Contemplating September 11, 2001

HE SHOCKING ATTACK on the innocent in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania is another manifestation of evil among many examples throughout history. Evil (alias the dark forces, cruelty, hatred, separateness) will perhaps always be humanity's unwelcome gadfly as we evolve, but evil cannot be the ultimate victor because its assumptions about physicality and separateness become, in practice, self-limiting.

"Evil's destruction is like dust thrown into our eyes."

The creative human heart is eternal, I suggest, whereas evil's destruction is like dust thrown into our eyes. Our newest war is not geographical but spiritual, and we can help each other by looking within, striving heartward, and purifying ourselves of irritation, anger, and hatred, all of which are bombs inside our own beings.

If the unity of humanity can be viewed as an emerging fact and not merely an ideal, we have a new opportunity to remove some dust from our eyes and see more clearly our destiny of joy.