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.