|
The Conversation Develops:
As you take part in The Conversation, your edited remarks will be added here. Let us know what you think!
From: Cathy Seitz
I am sending your message to my group. Yes, Kennedy's death was a tragedy. I
felt the same sort of fury and grief over the death of Princess Diana. In
her case, it seemed that the people who had the most personal grief, besides her own sons, were the children she visited in hospitals. How many world
leaders have such a following? In Kennedy's case, I read several
issues of his magazine, George, and liked his effort to applaud good
works, coming from whatever political party. That was a radical, but
non-confrontive and constructive act, rather than all the reactionary
activism I see so much of.
|
. |
THOUGHTS
Suzanne Taylor
September 1, 1999
"Wayfarer, friend, let us travel together.
Night is near, wild beasts are about, and our campfire may go out.
But if we agree to share the night watch, we can conserve our forces...
Be careful not to step upon a scorpion, and warn me about any vipers.
Remember, we must arrive at a certain mountain village.
Traveler, be my friend."
New Era Community, the Agni Yoga Series
Many sacred traditions postulate there is a "plan," thanks to a designing
intelligence, for the evolution of humanity. In this grand play, we are cast as
god-children who are scripted to become aware of our interconnection in
humanity's one soul.
At this time, with many people having a lot of insight into themselves, humanity teeters on the edge
of a realization of this oneness. Old ways cling, but we can hardly go on any longer
non-sustainably, impoverishing ever more people, spoiling our habitat.
Something has to give, and please god it is mass-consciousness.
A couple of quotes caught my eye this week that paint the contemporary picture.
A statement from the 8,000 religious leaders at the 1993 Parliament of World
Religions starts with this cry:
"Our world is in agony. The agony is so pervasive and urgent that we are compelled to name its manifestation so that the depth of this pain may be made clear. Peace eludes us...the planet is being destroyed...neighbors live in fear...women and men are estranged from each other... children die!"
I found this answer from outstanding European social systems theorist, Ervin Laszlo:
"A person aware that he or she is part of the great web that links people to each other and to the biosphere does not act the same way as one who believes that he or she is categorically distinct and separate from others and the wider environment. With a fuller recognition of our deep linkages, people are likely to take more responsibility for the effect their actions and behaviors produce on others, as well as on nature. A more responsible attitude is sorely needed."
In a mythos in which humanity is coming to a "fuller recognition of our deep
linkages" as it wakes up inside its divine plan, I have been struck since
John Kennedy' s tragic plane crash with a sense that something happened
to humanity at large because of that event . As in our personal lives, when
hardship makes us rise above circumstance and breakthroughs occur in
our consciousness, the jarring we got collectively over this sad situation
could turn out to have afforded us a milestone in our collective awakening.
In the story we will tell some day of how universal consciousness emerged,
it's not a stretch for me to see John Jr.'s death being recognized as a sacrifice
in its elemental meaning, "to make sacred." Days of profoundly moving TV
replay of the three Kennedy brothers at the height of their nobility were a
revelation to many born after the two assassinations, who grew up without
examples of such high-minded public service. And they were a reminder to
older generations of a deeper sensibility we once had hearkened to.
Arthur Schlesinger, noted historian and Kennedy family friend, set the stage
for mythic thoughts when he spoke about the media blitz. On "Face the Nation,"
nine days after the plane crash, host Bob Schieffer asked, "What did this week
mean and why, really, did it happen?" Schlesinger said, "Because people
feel a great pent-up need for a larger measure of idealism, concern for others,
the kind of thing for which the Kennedys have consistently stood...I think there's
a great feeling that that kind of idealism is missing in American life today...John Jr.
lived a secret life of good works. He did generous things by stealth, lest people
think he was doing it for publicity."
If the story we will tell is that losing our prince helped save our kingdom, the tale
also would remark on images of trucks burning and people looting at Woodstock,
right after the Kennedy crash. Something that symbolized 60's idealism going up in flames
in the 90's could not have been a more searing underscore of the urgent need to
rediscover our noble selves in the blueprint of humanity's grand design.
|
