What We Can Do to Transform our World On Purpose
I recently read an interview of Marianne Williamson as she
discussed her new book, The Gift of Change. During the interview
she talked about the happenings around 9/11 and that we had an
opportunity to engage in an authentic inquiry into such
questions as, "Why do these people hate us?" Unfortunately,
instead, we then turned away from the inquiry and chose a path
of fear instead.
But perhaps it's not too late to engage in the inquiry again. As
I started to do this for myself what came up was quite
interesting. I realized that I also hate, or at least fear,
which is closely akin to hate, those that attacked the US on
9/11. Why do I hate/fear these people, and who exactly is it
that I'm directing such energy towards?
Ahh, there's the rub and possibly even the beginning of a
solution to the dilemma. I actually know very little about the
people that my country had designated as our enemy. At best, I
have only vague, poorly formed thoughts about them. I think of
them as 'Islamic extremists' akin to the KKK in this country, an
analogy I learned from an episode of West Wing that aired
shortly after 9/11. But the truth is I know very little about
the religion of Islam, how it is different from or similar to my
own beliefs, the countries where it flourishes, what the people
are like who live there, on and on. The degree of my ignorance
in this area is alarming. Might it not be the same for them?
Could it be that it is in this field of ignorance where the
current crop of fear and hate has grown on both sides? While the
well-known maxim says "familiarity breeds contempt," it seems to
me that ignorance breeds fear and hate. If so, then, isn't it
time for us all to begin to know our "enemies?" For sure this
has been considered a wise strategy to use in times of war, but
perhaps it's also a wise strategy that can lead us to a time of
peace. But knowing our enemy is not enough, is it? For sure it's
a step in the right direction, just not enough. Christ
admonished us to now only know our enemy but to learn to "love
thy enemy," and then went on to demonstrate this spiritual
principle when he pleaded, "Forgive them Father, for they know
not what they do," as his Roman persecutors nailed him to the
cross.
The Romans were ignorant as to what they were doing, and this is
another example where ignorance fostered fear and hate. Knowing
our enemy could be a wise first step that makes it easier to
then love them. In seeking to remove ignorance we have of
another culture, we can also be available to help them
understand us better as well; to understand us at a deeper level
than just our commercials, our rap music, and our other
superficial cultural clich