The purpose of terrorism is to cause fear in people’s hearts and bring them to a place where they feel completely unsafe. Once a person, group or country is in this condition, they can be manipulated and overpowered. The sowers of discord then have control. Terrorists isolate their prey, destroy what is of value and attack at a basic level of life. Once they no longer go after symbolic targets but attack everyday arenas, terrorists’ power is difficult to overcome. Fear becomes stronger than love.
We are all terrorists. We must root that quality out of our system if we truly wish to contribute peace and harmony. As long as the vibration of terror still rests within us, we are going to manifest it in some form. If we already believe we are peaceful people, then we cannot change anything. The point is that if there is terrorism around us, then it is within us. We need to face it, own it, master it, and then transcend it. Only when we have dissolved the vibration of terrorism can we contribute peace.
Terrorist Peacemaker
Decisive/passionate Complacent/ Inert
If we act and call it “decisive”, we can unwittingly be terrorists without even knowing it. Who is this terrorist that we are so focused on hating? If we are looking outside ourselves for the cause of our problems, then he is like us. Once we turn outward this way, we are at the mercy of someone else. We have no core. The terrorist has no core; that is why it is so easy for him to kill and destroy others and ultimately himself. For all of us, it is so easy to look outside and blame others for the wrongs of the world, but this strategy won’t change anything. Until we turn within and root out the terrorism within ourselves, we are still part of the problem. We are perpetuating it.
We cannot root terrorism out of someone else; it will pop back up. We can, though, root it out of ourselves. If we all root out the terrorism within ourselves, then terrorism will have no power to run our decisions, and it will disappear. Remember: terrorists are focused on you, not themselves. No matter how many they kill, the problem is not solved. Their final answer is suicide bombing, which they see as the ultimate sacrifice. They epitomize blaming the outside for what is wrong with one’s life. Terrorism is only the final consequence of their view of themselves as righteous victims. They have no inward awareness. They have no core. That is why they can commit suicide: there is nothing to kill.
We have to face our terror in order to get to peace. Owning, mastering, and transcending the foursquare below will help free us from the bonds of terrorism.
Terrified Forceful
Soft/innocent Hard/At fault
Imposer/enforcer Good/soft/gracious/does not challenge
Assertive Enabler
Reacting puts us in relationship with the terrorist. We are “good” not cleanly, but in opposition, in relation. In truth, we have our qualities independently, not in relation with others. This is why turning inward is the true answer. We are to reflect, not react. We are not to stay in a foursquare, choosing only the qualities we like and requiring someone else to take the ones we reject. We must own them all and give them all up. Do we have to have a terrorist in order to be a hero? Can I be “good” only with someone “bad” around me? If this is the case, then I am at the mercy of my own desires, my attachments to certain qualities. Unconsciously, I am the cause of terrorists. I must let go of my attachments to the “good” and “bad” qualities.
When we accept the harsh qualities fully, then we can be aware and actually take care of ourselves. We see the whole situation, and we aren’t drawn to relationships that create the dynamic of terrorism.
We are all affected by the horror of terrorism. From the standpoint of Absolute Reality we are both the victims and the terrorists. All the players are providing lessons for us, as we provide lessons for others. The problem is, we choose to look only at the horror of the situation, not use the situation as impetus to turn inward and face what is there. In truth, we are all participants in the whole play. We are only harming ourselves. When even one of us works to root out his own inner attractions and repulsions, that person diminishes the amount of potential terrorism in the world. Are you willing to give up looking outside and blaming what you see there? Are you willing to be equal?
Joseph Welch, the man who finally stood up to and exposed Joe McCarthy, was not in reaction; he was not afraid. He was clear and clean and freely acted, speaking appropriately as a human being: “Have you no decency?” And he woke everyone up from their fear and their collusion with McCarthy—who was a political terrorist.
We are not all ready to face ourselves and the world cleanly. Many people don’t even know that turning inward and facing ourselves is possible as a solution to anything; they are, in that respect, innocent. But if we are capable of doing that work and choose not to, then we are contributors to the terrorism in the world. If we do not root out our own terrorist within ourselves, we are siding with the elements we say we detest.
We must choose life, but not in reaction to death. We must choose love, but not in reaction to hate.
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