Cheers rang out a world away on September 11, 2001. While many worldwide and more locally
were struck with horror and horrible loss of life, many in the streets of other nations celebrated a victory .
While some mourned others celebrated.
In America we were horrified by the horrible made worse by the reality
that some were celebrating while we were dying, grieving, and in pain.
A clearly defined military mission to seek out and capture,
Osama Bin-Laden, the master mind of 9-11, was initiated inclusive of vigilant
military strategies. Nearly 10
years later, on May 16th, 2011, Osama Bin-Laden was killed at his
hideaway compound. Cheers rang out
again , this time, in the streets of America. I blogged that morning that I was in deep sadness, not
because I thought Osama Bin-Laden was a nice guy but because we live in a state
of world conflict that promotes a “kill or be killed” state of being.
We called it justice but it is not justice when one side
celebrates and the other side mourns.
Regardless of which side of the street you live on, it is about leaning
how to be respectful and responsible as human beings toward all other human
beings. In both cases the preparation
of violence was in their mind justified by egregious acts of the evil empire
against them. It is justified
revenge but it is not justice.
Justice seeks not to oppress or harm anyone. Justice is to be done toward all regardless of
anything. All peoples hurt and
pain are understood and transformed into healing through the empathy of
compassion and the emptying of my way as the only way.
Ghandi’s blind world through an eye for an eye mentality has
degenerated into something worse than blindness: seeing with only one eye. Seeing with one eye, one way breeds
prejudice not justice. One man’s
freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.
The saddest part of all this is that religion is part of the
problem when it is intentionally part of the solution. It is specifically purposed toward
encouraging a world wide ways of love and peace. John Lenin in his famous song, Imagine, had a line that
stated, “nothing to kill or die for, no religion too”. Why, because most all wars have some religious
overtone, drive, or agenda that is itself inconsistent with peace and harmony.
Today on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, we call on
all communities of faith to come together for peace and justice by embracing
with compassion all persons, regardless of anything. This is a call to a new kind of community that is not about
the lowest common denominator but the highest common good. It is the one hope of and for humanity. If religion cannot lead the way to
turning our differences into community building by surrendering our way as the
only way to a new way of living in love and peace with all. Soren Kirkegard said, “To know the
truth and not be the truth is to embellish that very truth with error”. When my truth, whatever that truth,
gives me the right to degrade and deny the truth of your truth it is
essentially a self serving posture.
There is nothing so inherently inconsistent with the heart of any
spiritual movement and the heart of Christianity as a self propagating and self
aggrandizing posture as the founder was a living sacrifice of self for the good
of humanity. When the living
sacrifice becomes a lying sacrifice there is no Spirit of Truth but the spirit
of deception and self-promotion.
As John Lenin wrote, “that we all live as one”. This was the heart of the Jesus of
Christianity and it is at the
heart of all non-extremist religious movements. Jesus said, “That they might be one even as I and the Father
are one”. Not one in
ecclesiastical or theological positions but is the posture of loving kindness
toward all regardless of anything.
Justice is never one sided it is
mutually respectful and agreed upon as the healthy way to care for an injustice
that is done in the world. The language of what we are saying and the meta
messages that are being presented and perceived really concern me. The
prophet Micah intentional connects "justice, mercy and humility" and
these are not connected here.
In a nation that is fighting for the
removal of capital punishment, there are few voices acknowledging that this is
an "eye for and eye" moment which his more about our blindness than
about clear vision. One way thinking is what is at the heart of
unresolved differences in our homes and in our world. No ideology,
thought or reaction is in itself the problem, the problem is we live in a
social system that does not allow for equity, respectfulness, or peace.
It is about getting the bad guy, killing the enemy only to find our sense
of humanity diminished. We cannot kill one human being without that act
lessening our sense of humanness and lowering our standard for mutual
respectfulness and world peace.
As religious leaders of and in our
communities of faith we need to decide to stand for mutual respectfulness and
responsible teaching. When we teach our particular faith group that we
are the better way, the only way, the best way we insult our fellow
communicants and insinuate that we are right and they are wrong. The
system that supports a right and wrong world perpetuates un-healthy
competitiveness. Under the pretext of faith, love and peace we sow
conflict competition and contradictions. What is as leaders of respective
religious communities of faith we took a bold step forward and embraces our
belief system with denigrating or degrading or devaluing the system of others.
Would we then change the un-heathy system that fuels wars and wastelands
and into a new respectful and responsible system that nurtures peace and a
blossoming earth.
In the new system the key qualities
would be mutual compassion, calmness, courage, and creativity that would find
ways to be together to promote love and peace in our world because we do not
believe anymore that it is us or them that are right. Ghandi said years
ago that an eye for an eye orientation to life results in a blind world.
I say today that an eye for an eye world results in people with only one
eye that sees only their way and that is worse. It is a cyclops that
perpetuates war famine and destruction. When we see with two eyes we see
our way in a self-respectful way and we see the ways of others in an equally
valuing and validating way, respectfully. When Christians teach that
Jesus, as any Christian or ecclesiastical group proscribes him, is the only way
they do an injustice to all other communities of faith. Part of justice
and true spirituality is mutual respectfulness and responsible honesty.
The Jesus way is not an exclusive or excluding way but an inclusive and
including way. The Jesus way is not an ecclesiastical or creedal way it
is a life and attitude way. Jesus welcomes everyone and invites everyone
to his table of love and peace. The way of Jesus is a way of self-sacrifice (it
does not have to be my way), humility (I see you and your way as better than my
way not because it is but because that is the way of humility -Phil 2:4) and
openheartedness (God's heart of love and forgiveness is available to all
regardless of the particular belief system they endorse or embrace. Jesus
is not the way the Way is Jesus. Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, etc
all teach the way that Jesus lived as the way we all should live.
Imagine a world where there is full
mutual respectfulness of all communities of faith, unconditional love and
agenda-less respect. Peace on earth and intentional acts of good will toward
all humanity form all humanity. Sounds like a religious festival!
To do this we do not need to change our
core beliefs just our excluding and exclusive beliefs. We can all have
and maintain with self respect and respect for others our beliefs as long as we
add a closing belief statement to all our ecclesiastical statements of faith or
creeds. That statement would be that while we believe differently we all
believe that what we believe should not separate us from one another in the
community of faith or the community of the covenant of love and peace for each
other and the world.
This is the third cheer. When people all over the world from all
communities of faith cheer the inclusion of all in the grace and truth of love
and peace. Imagine the cheers that
would ring out if in a few months when we celebrate Christmas, we truly experience
peace among all peoples of faith leading the world to peace that passes human
understanding, which then results in a tsunamie of kindness and good will
toward all men. Was that what the
angles had in mind when they sang,
“Glory to God in the Highest and on
earth: Peace, and good will toward
all humanity”
Just imagine
Rev. Donald L. Paine
Parakalein Counseling Services
251 New Karner Road
Albany New York 12205
518-452-9919
Rev. Dr. Donald L. Paine,
LICSW, AAMFT
Trained Internal Family
System Therapist
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