This article has been chosen as a Making Sense of These Times
FIVE STAR PIECE
Of all the pieces in the first outpourings, Deepak Chopra's, saying that what we are dealing with is our "collective soul," is the one that affected me most. If we don't look for root causes deep inside humanity, how will we ever get out of this? "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." Someone liked this enough to print it in a full page ad in the "New York Times."
-Suzanne-
September 12, 2001
The Deeper Wound
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 a 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.
Deepak Chopra
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