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Where Do We Go From Here?

Oct 11, 2001

As most of us realize now, we are at war. Wondering where we go from here is a monumental challenge since there is no clear direction. Most of us have spent our adult lives praying for peace and at the very least seeing ourselves as people who live doing the exact opposite of what it takes to create war. We have worked to lay a different psychic and spiritual foundation within ourselves, animating the power of that wiring to assist in our own inner processes and perhaps directing our energy toward external projects that enhance life in our planetary community. We try to think positive thoughts and we have held as an ideal that every person on this planet is a worthy and sacred being. But I do not believe any of us anticipated that we would actually enter into a war, and certainly not a battle with invisible enemies. Since September 11th, I've listened to many people comment on how we should respond - different wording for where we should go from here. A couple of people suggested that we drop fruit baskets over Afghanistan, and I suppose the massive shipments of food supplies that we are now pouring into tat country are a version of that. Others have suggested that we "carpet bomb" the country and that while many innocent people would die in the process, that is simply the natural fallout of war - and in this case, a war we did not start and tried through negotiations to avoid. But neither option will provide a means to end this crisis. From my point of view, our major battle is being fought at the psychic level and not the physical. Certainly we now have to face the probability of germ warfare and endless acts of terrorism hitting us who knows where. We can be sure of one thing, however, our foes are brilliant at striking at targets that we did not see coming. And while the end result is and will continue to be massive physical destruction, this war is also managing to weaken our collective psyches as Americans and as planetary beings. Without a doubt, hitting our spirits is their true goal, one that is accomplished through bombing our buildings. In this way, we are all wounded simultaneously though the bombs that hit in only one city. So where should we go from here? Ironically we should head directly into the power of the American spirit and combine that with the chemistry of universal faith along with a determination to continue to live a freedom centered life. We must NOT become psychic, emotional, or physical hostages to these terrorists. We cannot afford to become afraid of our own streets, buildings, and lifestyle. We cannot allow a handful of vengeful individuals to control our beloved nation, our personal lives and cause us to negotiate the freedoms that lie at the very soul of this nation. We must not let fear contaminate the vision and spiritual power of the United States. Shadow forces have always surfaced in human history, one of the most notorious of the past century being the Nazi party. I could provide you with an endless list of the cycles of history in which evil has emerged and destroyed the innocent. I could also provide you with proof that the Light and goodness always triumphs in the end. Where should you go from here? Into the heart and soul of your power. Remind yourself of what you have (at least up until now) stated as your belief: that your life - and death - is in the hands of God. Don't release that authority into the shadow of the collective unconscious of humanity. Remember, as vague as this truth may often appear, it is truth that one Light alters the intensity of the dark, regardless of how dark the shadow may be. You must remain steadfast in your commitment to freedom.

Caroline Myss

Here is a sample of Caroline`s SEPTEMBER SALON

MAINTAINING YOUR BALANCE IN A SPIRITUAL EPIDEMIC

OVERVIEW: THE MOOD OF THE NATION

I happened to be scheduled to lead a workshop on Archetypal Challenges at the Omega Institute in upstate New York the weekend following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centers. Because the airlines had been grounded and the trains were all booked, they had to hire a bus to get me there and back to Chicago -- a trip of nearly 24 hours each way, during which I was unable to sleep a wink. I returned home with a miserable flu and, as the week went by, I made a point of complaining to everyone I spoke to about how lousy I was feeling. I learned that almost everyone else was also feeling ill. Some had the flu, but others were coping with intense pain in their bodies, migraines, depression, and various other ailments. As I thought about this, it reminded me of two other times when national or global catastrophes were followed by an outbreak of a loss of physical health by large numbers of people.

PREDICTIONS

Ever since I became involved in this New Age movement, I have come across countless warnings and predictions, dreams and visions, about what our future holds in store for us. There were predictions about southern California vanishing, the East Coast of America being buried under the sea, and earthquakes and tidal waves . . . just as a beginning. The Y2K mania heightened our fear of some sort of global madness--computer systems were going to shut down and the world would grind to a halt. I received a stream of junk e-mail on a daily basis warning me of what was really going on behind the scenes of the government, and how all sorts of safety measures were in place for the important people of our country to escape. The rest of us, apparently, were on our own to forge a way to survive.

PARADOXES

One of the characteristics of the New Age is its theme of oneness, wholeness. The need to combat terrorism is ironically causing the nations of this planet to come together in an unprecedented effort to survive an unseen enemy. We have always had the option to accomplish this unity through spiritual means, but maybe those methods were too passive. No adrenalin in meditation. Ecstasy, yes. Adrenalin, no. Spiritual experiences are often individual matters; crises are collective. And then there is the paradoxical nature of martyrdom. At the very least, something in the martyr template makes us respond to an event by projecting onto it a greater meaning and significance. The Christian faith is rooted in the death of the early martyrs. As the Church father Tertullian said, "We multiply whenever we are mown down by you. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." The current crisis was initiated by young Arab men who considered themselves martyrs, and apparently went to their deaths willingly and with every expectation of the same kind of eternal reward that we were told awaited the Christian martyrs. Of course, the early Christian martyrs were victims, but they didn't make innocent victims of other people; they shed their own blood, not the blood of others. Muslim scholars the world over have argued in recent days that not only is suicide un-Islamic, but so is the killing of innocent civilians during war.

REACTIONS

I've already mentioned that many people have written beautiful e-mail messages sharing their ideas of how to move forward in finding a purpose in the destruction of the WTC. Many of their thoughts are heart-warming, and they encourage people to respond with compassion. I believe that compassion is what we should aim for, but realistically it might take some of us a bit longer than others to get there. I had a personal experience of that while I was teaching at Omega just three days after the attacks. During that weekend I found myself acting more emotional in a classroom than I have ever been in my entire career. At times I had to stop and collect myself, because I was on the verge of weeping. I was, and, in truth, I remain, devastated. I have not fully recovered, although I am working on it. In my soul I have not yet come to peace with the fact that our nation will never be the same again. I cannot yet adjust to the fact that every day might bring a new horror and, perhaps literally, to my front door. I am not yet okay with the possibility that my water supply or air could become poisoned, that an outbreak of smallpox or plague could be next. Oh, I'll get to compassion, but I ain't there yet.

TO YOUR HEART

Spiritual epidemics are not imaginary. We can collectively become strong or we can collectively become frightened. Just as the collective mindset of previous generations manifested outbreaks of polio and AIDS, our collective mindset and spirit can produce something every bit as constructive and empowering as those epidemics were disempowering. Right now we are collectively feeling support and love from each other. We are collectively feeling pride in our nation, our heritage, our flag. We are backing a president as none other has been supported. At the same time that the emotional and psychological climate of this nation is the most fragile it has ever been, it is also more unified than at any time since World War II. Our collective psyche and heart are wide open. We are hearing reports on the news, and no doubt will continue to hear reports, about the possibility of other terrorist attacks on our nation. This type of information can strike terror into this collective open heart of ours . . . of yours. But we have a Sacred Contract running through our veins and spirits that is a force greater than the moment we are living in. It is true that we have been anticipating changes in this New Age, and many have been ushered in during this month. We are now being forced to change our way of life in ways we had not anticipated. The spiritual wiring that we have worked years to put into place in ourselves now needs to be animated and relied on more than ever before. To that end, I have these thoughts and directives to offer:

OCTOBER SALON

I had anticipated writing about archetypal interpretations of historic events for this issue. While I touched on that subject briefly in mentioning my interpretation of the polio and AIDS epidemics, I would like to continue to explore an archetypal perspective on our world and the events of the day. In the next issue, I would like to include your own responses to the tragedy and to address any questions that you might have, so please send them to me.