A Meditation on 9/11

A Meditation on 9/11

blacksungazette.com

There is in the simplest acts a meditation, sensuous & scared that makes taking care of flesh & bone holy. These merest acts are life affirming & positive. Eros as opposed to thantos. The men who performed the horror September 11th were held tightly in the embrace of thantos or the life denying principle. Their act though coached in religious terms of holy war & jihad were profound rejections of all that is holy…i.e...life, not to mention all that Islam stands for. May GOD have mercy upon their souls...

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 13-9-2009 by grover]

The link is just for protocol.

I wrote the above and all that follows immediately after 9/11.

...For the record; the core of Islam are the five pillars, which are, the assertion that there is no God but ALLAH & Muhammad is his prophet, to pray 5 times a day facing Mecca. To give alms to the poor, i.e. to be charitable. To fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan & to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life, if you can afford it. That is it. Muhammad urges the followers to be gracious & tolerant, to respect “The people of the book” i.e. Jews & Christians as well as all people of other religions. Muhammad teaches that he is the last of a long line of prophets stretching back to Abraham (the Jews descend from Abraham via Isaac & the Arabs via Ishmael according to Arab tradition) & that YEHWEH & ALLAH is the same GOD. They are to refrain from alcohol (some of the terrorists went on a drinking spree in Portland Maine before they did their act, so much for being devout Muslims) & pork. They are also to be respectful & courteous, to protect women & the poor. The concept of jihad actually means to struggle to abide by the will of GOD. There is a concept of holy war (Jews & Christians have it too) but the guidelines are extremely strict & the believers are warned against involving non-participants, women & children. Saladin, the Sultan who reconquered Jerusalem from the crusaders & fought against Richard the Lionhearted went out of his way to live up to the precepts of Islam in order for his call for jihad against the crusaders to be deemed valid & just. So much for Osama Bin Laden being a righteous Muslim. They have a political agenda that they coach in religious terms but obviously they choose from Islam only what they want to support their war of terrorism. In short the big lie all over again...

blacksungazette.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 13-9-2009 by grover]

...I am not angry. Indeed the feeling is closer to deep grief & intense sadness. Mourning seems far more appropriate than hatred & screaming revenge. How can it be that at the dawn of the 21st century men can be instilled with hatred so deep they are willing to forfeit their own lives in order to express it? Has it come to this that in order to protect ourselves we must wage a war against ideas? No…that is not right…all wars are against some idea or the other. All that tears us apart are ideas, the contents of our own heads, which we project outward & call the world. And the only ideas that can bring us together are inside as well.

I fear for my country. I really did not think this would effect me so profoundly. The grief I feel is very deep. What we do & how we respond will color the next few years if not the rest of the century. We must be careful, far more careful than retribution or revenge would dictate lest we rouse the beast from its lair & end up in a tit for tat war of attrition & spiraling violence or worse, another world war. If we end up there, GOD have mercy upon us all. Also, I fear that this outrage will be used by the right in this country & specifically in our government to clamp down & whittle away our rights all in the name of public safety. I am afraid that the people will; thanks to this, complacently agree.

I fear for our world. I have always considered myself a citizen of the world first & foremost; being an American has always been further down the list. Do not get me wrong. I love my country but I love my planet more. I worry about the “my country right or wrong” jingoists & the poison they are spewing at this most delicate of times. On Friday September 14th , the proclaimed national day of mourning a woman on the street demanded to know why I wasn’t wearing a flag. Does it matter the evening of the 11th when I got home from work I lit candles & incense & read various prayers for the dead? I don’t feel the need to wear my patriotism on my shirtsleeve. I served my country & I served it honorably. I am a veteran & proud of it but that does not mean I have to be a flag waving rabid fool. I came across a Muslim woman with two young children in tow waiting for a bus. She was being harassed by three teens shouting insults & obscenities at her. I walked up to the teens & told them if they did not leave her alone I would call the police then I stood there talking to her until her bus came & I made sure she got on safely. I have been called anti-American for expressing my reservations about the use of force in response even though I really don’t see any other options though God I wish there were. An Iraqi gentleman’s house was fire bombed down here. Xenophobia, American’s favorite obsession is having a field day, which is of course extremely ironic, considering we are all from away.

I wrote a letter to the editor that read…” I didn’t vote for George Bush last November & I still wouldn’t. I dislike his politics & the policies that stem from them, as is my right as an American. That being said, GOD bless, protect & most important, guide him in doing the right thing in a timely, appropriate manner. We must respond but for God’s sake bang the war drums slowly.” …Some people I know suggested I was unpatriotic for not saying I was for him 100%. Sigh. A neighbor demanded to know why I wasn’t flying a flag. I agreed I should be & mounted off my front porch a deep blue silk & cotton flag with a photo of the Earth taken from the Space Shuttle printed on it. So far no comment.

Ever since it happened I feel my heart has been broken. I cannot read or look at it anymore yet I cannot look away either. When I express my reservations & urge caution I am shouted down. If any good is to come from this we must try to understand, we must try to learn why, address the underlying causes & do our level best to deal with them. If not nothing will change & all the dead, victims & perpetrators will have died in vain & more will also. I wrote this modest little “prayer for the world” after September 11th.

Oh GOD,
what have we done to this world
and our souls?
Show us your hand;
let your love,
your mercy
rain down upon us.
Please O Lord;
I beg you,
peace.
Amen

I grew up believing John Kennedy’s famous “Ask not what your country can do for you, rather ask what you can do for your country.” I grew up believing Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream”. I grew up believing “ all you need is love”. I grew up believing that the Earth is all we have & we damned well take care of it because moving is not an option; besides, what good are property rights if the land is poisoned & cannot support life? I grew up believing that to change the world you must change your heart & mind first. I still believe these things. I believe that society is not just an aggrate of business concerns but a community of people & until the needs of all the people; from the mansion to the hovel, are addressed nothing will change. I believe that unless it is applied equally, there is no justice. I believe that if you want to truly help the poor then they must be given a reason to hope because without hope why should they care much less even try? I believe as the Rig-Veda said almost five thousand years ago…”Truth is one, sages call it by various names.” All religions are true if they lead the heart to GOD. In short I‘m an old hippy /new age liberal & am proud of it. At this late date I see no reason to change.

Since September 11th I have found myself reexamining my ideals & worldview. I came to the conclusion that I will not let this horror cause me to back down; indeed, it has confirmed me in them. We know who we are & what we stand for. We may be a small minority urging moderation amid the howling for blood vengeance but if we are shouted down all of us will suffer.

I am truly amazed; I never thought I would actually have to take a stand on this but the more unthinking ignorance & hate I hear the more I feel the need to object. I actually heard a schoolteacher say that if it takes a New World War or nuclear weapons to deal with this then go for it; “They all hate us anyway.” I was aghast.

There is a wonderful, heartbreaking scene at the very last of T. H. White’s “The Book of Merlyn”; the last of the five that make up “The Once & Future King” & the only one that was published separately. The elderly King Arthur has decided against war & offers Mordred half of his kingdom for peace. Division was deemed more preferable than destruction. Both parties gathered in a large field to conclude the peace with both armies lined up on either side. A knight sees a snake in the grass. Thinking it poisonous he pulls his sword to kill it. It was a harmless garden snake. Both armies see the sword drawn & believing treachery, charge. The last that Arthur is seen in the book he is rushing toward his own army with his hands out in front of him as if to push them back. So it is with those of us that wonder if more violence is the only response possible.

There are conservatives on the right who’ve been calling those of us who point out our policies have had a hand in this, “blame America first liberals”, as an insult. Well now, I am a liberal & I love my country but that does not mean I support all our governments actions. Governments are amoral. The simple reality is this; nothing happens in a vacuum. Over the past 50 years or so we have meddled in the lives of people all over the world in the name of our government & the corporations for which it stands; &, you can bet 9 times out of 10 they were all in our interests alone & to hell with the lives of the people they affected.

In 1953 the people of Iran threw out the Shah. They despised him. With the help of the CIA he was reinstalled & propped up by us (and still hated by his people) for the next 25 years. We financed & armed Iraq’s 8-year war against Iran while selling arms to Iran to get hostages released & to finance the civil wars in Central America. And, we continued to finance & arm Iraq almost up to the day that it invaded Kuwait. Then, afterwards we imposed crippling sanctions against Iraq that doesn’t hurt Saddam Hussein at all (after all his people control the black market there) but has devastated Iraq’s people. We trained & armed Osama Bin Laden & the Taliban to fight our proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan promising all sorts of aid after they ousted the Soviets. When they did we dropped them like a hot potato. Then there is the whole issue of Israel & the Palestinians. Not to mention all the other exploitations & petty dictators we’ve supported all in the name of America & democracy. Is there any question why we are at least resented in large parts of the world? We ignore these issues at our own risk. We must address them if we want to do away with terrorism or we will simply fuel the fire.

Fortunately absolutism of any form, religious, social or political, is ultimately negative & reactionary. It is counter productive & finally self-defeating. It is antitithical to life, which is a change & growth. It is a closure of heart, mind & soul.

When you look out at the world in all its glory & realize the fantastic miracle that it is no matter the myths (scientific or religious) you believe. When you know beyond its sheer size, the universe expands outward past the stars to the sub-atomic while at the same time the body beyond all the flesh & bone does too. Know that we are stardust & at that level of speeding atoms the material world; we, do not exist, merely a slightly denser mist of dreams. In the face of this how can anyone adopt anything short of wonder, awe, tolerance & acceptance as a worldview? In the face of this how is it possible that hate could even take root?

[edit on 13-9-2009 by grover]

Beautiful post. The spiritual truth found in Islam is the same spiritual truth found in Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism. That is blatantly obvious to those who`ve looked into the actual teaching-texts.

Those jihadists pumped up on methamphetamines and alcohol spouting hatred or the dicators of various countries have little to do with what Islam was intended for.

[edit on 13-9-2009 by Skyfloating]

reply to post by Skyfloating

Thank you I am glad you liked it. and I agree about your view on religion as well.

reply to post by grover


I also liked it... no, that's mild. I appreciate it. Even that does not do proper justice to the message you penned.

If, on these pages, a list of true meditations were to be compiled, your post, imho, would stand with the best.

You have done service to the writer status under your username. Thank you.

Again...I am honored...

Thank you.

I wish this meditation had garnered more readers though because sadly even 8 years after 9/11 people still have...or express...their reactions to it in very superficial ways.

We have yet to achieve the deep healing of this tragedy yet and I for one blame our so-called leaders who chose to use that tragedy for political gain...confirming their whore status for me.

I just learned while visiting old friends (and some of my late wife's family) here in Maine that my oldest step-daughter survived 9/11 (we were never close) and went back to school got a degree in nursing, then a commission in the army.

She just got back from a tour in Iraq and is putting in for a tour in Afghanistan...

If anyone knew what a spoiled rotten princess she had been this was a profound sea change for her.

reply to post by grover


Give it time. I got a feeling that all it's going to take is a little time to get people to see this stuff. Some of the stuff that you mention is being done by many already.

For example, I meditate regularly, and it works wonders for my temper, as well as my anxiety. It has it's limits though. The hardest part for me has always been keeping myself in the meditative state, and not leaving it due to outside influence. It's frustrating. As soon as it gets so, the jig's up, and I can't do anymore until a later time, when I've calmed down.

Either way, meditation would help everyone if they would just try it. It is, after all, just a deep relaxation technique that helps the body and mind to become more in-tuned with each other.

TheBorg

reply to post by TheBorg

MY way of coming to terms with things is to write them out as a meditation and allow myself to explore it emotionally and intellectually with words...

This meditation was written 8 years ago about a week or so after 9/11 and I recently came across it again and what surprises me is how accurate my fears were...such as the patriot act and all that crap that came after.