Sept 11, 2001 USA: Short Recipe For Resolving Intense Conflict
Crises
(Too general to be used for as such, hopefully broad enough
to inspire)
September 2001
( Updated December 2, 2001)
I. How to begin with the Present
Situation (Grief, Anger, Retaliation…)
a) Any dispute or attack may be painful and difficult, but also an opportunity
for your community to become a more enriching place for all, it is
a chance for you to become a more whole person. Let this problem be an
opportunity to realize that conflict is a central, unsolved issue in all
cultures.
b) Whether you must deal with conflict in yourself alone, with others, or
face professional dispute work with participants in extreme states of consciousness,
remember that any discussion or expressions of feelings about past pain and
injury are not only due to past events; they are experiences people have
in the present. Now, we are hurting, now we may be retaliating at ourselves
or others. Remember that it takes time to grieve and to feel sadness. Thoughts
of revenge can be an edge to feeling pain, just as depression can be an edge
to anger.
c) Whatever happens, remember your long time dream of a good life for
all, keep this global view while dealing with any given momentary situation.
Recognize that anyone who is angry -including yourself--is potentially
dangerous. Tread gently. Be careful and don't forget the outer aggressors
are always a mirror image of what you might possible look like…either now
or at another point in your life.
d) The situation outside is not new; your whole
life has been filled with "terrorist attacks" against you, and attacks you have leveled
at others. Learn collaboration insights and making processing conflict
a habit from now on.
e) If possible, find the most insightful leader within yourself who is
a martial artist - someone who will use her full awareness to follow
and not repress issues so that they become terrorist attacks. This is an "inner" someone
who can feel all sides; yet not be in conflict herself with herself.
f) Before going to step II, recall that the world is both inner and outer
work. Remember a time when you were repressed by someone and felt pushed
into the role of the angry terrorist as a result. Also please recall how
you have done the same to others, how you repressed or would not hear
them, and how --as a result --they became upset with you. If you can recall
instances in which you became a "terrorist" and caused others to be terrorists,
you are prepared for the next step. If you cannot recall such instances,
anything you do will not be based upon solid footing, and is less likely
to be helpful.
II.
How to Approach "Authorities"
Remember you are an authority simply because you consciously went through
the previous experiences, a-f. Others may not realize that when they
discuss the world situation, they are talking about themselves.
Outer people in authority such as city and world "leaders" may
not have had any awareness training. Tell them in a heart felt manner that
what we're
going to do is both elegant and insightful, both rapid and sustainable--
but it will include sensing more than their momentary feelings. The feeling
skill to use with people in authority which works best is an appreciation
for their dilemma. They're caught in the crossfire of public life. They must
satisfy both those who want revenge and those interested in love.
Whatever you suggest, insist that it is only an addition to what they
are already planning, not as a reversal or overthrow of their methods.
Remember, mainstream thinking is the way you think when you react without
much awareness. So have compassion in all that you do. Now let's go to
the next step.
III. The Larger Goal
Deep in your heart, deep in the quietness of the night, your grandest
visions include hope for the future of humanity and the planet earth. Formulate
those grand visions now. … After thinking of these visions, consider how
you can model them in all that you do. Imagine right now using your vision,
and see yourself modeling it. A vision works only with a model.
If necessary, amplify your vision with the following "addition". Nature
moves us; our job is to make these movements conscious and useful. Dreams
and emotions, love and anger happen. Our job is to guide these feelings so
that they enrich our own and everybody else's life, the life of all sentient
beings. This "addition" to your vision implies that life itself is a sacred
event, even though it sometimes seems impossible. Life is not just a problem,
but a kind of spiritual fighting ring, a temple requiring your utmost ability
and wisdom. Nothing less than the grandest part of you is needed in an
ultimate situation. The present moment is an opportunity, not only a threatening
catastrophe. With this view, we can now go to the next step.
IV. The Nature of the Terrorist
The biggest problem for most of us will be to comprehend the nature of
the energy and motivations of the terrorist. When you or I or anyone else
becomes an angry terrorist wanting to hurt or retaliate without feeling for
those who are being hurt, we are revealing something all of us human beings
have experienced at one time or another. The point is that the terrorist
is not unknown to you. She or he is who you become in injured states of consciousness.
A central aspect of the terrorist is the "freedom fighter", someone who
wants a newer, better, and just world for herself and her own. Another
aspect of the terrorist is the spiritual seeker who has found a goal
that is greater than life itself, something that makes even her own
life, or its sacrifice, insignificant. That is why threats of imprisonment
or counter attack, never deter terrorists. Still another aspect of terrorism
is terror itself. The terrorist has transformed fear into fury. Fear, terror,
and anger are very close. Terror is often due to the fear of being hurt
by an omnipotent aggressor. Anger is comes from the sweet feeling of revenge
mixed with the ecstatic power of aggression…which feels to the aggressor
as the opposite to victimhood.
IN a way, the terrorist has inadvertently become a mirror image of the thing
she or he hates the most. She or he is a product of hopelessness, created
in part by everybody else's misunderstanding of who she or he is and what
she or he stands for. Now let's go to the next step.
V. The Nature of the "Victim"
The "victim" (or in the case of Sept 11, 2001 attack on the U.S, the one
with more overt political, social or military power) is the "aggressor" in
the mind of the terrorist. The "victim" is the "innocent" one who has been
attacked, and who identifies as being a victim. Now what we are going to
say must be understood with compassion. The victim is the one who uses and
remains in her victimhood to ease the guilt of being unconscious of her role
in creating or at least collaborating in creating terrorism. The victim is
in one way, partly responsible for the attack in one way. She did not notice,
she ignored or was unwilling or unable to face the terrorist, to hear her
unhappiness, even when the signals of discontent were still mild or at least
moderate and non destructive. Consistent ignoring, repressing, dominating,
and feeling you are better than someone else creates a false sense of peace,
then come more rules, laws, police, military, and finally more war. This
is not a criticism of the so-called victim, it's really a compassionate embracing
and understanding of unconsciousness followed by a supportive nudge to wake
up. Nothing ever happens out of the clear blue sky. The clouds were thick
for days, months, decades, and in some cases centuries while everyone pretended
it was a sunny day.
Insights about the roles of the terrorist and victim can usually occur only
with hindsight. In dealing with a victim (or a terrorist), we need at
first to accept that she identifies herself as the innocent bystander. Then
we must be ready to understand the victim's deadly intent; retaliate and
destroy the terrorist. Only after having had compassion with this one-sidedness,
can we go to the next step. It is our experience that as long as you feel
spiritually superior to the "victim's" (or the terrorist's) aggressiveness,
you should not try to help. Instead, realize that you too need help.
You too are waging a kind of war and add to, but do not solve the problem.
When you are ready, please go to the next step.
VI. How to Bring it all Together
If you're not able to directly influence the military
or negotiate at the peace tables, be a mayor or a president, you can still
speak up in your group,
your house of worship, on e-mail, in local papers and with your neighbor
next door. Know that war is everywhere, not just on a given battlefield.
Terror is anytime you think about it. Your inner and outer work are all forms
of "Worldwork" touching a global field which influences a few or many individuals
not only directly, but everyone indirectly through the quantum waves of non-locality.
After finding your inward center, a source of quietness in the midst
of movement, try the following. Using your knowledge of the terrorist and
victim, speak for, feel for, and act out each side, one at a time.
If you do it alone, it's inner work. When done with others, this is group
work. Do it on TV. It's Worldwork. As the terrorist, speak of your hatred,
speak of history. Speak of the things you stand for which are more important
than your personal life. Don't just act or play this out. This is not only
role-play. Let it be authentic, a deep and penetrating dance moving your
body. Be a shaman and experience shape shifting into the nature of the
forces of this universe. Feel the terrorist's body and notice how the words
coming from her/his mouth come from the marrow of your bones. Go deeply
and way beyond anything you've ever done before. Use your awareness and
let your feelings go to infinity. When this feels done, switch sides.
Speak as the tortured "victim". Vehemently warn about of your imminent
retaliation. Describe all the personal and social privileges you know about,
speak of your desire for peaceful, quiet, and loving relationships. Now go
deeper. If you're playing the US, get to the essence of New York. Not just
the empire state building, but the lantern held proudly by that democratic
spirit called the Statue of Liberty. Remember yourself as a dream of that
home, an open door for those who have been oppressed. After admitting that
you have not always been able to live that dream, remember your grandest
vision and striving for democracy. Look into the roots of your heart and
speak for 250 million people about the glimmer of hope that holds them together,
a filament of light making them sometimes an unconscious monster but potentially
an open heart, ready to accept anything, even those who have attacked her. If
you could say this with honesty, to yourself, to others, to the papers and
the TV, you have gone beyond the USA to the roots of democracy. Now it is
time to go on.
If you did this with others, amazing and unpredictable things may happen
between participants. Carry on this conversation for a maximum of two hours,
then let go and say goodbye to all the spirits on your inner or outer stages.
Go home and think it over. As many things happen in silence as they do in
public. There is much more to do. There's a song to be sung about freedom
and life, a dance and theater needing to recapitulate the essence of this
world drama and the dream like realities unfolding before our amazed eyes.
There are more dreams to dream on, the future to work with. Thank you for
trying.
New Dimensions Radio Interview with Amy and Arny on Worldwork,
Dec 30 2002
New Dimensions host, Michael Toms, interviewed Amy and Arny Mindell on
the world situation following the Sept. 11 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
The interview is available as:
