9-11 America

The Healing of America

 

September 11, 2001, the day four commercial planes were hijacked by terrorists and converted into human missiles — two crashing into the World Trade Center twin towers in New York, one crashing into The Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth never making it to its intended target because passengers rescued the plane from the hijackers and crashed it into a remote area in southwestern Pennsylvania is the day America grew up and became conscious.

 

As we ask the question: "Who did this, and what is the appropriate response?", we must also ask: "What have we done to create so much anger and hatred toward America, and how can we heal that?" The second question carries the seeds of wiping out terrorism completely.

 

The first question, which addresses the outer crisis — "Who did this, and what is the appropriate response?" — will be answered perfectly and completely by President Bush and his cabinet and military advisers. Even though he was elected under very questionable circumstances, it was no accident. When he surrounded himself, before his election and after, with people and advisers whom seemed to be a throwback to his father's administration ten years ago, neither was that an accident. He has the best of America Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and others — at his side and in power to handle this first question. President Bush has met his destiny and purpose. As we watch him mature handling this crisis, so will we Americans, and America itself, begin to grow up. We all are maturing in our values, becoming conscious, and meeting our destiny, both individually and as a nation.

 

The second question — "What have we done to create so much anger and hatred toward America, and how can we heal that?" addresses and leads us to healing the inner problem, and will show us how to eradicate terrorism at its core. This second question must be addressed by us, the people of America, so that we can effect the great internal healing. This will set the stage for our leadership to get it and guide America to its destiny. For if the people will lead, the leaders will follow.

 

Abraham Lincoln said the American people would always do the right thing if they were given all the facts.

 

America's Shadow Dance

 

America has quite a "shadow dance" going on right now. We need to look at our shadow here in America, how we have misused our power abroad and at home, before we go make an all out war on terrorism. We have promoted and sponsored terrorism for our own political and economic gains around the world, too.

 

• On Tuesday, 9/11/01 (what a coincidence!) the family of Chilean military commander Rene Schneider, killed during a botched kidnapping in 1970, filed a lawsuit seeking more than $3 million in damages from Henry Kissinger and other Nixon administration officials.

 

• We, along with Saudi Arabia, funded six billion dollars in military equipment and aid to help Osama Bin Laden and the Afghanis fight Russia in the 1980's.

 

• In 1973 the CIA played a large role in the overthrow and assassination of Salvador Allende, head of Chile1s democratic government, and in sponsoring Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship in Chile.

 

• We, the champions of democracy, have supported other dictators like Trujillo and Batista.

 

• The CIA also played a major role in the death and overthrow of Patrice Lamumba in the Congo.

 

• Do we remember the Iran/Contra money laundering arms deal starring Oliver North during the Reagan administration?

 

• On September 13, 2001, two days after the attacks, Reverend Jerry Falwell on a TV program with Pat Robertson, "The 700 Club," blamed gays, pagans and liberal groups as being responsible for what happened in New York and Washington. We don't have to look beyond our borders to find narrow-minded, religious fanaticism.

 

The enemy that America must confront is more of a mindset than a person or a group of terrorists. This mindset, which seeks power over others believing their way or version of God is the highest or only true way, exists within all countries, as well as externally. While we attempt to eradicate all terrorism external to our nation and ourselves, we must also confront the matching energy that lives within us. This matching energy is a part of ourselves that we have relegated to our shadow, both nationally and individually.

 

To heal our shadow we must acknowledge it as our own and take responsibility for it. The shadow is created through denial of qualities, positive or negative, that we choose to disown in our self and thereby project onto others, groups and/or nations. Thus, we create both heroes and villains to be what we do not want to believe we are capable of being. What we acknowledge, we can heal and no longer need to project onto others. What we don't own and don't change owns us and creates continuous conflicts in our lives and affairs. Our courage to face a physical enemy or dire circumstances is legendary, but do we have the courage to confront and heal with the real enemy within us?

 

The Big Picture What's Really Going On

 

This is a universal wake-up call for everyone affected and touched by this tragedy. Many changes will take place in all our lives. This is about intolerance — religious and cultural. This is a time for great soul searching and making even greater changes within ourselves, as well as in our nations.

 

The world and humanity are in the process of graduating from a patriarchal, declining old worldview into an egalitarian, ascending new worldview. Egalitarianism is a system of shared power and synthesis politics where neither male nor female dominate nor rule over each other, and where all views are deemed important to see the whole picture. We are in the birth canal of a great evolutionary leap, individually and collectively.

 

The Middle East has been the holding tank of the last great vestiges of patriarchal energy, which suppresses and denigrates the feminine, on the planet. Now there is a collective patriarchal dance going on across all borders that matches up the Bush's, the Sharon's, the Arafat's, the Bin Laden's, the Sadam Hussein's, and the Taliban's of the world. While breakdown might seem apparent on the surface, there will be a great breakthrough for many in world leadership. This can be seen as a dance in the changing of the guard from patriarchy (domination) to egalitarianism (partnership). The world is uniting for the first time in response to this crisis, which will help bring forth a new world reality.

 

There will be breakups of old, no longer functional ways of thinking and being that cannot shift to be in alignment with the newer and higher organizing principles. Marriages, partnerships, businesses, groups, religions, economies, and nations will all be subject to this. Everything will be in a constant state of transformation.

 

We are about to make an evolutionary leap forward. The old, solely physically focused ways based on fear, separation, exclusion, superiority thinking, duality, and domination are being challenged and will be transformed. A new humanity is emerging that will be organized around trust, partnership, love, inclusion, wholeness, interconnectedness, oneness, and being soul conscious. America will lead the way for the world.

 

How Do We Respond to 9-11 America?

 

1) Listen, listen, listen. Abraham Lincoln told us, "Do I not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend?" There is no greater recipe for peace than that. Just how do we do that? Martin Luther King knew that answer when he said, "violence is the language of the unheard." So obviously we need to become better listeners with everyone who enters our space, physically or electronically. Maybe it's time to dialogue with everyone so that they may be heard, no matter what, no matter whom — even terrorists! It's impossible not to love someone if we just take enough time to get to know him or her. So dialogue with everyone, and listen to their truth and view. Find the common ground. It always exists if we only are willing to open our eyes and our hearts enough.

 

2) Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. New Yorkers have magnificently modeled this for everyone around the world. America instantly became a kinder and gentler nation upon seeing the devastation in New York. It softened us. It humbled us. All of a sudden we no longer had any real problems. The people in New York, Washington D.C., and the families of the victims, they had real problems. Kindness should become a way of life for all of us now. Not only in this country, but even more so when traveling abroad. America's worst foreign policy has been "the ugly American," the rude, arrogant American tourist.

 

3) Apologize. America has not learned this lesson yet. Our arrogance has gotten in the way of this one. Saying "I'm sorry" carries so much profound healing energy that goes far beyond the immediate act or circumstance. It immediately breaks down the barriers of misunderstanding and unforgiveness and retaliation. It opens an avenue of dialogue so that we can listen, so that we and others can be heard, or so that someone else's pain can be acknowledged and their healing can begin. We who currently live in America may not be responsible for what happened in our history. But, because we have inherited that legacy we 100% responsible for the healing of all old injustices.

 

• We, America, owe a deep apology to the Native Americans for the genocide perpetuated against them, the stealing of their lands, and the over 600 treaties we broke with them while they never broke one.

 

• We, America, owe a deep apology to African-Americans for supporting and expanding the horrible European institution of slavery, for the cruelty and inhumanity perpetrated against their ancestors, and for the continued racism that exists in our country today.

 

• We can apologize for the misguided and unconscious actions of ourselves, our families, our religions, our gender, and our nation to all who have been deeply hurt. We all must live as ambassadors of light and truth and love. We all can be agents of healing and transformation.

 

4) Be Inclusive. Think Inclusive. Act Inclusive. We can no longer leave anyone out of the dialogue. Every viewpoint is valuable. Everyone deserves a place at the table. Wholeness is what we are all trying to achieve individually. As we heal we are actually becoming whole. We live a new digital world where national boundaries no longer exist. There is only one race "the Human Race." There is only one color of blood — red. We are all much more alike than we could ever be different. Medical science has proved this through our latest DNA discoveries that all humans are 99.9% the same. So we can be amazed to know that only 00.1% of our DNA creates such magnificent diversity in human cultures and individuality. Our deepest yearning is to love, more than to be loved. We all want to feel connected to something bigger than ourselves. We must be inclusive, think inclusive, and act inclusive.

 

 “Be the change you want to see in the world.” 

— Gandhi

 

On 9/11/01 in America there were more than 6000 souls who loved us so much as to sacrifice their continued lives with their beloved families in order that we might wake up and become active agents of healing and transformation in our own lives and in our world. May we never forget their love and their sacrifice!

 

Jimmy Langkop

© September 19, 2001

P.O. Box 815722

Dallas, Texas 75381

 

 

 

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