Fwd: The three emails that have most touched me the deepest. Enjoy!

[Guest guest]

>Email #1. Author, Cris Corrigan

>

>I have emailed this to a number of people. I thought you might be

>interested. My daughter is 4.5 years old.

>

>My daughter Aine and I were walking in the woods today playing a game.

>She was pretending that there were monsters in the forest and that they

>were coming to eat us. We had to be vigilant. We had to defend

>ourselves.

>

>I asked her " What is the plan? What are we going to do if we see one of

>the monsters? "

>

>She replied, " Feed them. "

>

> " Feed them? " I said.

>

> " Yes, " she said. " If we feed them they won't want to eat us. "

>

>I think she has the answer there. Imagine if George Bush took that $40

>billion that Congress gave him and used it to feed people. Heck, take

>$20 billion to fix up US security and clean up New York and use the

>other half to feed people. And not just feed them with food.

>

>What if we decided that people's spirits needing feeding too? What if

>we chose to take $1 billion and build the biggest, most beautiful mosque

>in the world, right in the heart of Kabul. And what if we gave it as a

>gift, no quid pro quo, as a place for people to feed their spirits?

>

>What would the reaction be? What do we want the reaction to be? We

>have choices.

>

>Seems we could bomb innocent people to death and celebrate, mirroring

>the images of this week, and thereby satisfy our thirst for vengeance.

>But what would that get us? A world that so admired the West that it

>wanted to emulate it in every way and celebrates its way of life? Or

>would a large part of the 5 billion people that don't live in the west

>see things differently? Would more people feel as if vengeance was the

>only possible response, and figure out more simple and effective ways to

>terrorize? We can have that kind of world if we choose it.

>

>Or we can take Aine's advice and feed people. And what would that get

>us? There is no better way to rob the world of it's anger and

>bitterness, jealousy and hate, than to feed people

>unconditionally...feed their bodies, minds and spirits. Build places of

>learning, places of spirit, places for healing and nourishment, places

>of community.

>

>Take that $40 billion dollars and spend it in every neighborhood in the

>world. Put the world to work growing food, healing people, restoring

>land and water, building communities, creating the thin fibbers of

>connection between peoples, families, communities, cities, nations....

>

> " If we feed them they won't want to eat us. " Can you think of a better

>form of security?

>

>Love to all,

>

>Chris

>

>--

>CHRIS CORRIGAN

>Consultation - Facilitation

>Open Space Technology

>

>http://www.chriscorrigan.com

>corcom

>

>RR 1 E-3

>1172 Miller Road

>Bowen Island, BC

>Canada, V0N 1G0

>

>phone (604) 947-9236

>fax (604) 947-9238

>

>

>

>

>Email #2 Forwarded from an Australian living in America. He

> offers a broader perspective than what our media is

> giving us.

>

>

> I want Americans to realize the INCREDIBLE outpouring of

> genuine support and love from the rest of the world

> that is NOT being reported IN America. You are hearing bits of it,

> like how Buckingham Palace flew the American flag and played the

> American anthem at the changing of the guards, both for the first time

> ever.

> .

> Bill Clinton was in Australia when it happened (and ironically the Prime

> minister of Australia was in Washington, 600 feet from the Pentagon

> crash) and immediately the whole country was locked down in case there was

> an attack against HIM... all planes were

> grounded etc. Also in Australia firemen across the country have

> volunteered to fly here to help. One, Mehar Maku wrote a beautiful song

> for the American firemen to inspire and support them.

> It goes on and on. World leaders everywhere giving speeches and

> interviews with tears in their eyes. Millions of people coming to US

> Embassies everywhere to pray, leave flowers and show support.

> Understand that the world is seeing this as more than an American event

> but as a HUMANITARIAN disaster that must never

> happen again. The world is joining hands, even hard core Arab countries,

> in their condemnation of this atrocity against humans and humanity

>saying it

> can never happen again, that we MUST do life on Earth differently and that

> we must find new answers.

>

> Meanwhile here in America almost none of this is getting through in the

> media... the main message is " business as usual " which means " we are at

> war and will now go and kill a lot of people " .... there is no thought of

> new approaches. We are told that Bush is gathering, building a coalition

> of countries when in fact the world rushed to help.... bottom line the

> " story " we are getting IN America is VERY different to the rest of the

> world... which IS business as usual.

>

> The thing that so saddens me is that America and Americans are missing the

> gift of PURE LOVE from the rest of the world - literally as part of the

> family of humanity - because they are not being told of it through media.

> What WE are being given is hard nosed facts and actions and NOT the

> huge heartbreaking world wide tragedy that this is and that we must

> cry, weep, scream and yell for and about so it does NOT happen again....

> not by blowing the Arabs to hell but by finding NEW ways to work and live

> together. It is nothing less than the challenge of our New

> Millennium. If we just bomb and kill our hurt out we will keep the cycle

> going as it has been for so long.

> Sure, get the bastards who did it, but THEN heal our world. Find

> common ground or else NYC and DC will be the daily news from now on.

> The world is seeing America deeply wounded and is collectively coming to

> lick the wound and help the healing and you don't

> even know!

>

> PLEASE tell your friends. Please copy and

> distribute this to others so THEY know. Your media is not telling you

>this.

> I WANT Americans to know that the world REALLY IS with you... like on the

> streets in Australia and Europe and New Zealand and Canada and our so

> called enemies even - god, Yasser arrafat was so heartfelt in his hurt and

> condemnation of these actions and then gave blood for the wornded.

> THINK ABOUT THAT! The world is now literally in the New Age. It was

> baptized in blood, horror and shock and we must .... we MUST find a

>way to

> stop it everywhere....people are still, days later, openly weeping,

>hugging, talking in the

> streets, in stores. No one has gone to work for days. Australia is shut

> down as everyone mourns and sends love and support and the rest of the

> world is doing the same thing too. Let it in America. The world changed the

> other day. FOR EVER.

>

> We are having a hippie moment of collective " we are the world " love

>and recognition that on

> planet Earth there are no passengers, we are all crew. The reaction to

>this in

> Australia is 10 time bigger than when Di passed away... it is huge

> everywhere! EVERYONE cares. You are not alone America when so often you

> have been. Get that, please. You are cared about, cared for and accepted

> and embraced by humanity as part of us all... by the whole world who

>weeps for

> you, and for itself, for the madness we have sunk to, collectively.

> Now lets end this madness we have been in for so

> long and find some REAL new answers to not just come together, but to

>stay together!

>

>- ©2001 -

> Tomas Gregory

>

>

>

>Email #3. A World Out of Touch With Itself:

>Where the Violence Comes From

>by Rabbi Michael Lerner

>Editor, TIKKUN Magazine

>

> There is never any justification for acts of terror against innocent

>civilians--it is the quintessential act of dehumanization and not

>recognizing the sanctity of others, and a visible symbol of a world

>increasingly irrational and out of control.

> It's understandable why many of us, after grieving and consoling the

>mourners, feel anger. Unfortunately, demagogues in the White House and

>Congress have manipulated our legitimate outrage and channeled it into a

>new militarism and a revival of the deepest held belief of the conservative

>world-view: that the world is mostly a dangerous place and our lives

>must be

>based around protecting ourselves from the threatening others. In this case,

>terrorism provides a perfect base for this worldview--it can come from

>anywhere, we don't really know who is the enemy, and so everyone can be

>suspect and everyone can be a target of our fear-induced rage. With this as

>a foundation, the Bush team has been able to turn this terrible and

>outrageous attack into a justification for massive military spending, a new

>war and the inevitable trappings: repression of civil liberties, denigration

>of " evil others, " and a new climate of fear and intimidation against anyone

>who doesn't join this misuse of patriotism toward distorted ends.

> Of course, the people who did this attack are evil and they are a

> real

>threat to the human race. If they could, they would use nuclear weapons or

>chemical/biological weapons. The perpetrators deserve to be punished,

>and I

>personally would be happy if all the people involved in this act were to be

>imprisoned for the rest of their lives. But that is quite different from

>talk about " eliminating countries " which we heard from Colin Powell in the

>days after the attack. Punishing the perpetrators is different from making

>war against whole populations.

>

>The narrow focus on the perpetrators allows us to avoid dealing with the

>underlying issues. When violence becomes so prevalent throughout the planet,

>it's too easy to simply talk of " deranged minds. " We need to ask

>ourselves, " What is it in the way that we

>are living, organizing our societies, and treating each other that makes

>violence seem plausible to so many people? " And why is it that our immediate

>response to violence is to use violence ourselves--thus reinforcing the

>cycle of violence in the world?

>

>We in the spiritual world will see the root problem here as a growing

>global incapacity to recognize the spirit of God in each other--what we

>call the sanctity of each

>human being.But even if you reject religious language, you can see that

>the willingness

>of people to hurt each other to advance their own interests has become a

>global problem, and its only the dramatic level of this particular attack

>which distinguishes it from the violence and insensitivity to each other

>that is part of our daily lives.

>

>We may tell ourselves that the current violence has " nothing to do " with

>the way that we've learned to close our ears when told that one out

>of every three people on this planet does not have enough food, and

>that one billion are literally starving. We may reassure ourselves

>that the hoarding of the world's resources by the richest society in

>world history, and our frantic attempts to accelerate globalization

>with its attendant inequalities of wealth, has nothing to do with the

>resentment that others feel toward us. We may tell ourselves that the

>suffering of refugees and the oppressed have nothing to do with

>us--that that's a different story that is going on somewhere else.

>But we live in one world, increasingly interconnected with everyone,

>and the forces that lead people to feel outrage, anger and

>desperation eventually impact on our own daily lives.

>

>The same inability to feel the pain of others

>is the pathology that shapes the minds of these terrorists. Raise children

>in circumstances where no one is there to take care of them, or where

>they must live by begging or selling their bodies in prostitution,

>put them in refugee camps and tell them that that they have " no right

>of return " to their homes, treat them as though they are less

>valuable and deserving of respect because they are part of some

>despised national or ethnic group, surround them with a media that

>extols the rich and makes everyone who is not economically successful

>and physically trim and conventionally " beautiful " feel bad about

>themselves, offer them jobs whose sole goal is to enrich the " bottom

>line " of someone else, and teach them that " looking out for number

>one " is the only thing anyone " really " cares about and that anyone

>who believes in love and social justice are merely naive idealists

>who are destined to always remain powerless, and you will produce a

>world-wide population of people feeling depressed, angry, unable to care

>about others, and in various ways dysfunctional.

>

>I see this in Israel, where Israelis have taken to dismissing the entire

>Palestinian people as " terrorists " but never ask themselves: " What have we

>done to make this seem to Palestinians to be a reasonable path of action

>today. " Of course there were always some hateful people and some religious

>fundamentalists who want to act in hurtful ways against Israel, no matter

>what the circumstances. Yet, in the situation of 1993-96 when Israel under

>Yitzhak Rabin was pursuing a path of negotiations and peace, the

>fundamentalists had little following and there were few acts of

>violence. On

>the other hand, when Israel failed to withdraw from the West Bank, and

>instead expanded the number of its settlers, the fundamentalists and haters

>had a far easier time convincing many decent Palestinians that there might

>be no other alternative.

>

>Similarly, if the U.S. turns its back on global agreements to preserve the

>environment, unilaterally cancels its treaties to not build a missile

>defense, accelerates the processes by which a global economy has made some

>people in the third world richer but many poorer, shows that it cares

>nothing for the fate of refugees who have been homeless for decades, and

>otherwise turns its back on ethical norms, it becomes far easier for the

>haters and the fundamentalists to recruit people who are willing to kill

>themselves in strikes against what they perceive to be an evil American

>empire represented by the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

>

>Most Americans will feel puzzled by any reference to this

> " larger picture. " It seems baffling to imagine that somehow we are

>part of a world system which is slowly destroying the life support

>system of the planet, and quickly transferring the wealth of the

>world into our own pockets.

>

>We don't feel personally responsible when an American corporation runs a

>sweat shop in the Phillipines or crushes efforts of workers to organize in

>Singapore. We don't see ourselves implicated when the U.S. refuses to

>consider the plight of

>Palestinian refugees or uses the excuse of fighting drugs to support

>repression in Colombia or other parts of Central America. We don't

>even see the symbolism when terrorists attack America's military

>center and our trade center--we talk of them as buildings, though

>others see them as centers of the forces that are causing the world

>so much pain.

>

>We have narrowed our own attention to " getting through "

>or " doing well " in our own personal lives, and who has time to focus

>on all the rest of this? Most of us are leading perfectly reasonable

>lives within the options that we have available to us--so why should

>others be angry at us, much less strike out against us? And the truth

>is, our anger is also understandable: the striking out by others in

>acts of terror against us is just as irrational as the world-system

>that it seeks to confront. Yet our acts of counter-terror will also be

>counter-productive. We should have learned from the current phase of the

>Israel-Palestinian

>struggle , responding to terror with more violence, rather than asking

>ourselves what we could do

>to change the conditions that generated it in the first place, will only

>ensure more violence against us in the future.

>

>Luckily, most people don't act out in violent ways--they tend to act

>out more against themselves, drowning themselves in alcohol or drugs or

>personal despair. Others turn toward fundamentalist religions or

>ultra-nationalist extremism. Still others find themselves acting out against

>people that they love, acting angry or hurtful toward children or

>relationship partners.This is a world out of touch with itself, filled with

>people who have forgotten how to recognize and respond to the sacred in

>each other because we are so used to

>looking at others from the standpoint of what they can do for us, how we can

>use them toward our own ends. The alternatives are stark: either start

>caring about the fate of everyone on this planet or be prepared for a

>slippery slope toward violence that will eventually dominate our daily

>lives.

>

>None of this should be read as somehow mitigating our anger at the

>terrorists. Let’s not be naïve about the perpetrators of this terror. The

>brains and money behind this operation isn't a group of refugees living

>penniless in Palestinian refugee camps. Many of the core terrorists are evil

>people, as are some of the fundamentalists and ultra-nationalists who demean

>and are willing to destroy others. But these evil people are often

>marginalized when societal dynamics are moving toward peace and hope (e.g.

>in Israel while Yitzhak Rabin was Prime Minister) and they become much more

>influential and able to recruit people to give their lives to their cause

>when ordinary and otherwise decent people despair of peace and justice (as

>when Israel from `1996 to 2000 dramatically increased the number of

>settlers).

>

>So here is what would marginalize those who hate the United States. Imagine

>if the Ben Ladins of the world had to recruit people against America at a

>time when:

> 1. America was using its economic resources to end world hunger and

>redistribute the wealth of the planet so that everyone had enough.

> 2. America was the leading voice championing an ethos of

> generosity and

>caring for others—leading the world in ecological responsibility, social

>justice, open-hearted treatment of minorities, and rewarding people and

>corporations for social responsibility..

> 3. America was restructuring its own internal life so that all social

>practices and institutions were being judged " productive or efficient or

>rational " not only because they maximized profit, but also to the extent

>that they maximized love and caring, ethical/spiritual/ecological

>sensitivity, and an approach to the universe based on awe and wonder at the

>grandeur of creation (what I call an Emancipatory Spirituality).

> Think it's naive and impossible to move American in that

> direction? Well,

>here are two reasons why, even if it’s a long shot, it’s an approach that

>deserves your support:

> a. It’s even more naïve to imagine that bombings, missile

> defense systems,

>more spies or baggage searches can stop people willing to lose their lives

>to wreak havoc and capable of airplane hijacking, chemical assaults (like

>anthrax), etc.

> b. The response of people to the World Trade Building collapse was an

>outpouring of loving energy and generosity, sometimes even risking their own

>lives, and showing the capacity and desire we all have to care about each

>other. If we could legitimate people allowing that part of themselves to

>come out, without having to wait for a disaster, we could empower a part of

>every human being which our social order marginalizes. Americans have a deep

>goodness—and that needs to be affirmed.

>

>Indeed, the goodness that poured forth from so many Americans should not be

>allowed to be overshadowed by the subsequent shift toward militarism and

>anger. That same caring energy could have been given a more positive

>outlet--if we didn't live in a society which normally teaches us that our

> " natural " instinct is toward aggression and that the best we can hope

>for is

>a world which gives us protection.

>

>The central struggle going on in the world today is this one: between hope

>and fear, love or paranoia, generosity or trying to shore up one's own

>portion. In my book Spirit Matters I show why there is no possibility in

>sustaining a world built on fear. Our only hope is to revert to a

>consciousness of generosity and love. That's not to go to a lalla-land where

>there are no forces like those who destroyed the Word Trade Center. But it

>is to refuse to allow that to become the shaping paradigm of the 21st

>century. Much better to make the shaping paradigm the story of the police

>and firemen who risked (and in many cases lost) their lives in order to save

>other human beings who they didn't even know. Let the paradigm be the

>generosity and kindness of people when they are given a social sanction to

>be caring instead of self-protective. We cannot let war, hatred and fear

>become the power in this new century that it was in the last century.

>

>And it's up to us. We can't expect the Left to be able to organize a

>successful movement, because they will define it in the most narrow terms.

>They will talk about the rights of the oppressed and make everyone believe

>that they don't really care about the terrible loss of life and the terrible

>fear that everyone now how to endure about our own safety. Their justified

>anger at the way capitalist globalization has hurt people around the world

>will make them play down the outrageousness of this particular attack--and

>hence be disconnected to the righteous indignation that most the rest of us

>feel. Rather, we need a movement that puts forward a positive vision of a

>world based on caring--and a commitment to rectify the injustices that the

>globalization of selfishness has wreaked on the world--while simultaneously

>making it clear that we have no tolerance for reckless acts of violence and

>terror such as those which Israel has had to experience this past year or

>those which the U.S. faced in September. It's only with that balanced view

>that we can say that it is a huge mistake to make war or violence the

>primary way we respond to this situation. It's about time we began to say

>unequivocally that violence doesn't work--not as an end and not as a means.

>The best defense is a world drenched in love, not a world drenched in

>armaments.

>

>We should pray for the victims and the families of those who

>have been hurt or murdered in these crazy acts. We should also

>pray that America does not return to " business as usual, " but rather

>turns to a period of reflection, coming back into touch with our

>common humanity, asking ourselves how our institutions can best

>embody our highest values. We may need a global day of atonement and

>repentance dedicated to finding a way to turn the direction of our

>society at every level, a return to the notion

>that every human life is sacred, that " the bottom line " should be the

>creation of a world of love and caring, and that the best way to

>prevent these kinds of acts is not to turn ourselves into a police

>state, but turn ourselves into a society in which social justice,

>love, and compassion are so prevalent that violence becomes only a

>distant memory.

>______________________

>

>--Rabbi Michael Lerner -- RabbiLerner -- is editor of TIKKUN

>Magazine and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Francisco. He is the

>author of Spirit Matters: Global Healing and the Wisdom of the Soul and most

>recently (Sept 2001) editor: Best Contemporary Jewish Writing

>[if this analysis makes sense to you, would you please please help keep this

>voice alive--by subscribing to Tikkun Magazine which has been under intense

>attack and has been losing its financial support because of its strong stand

>in favor of a more rational peace-oriented perspective. You can

>for $29, or send a tax-deductible contribution to TIKKUN, 2107 Van Ness Ave,

>Suite 302, S.F., Ca. 94109 or on line or

>www.tikkun.org).

>______________________