanity. While many will point the finger at Islamic fundamentalists and blame the incident on differences over religion, accepting this argument will ultimately lead to more violence. If this were a religious or cultural war, moreover, how could so many people with so many different religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds coexist within the United States? In attacks are about much more. The targets speak for themselves. What do the World Trade Center and the Pentagon symbolize? Think about it. What do they symbolize to you? I can think of two words: American dominance. The nerve center of American military might, the Pentagon is the largest building in the world. It is the headquarters of the largest and the costliest military ever known to man. The importance of the World Trade Center is hardly questionable. Rising over the financial capital of the world, these buildings housed some of the most important and most powerful finance firms on the globe. The tallest in the world until the mid-nineteen nineties, the World Trade Center towers were a symbol of prosperity. They defied gravity and they left every one of us in awe. Sadly, as much as these structures are a symbol of power for Americans, they are also a symbol of powerlessness for countries that are still struggling to meet the basic needs of their citizens. When the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto treaty or refuses to attend the first conference on race reconciliation, these structures reaffirm the United States' position as the bully on the world stage. As long as the United States is economically prosperous, a great majority of Americans seem to care very little about what happens to the rest of the world. While American companies enjoy astronomical profits, the rest of the world is told to wait. Progress, after all, takes time. Meanwhile, American policy makers celebrate what they call the fastest period of growth in the history f the United States. If progress takes time, time is standing still for more than 3 billion human beings, who according to the World Bank make less than a dollar a day. It is standing still for thousands of children who die of curable diseases each year. Despite this awful reality, a great majority of Americans continue to fervently celebrate their prosperity. Just as the pictures of Palestinians celebrating the collapse of the Trade Center angered many Americans, the continuous lack of empathy and concern in the United States angers many others. Can we blame them?Can we blame ourselves for our anger? Many of the citizens of this nation are remarkable people. Despite the anger I fostered as a child, I have learned to love many of them. I have learned to admire the good qualities of this nation. I did not celebrate on Tuesday and I am extremely worried today. Unfortunately, if this country remains unwilling to make sacrifices and to share its tremendous wealth with the rest of the world, I am afraid that the attacks of September 11 are the first of many. Because too many people have too little to lose. - Camilo Belli. "One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail toremain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of the status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change." "If a man has beheld evil, it was shown to him in order that he learn his own guilt and repent. For what is shown him is also within him"
Up Er Mei We were walking in paradise, never did notice It does not get any better than the garden paradise we live in. All dificulty is induced by human beings and systems. We need to reflect on how we contribute to the events that have brought us to this place. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 3. FOUR FREEDOMS In a 1941 speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor President Roosevelt said that America is based on Four Freedoms: 1.) Speech 2.) Religion 3.) Want 4.) Fear Clearly the terrorists come from environment in which the Four Freedoms are lacking. Given that Deprivation leads to Despiration We need to export the Four Freedoms xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When we act to bring to account those that committed the atrocity of 11 September, we do so, not out of bloodlust. We do so because it is just. We do not act against Islam. The true followers of Islam are our brothers and sisters in this struggle. Bin Laden is no more obedient to the proper teaching of the Koran than those Crusaders of the 12th Century who pillaged and murdered, represented the teaching of the Gospel. It is time the West confronted its ignorance of Islam. Jews, Muslims and Christians are all children of Abraham. This is the moment to bring the faiths closer together in understanding of our common values and heritage, a source of unity and strength. It is time also for parts of Islam to confront prejudice against America and not only Islam but parts of western societies too. America has its faults as a society, as we have ours. But I think of the Union of America born out of the defeat of slavery. I think of its Constitution, with its inalienable rights granted to every citizen still a model for the world. I think of a black man, born in poverty, who became Chief of their Armed Forces and is now Secretary of State Colin Powell and I wonder frankly whether such a thing could have happened here. I think of the Statue of Liberty and how many refugees, migrants and the impoverished passed its light and felt that if not for them, for their children, a new world could indeed be theirs. I think of a country where people who do well, don't have questions asked about their accent, their class, their beginnings but have admiration for what they have done and the success they've achieved. I think of those New Yorkers I met, still in shock, but resolute; the fire fighters and police, mourning their comrades but still head held high. I think of all this and I reflect: yes, America has its faults, but it is a free country, a democracy, it is our ally and some of the reaction to 11 September betrays a hatred of America that shames those that feel it. So I believe this is a fight for freedom. And I want to make it a fight for justice too. Justice not only to punish the guilty. But justice to bring those same values of democracy and freedom to people round the world. And I mean: freedom, not only in the narrow sense of personal liberty but in the broader sense of each individual having the economic and social freedom to develop their potential to the full. That is what community means, founded on the equal worth of all. The starving, the wretched, the dispossessed, the ignorant, those living in want and squalor from the deserts of Northern Africa to the slums of Gaza, to the mountain ranges of Afghanistan: they too are our cause. This is a moment to seize. The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us. Today, humankind has the science and technology to destroy itself or to provide prosperity to all. Yet science can't make that choice for us. Only the moral power of a world acting as a community, can. "By the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more together than we can alone". For those people who lost their lives on 11 September and those that mourn them; now is the time for the strength to build that community. Let that be their memorial." full text of speech: http://www.labour.org.uk/ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
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