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Responses to the
terrorist attacks on the US

Mahashanti mantra, the great mantra for peace
Beyond Good and Evil - by Arjuna
Compassion and revenge - by Gary Zukav
Beloved Friends - letter from Neale Walsh, J. Twyman, Redfield.
The deeper wound - response from Deepak Chopra

Part two
Suffering and ignorance - letter from Rani
Opportunities for change - Kira Kay
Facing fear - Aziz Kristof
It is only in the times of chaos and confusion - Osho
We meet in hell as well as heaven - Gangaji

Part three:
Letter to the president of the USA from the Dalai Lama
Reactie van Jan van Delden
What really happened - Byron Katie
Rest in Peace - Thich Nhat Hanh

Part four:
Not in our son's name
Petition
The great illness - Shanti Mayi
What do you really know -Djwhal Khul

Part five: Osho on terrorism
Part six: This event is not what it seems - Galactic Council
Part seven: America under attack guestbook



Mahashanti Mantra, the great prayer for peace

 
'May there be peace on earth, peace in the ether, peace in the heaven, peace in all directions, peace in fire, peace in the air, peace in the sun, peace in the moon, peace in the constellations, peace in the waters, peace in the plants and herbs, peace in trees, peace towards cattle, peace towards goats, peace towards horses, peace towards mankind, peace in the absolute Brahman, peace in those who have attained Brahman, may there be peace, only peace. May that peace be in me, peace alone. Through that peace may I confirm peace in myself, and all biped and quadruped. May there be peace in me, peace alone."
 

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Beyond Good and Evil
By Arjuna Nick Ardagh
- Sunday September 16 2001

 

world trade centerWhen the planes struck I was, probably like everyone else, shocked and unbelieving. I watched my friends' television, wondering if this was reality or the latest Bruce Willis movie I was seeing. It could not be real. Faced with events such as these, reactions of anger, thoughts of revenge, fears of a sinister evil out there somewhere, lurking to get us, are natural and inevitable. Such feelings must and will arise. But I feel it is also important to deeply consider the consequences of following such impulses once again. We have evolved out of tribes warring against one another. Humanity has, for as long as we have record, been preoccupied with feeling right and justified to commit violence against whoever disagrees with us. Nothing much has changed since one wandering tribe clobbered another with clubs over territorial disputes, except that the stakes are much much higher now.
Nuclear weapons, which disappeared from the ex Soviet arsenal, were later sold on the black market, according to the BBC world service. Chemical weapons are known to have been developed by many nations, as well as some terrorist factions, according to a report on Associated press in Wednesday. The stakes are so high, in fact, that unless you and I stop to consider what we are doing, there may not be much left of any of us.

No intelligent person could condone terrorism. In the last days we have seen the FBI and Interpol involved in a massive worldwide campaign to smoke out terrorist cells, and to rightfully bring criminals to justice. I am cheering. At the same time, to really get to the roots of the thing, rather than to just prune the branches, I am interested to find out what motivates and causes terrorism. Why is the United States, where I live, so much more a focus for these groups than, say, Canada or Sweden? What would propel someone to systematically participate in a plan over more than a year, in which they would themselves die? Is this simply insanity, the evil Satan than my teachers warned me about in Sunday school? Seeking an answer to these questions, I hit the web.

I found a PBS website (an American news service) called "Hunting Bin Laden." [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/]
This site (within PBS) has extensive information about the man and the organization, as well as some excellent other articles and links. There is a lengthy interview by ABC's John Miller with bin Laden. After reading this, you may not feel any more sympathetic to the cause, but at least you can understand what the cause is, and why people feel compelled to commit atrocities against the US.

As you probably know, there has been conflict between Arabs and Jews since the Old Testament. After the grotesque genocide of the Jews in the war, in 1948 there was, among all of the victorious allies, the recognition of the need to give the Jewish people a stable home. Israel was created out of an area that was previously a British protectorate. But, as would happen if you tried to create a new state anywhere in the modern world, people had to be displaced. In this case it was Palestinians. Over the last nearly sixty years this dispute remains unresolved. Israel has, from time to time, sought to occupy more territory than was originally set aside. Palestinians have fought back. For three generations their people have lived in settlement camps. In this dispute, America has been perceived to side more with the Israelis. After all, the US played a major part, with Britain, in creating Israel. There are many economic and family ties between Americans and Israelis, many Americans have relatives living in Israel, and many Israelis have family in the US. It is the perceived bias of the US towards Israel in this conflict that is at the root of many terrorist acts against us. In addition, bin Laden and his associates have quarrel with the US, as well as the Saudi royal family, over their role in the Gulf war against Iraq in 1991. Saudi Arabia is thought of a Holy Land, (the land of two Mosques: Mecca and Medina) and the American presence there angered many Muslims. Many devout Muslims are also offended by the values (or the perceived lack of them) promoted by Hollywood, and by the spread of large US corporations to all corners of the globe. This is, in a nutshell, why the US is the target more than another Western country.

The response of Bush

Soon after reading this interview with bin Laden, I also began to hear of the response of George Bush and the government as a whole. It was natural and inevitable. The feelings of anger in the nation were given voice by our leaders. But I also could not help but notice an eerie similarity between Bush's language and the bin Laden interview. Both see themselves as good (a servant of Allah on the one hand, and of freedom and civilization on the other) both see the other as evil. Both feel justified to make strikes against the other's people in retaliation for previous acts of perceived terrorism. Both use language like "resolve determination awoken the wrath of our people." Both speak of a fight that will stop at nothing until it is won. Both describe the other as weak and cowardly, and justify this with examples. And both feel that they are in this fight for principles much bigger than just themselves (Islam and Arabs in general on the one hand, and freedom and democracy in general on the other.)

Probably you and I would agree that our view is saner, more tolerant, more popular, and certainly more familiar. And therefore more "right." But in the long run it may be a mute point. A sustained military campaign in the Middle East would certainly kill many people who had nothing to do with Tuesday's events, and would therefore become, perhaps legitimately, grounds for more retaliation. And so the world goes round, till we all fall down dead.

The crossroads where you and I stand today could be different than it seems. It may not be a choice between siding with Americans or Muslims, with Bush or bin Laden. That is the surface of the thing. There is another choice, for me a deeper one. It is the choice to go along with the 'us against them,' conflict oriented view, or to make an unfamiliar and courageous step towards a deeper understanding, towards the opening of the flower. In the Bush/Cheney/bin Laden/Taliban world view there is always an enemy out there, and our victory always implies them loosing. It is the fight of good against evil, right against wrong, where both parties think themselves to be the good guys with God on their side.

I am not suggesting that we allow acts of barbarism to go unpunished. If there is any way possible way to de-structure terrorist organizations, to bring bin Laden to justice, it appears to be an intelligent move. If it can be done without killing many more innocent people, no matter what their nationality, very few would have objection. But even if we do all that, and even if we are successful, have we really created a safer world for our children to inherit? It seems to me to be a Band-Aid. I feel that the way to eliminate terrorism is to eliminate the situations and forces which motivate terrorism. And, for me, that begins with a deep and sober examination of what those forces really are.

How can we do that? We can all start with the areas where we have direct responsibility and possibility to make a change: with our own lives. Perhaps, when you examine you life, you might find, as I do, areas of withheld communication, blame or judgement. There could be small ways that you are holding on to being right and making someone else the enemy. This instinct runs so deep in the reptilian brain that we all participate in it in some way. Separation has an atmosphere to it: a frequency. As more people are willing to move beyond separation into a direct experience of oneness, we are diffusing the seeds of conflict in our world.

What can we do?

There are many wonderful tools available today to help us dissolve the war we wage in our thoughts. Byron Katie's The Work is excellent for this, and you can do it at home on paper. It works. Gay and Kathlyn Hendrick's Conscious Loving contains exercises and principles which can be applied to any area of conflict. Marshall Rosenberg's approach of Non Violent Communication has made a huge contribution to lessening conflict in the world. And our Living Essence work also offers tools to dissolve the feeling of us against them.

We may also experience that people do things to us, or say things about us that hurt us. The instinct is to call them crazy or evil and to strike back. If we do that in our life, people feel even more justified to harm us, avoid us or speak against us. If we step back and look more honestly at ourselves, we can discover where we have been unconscious, overbearing, arrogant, where we have invited revenge. Generally, in that honest and sincere regret for being unconscious, our enemies lay down their arms, and become our friends. Hasn't that happened to you in simple ways? Then we can laugh, solutions are co created.

These are small steps we can take towards greater sanity. It begins with you and me. Until September 11th these might have seemed like luxuries. Nice little things you can do to have a cozier life. But much more is at stake now. With the likelihood of an escalation of military conflict, led by people who feel resolute, determined, who do not want to consider the possibility of backing down, it is up to you and me to do everything we can to take responsibility for the spirit of separation everywhere. There is no possibility left to postpone. Live the life now your heart knows you can live, for you may not get another chance.

We also all have ways that we participate in conflict indirectly, sometimes just by keeping quiet. The models we have inherited from countless generations all support conflict. Contemporary business is fraught with the language of medieval warfare: launching a campaign, eliminating the competition, you can fill in the rest of the list. If you notice yourself participating in a model of conflict by default, this may be your invitation to be a minister for peace. If members of your family hate each other, if your boss is waging war against the competition, by speaking out supportively, or by offering another view, you may have the chance to contribute to the healing of our wounded world. If not you, then who? If not now, then when? There may not be too many more opportunities to get this right!

And lastly, I find it important to remember that we live in a democracy. Everyone has a voice, we have free speech. We have to remember to use it. Sometimes it takes courage to speak against the status quo. At a time like this, just after a major tragedy, the country is united in a mood of patriotism. Congress is almost totally united behind the president's request to go to war. Many people have phoned me or e mailed saying they do not support a spirit of retaliation that involves killing more innocent people, but they fear being lynched by the blood thirsty majority. I say take the risk, speak out for peace. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

While I deeply mourn the senseless deaths in New York and Washington, I also have deep concern about the spirit of revenge. Having just felt the horror of innocent people suffering for religious or political principles, I have to say "enough." It does not seem to be a solution to add Afghani suffering, a people already almost totally crippled by ten years of war with the Soviet Union, to our own.

Instead I would like to see why the country I live in has been singled out, repeatedly, for acts of hatred. I am aware that in March of this year the United Nations Security Council was ready to send in a peacekeeping presence in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. There was unanimous support for this, with the single exception of the US delegate, and this one vote was enough to veto the resolution. I am aware that many more people than died on Tuesday have died in military conflicts, through trade embargoes or through other collateral damage where the US has been involved, often protecting our economic interests. I am aware that the economic imbalance in this world allows a small percentage of us to live in excess, while the vast majority live in dire poverty. I am aware that we recently boycotted a conference on racism, which was critical of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. I am aware that we withdrew, earlier this year, from a pact with Russia to ban chemical weapons. The list goes on and on and on. I have begun to update myself from a position of indifference with a few hours digging around on news sites, and by talking to people more about the world I am a part of. This is a wonderful country; I love to live here. I feel we could be much greater if we could face our own collective shadow: the things we have done, as a nation, which have got people this pissed off.

There is only one way to have the security we seek for ourselves and for our children, and that is to guarantee that same security and physical wellbeing for every citizen of this planet. Anything less will not allow you to enjoy your life in real peace, because someone, somewhere, is feeling resentful.

A nonviolent solution

If you are interested in a non-violent solution, please speak up while there is still time. Talk to your friends and neighbors, if you feel moved to, write to your senator or representative. Please take the time to inform yourself about US foreign policy, especially over the last 9 months, and find out why we have so many groups in the world pouring their time, money and precious human birth into trying to harm us. Use an Internet search engine, and seek to understand all the points of view that are colliding here. Try sites like Associated Press, The BBC, or European newspapers international editions. The US mainstream media does not always report on the things that show us with dirt on our face. Just a little humility and self reflection injected into this large nation will go a long way, and allow us to become a nation that is mature in spirit as well as in power. I have felt the seeds of that possibility in the way we rally together in the face of tragedy. We can go much further, and feel the pain of all people in the same way, no matter what passport they carry.

If you resonate with anything said here, feel free to pass in on to anyone you like. If I have offended you in any way at a difficult time for all of us, I offer my apologies, and ask you to reach for the delete key.

With love
Arjuna Nick Ardagh.

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Compassion and revenge

wtc skyline

By Gary Zukav

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are occasions of great significance. They are opportunities for you to feel inside, to find those parts of yourself that are in fear, and to make the decision to move forward in your life without fear. That is the challenge for each individual
on this planet today. The pursuit of external power - the ability to manipulate and control - creates only violence and destruction. The painful events in New York and Washington are living examples of that reality.

The causal chain that created this violence is one in which compassion and wisdom are absent. Are wisdom and compassion present in you als you watch the televison, and read the papers? It is important to realize that you do not know all that came to conclusion, or into karmic balance, as a result of these events. Because your are not able to know all that can be known about
them, you are not in a position to judge them.

When you are able to look at the events of the Earth School from this perspective, you wil see clearly the central importance of the role that you play in it. That role is this: It is for you to decide what you will contribute to this world. Many will be asking your opinion of these events.
Each question is an opportunity for you to contribute to the love that is in the world or to the fear that is in the world. This is the same opportunity that presents itself to you at each moment.

If you hate those who hate, you become like them. You add to the violence and the destructive energy that now fills our world. As you make the decision to see with clarity and compassion, you will see that those who committed these acts of violence were in extreme pain themselves, and that
they were fueled by the violent parts of ourselves - the parts that judge without merchy, strike in anger, and rejoice in the suffering of others. They were our proxy representatives. If you can look with compassion upon those who have suffered and those who have committed acts of cruelty alike,
then you will see that all are suffering. The remedy for suffering is not to inflict more suffering.

This is an opportunity for a massive expression of compassion. It is also an opportunity for a massive expression of revenge.
          Which world do you intend to live in -- a world of revenge or a world of compassion?

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Beloved Friends,

A letter from Neale Donald Walsch, James Twyman, James Redfield .

You are receiving this message at a very difficult time. The events of this day cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives,whatever is going on in them, and to ponder deeply the larger questions of life. We search again for not only the meaning of life, but the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it - and we lookearnestly for ways in which we might recreate ourselves anew as a humanspecies, so that we will never treat each other this way again. The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our mostextraordinary thought about Who We Really Are. There are two possible responses to what has occurred today. The first comes from love, the second from fear.

If we come from fear we may panic and do things-as individuals and as nations-that could only cause further damage. If we come from love we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come.
Let us seek not to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause. Unless we take this time to look at the cause of our experience, we willnever remove ourselves from the experiences it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and, likewise, seek retribution from them. To us the reasons are clear. We have not learned the most basic human lessons. We have not remembered the most basic human truths. We have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom.
The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one. Thati s a message the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember is simple: Love, this and every moment. If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what then will be the outcome? These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years. Failureto answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all. If we want the beauty of the world that we have co-created to be experiencedby our children and our children's children, we will have to become spiritualactivists right here, right now, and cause that to happen. We must choose to be at cause in the matter. Ask God on this day to show us how to show up in the world in a way that will cause the world itself to change. And join all those people around the world who arepraying, adding your Light to the Light that dispells all fear. That is the challenge that is placed before every thinking person today. Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beautyand the wonder of our world and to eliminate the anger and hatred-and thedisparity that inevitably causes it - in that part of the world which I touch? Please seek to answer that question today, with all the magnificence that isYou.What can you do TODAY...this very moment?
A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another. Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience-in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that. If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love. We love you, and we send you our deepest thoughts of peace.

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The Deeper Wound

By Deepak Chopra

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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