Dear Reader,
On this day, I am reflecting on September 11th, 2001. I am thinking of all the lives tragically lost, and the lives that were changed forever that day. At the same time, I am looking at the present state of our world and feeling hopeful at what I see unfolding: humanity’s greatest transformation.
Looking back
Sometimes, my first thought when I remember 9/11 is of how blue the sky was that morning. It seemed unreal that something so horrible could happen on such a beautiful day. When I commuted out of New York City on an early morning train to work in New Jersey, it seemed like another gorgeous late-summer Tuesday in September – until the world was turned upside down.
So many powerful memories related to that day flood my mind.
Days and weeks spent shutting my windows to keep out the horrible burning smell coming from Ground Zero.
The faces of the missing, staring out at us from posters plastered in Union Square, Grand Central Station, and any other spot where the right person might pass by and recognize someone who survived after all.
A year later, when everyone in New York City stopped on the street corners at 8:46 A.M., the time the first plane hit the towers, and stood in silence together.
The names of those lost being read aloud in the peaceful stillness of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
From then to now
Twenty years have passed since that day.
Many of us were galvanized in the aftermath of 9/11, filled with resolve to create peace and healing in this world. Some of that has come to pass, but I venture to guess that many of us feel that we have not progressed as far as we had hoped and expected.
The backlash from that day was powerful and swift, brimming with fear, anger and violence in its many forms. We worked hard to rise above it all, and perhaps thought, with Barack Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States, that we had broken through.
We didn’t yet realize the pervasive power of the fear that had been unleashed, and lingered, waiting to return.
Return it did.
Present day
To see the power of fear, we have only to look around us. We can see the nature of our polarization as a society, and our divided response to a global pandemic that has claimed more than 650,000 lives in the United States alone. We can see the evidence of fear in the racism, classism, sexism and ageism we are experiencing every day. We can see the power of fear in the chaos and mayhem of an attempt to end a twenty year war triggered by 9/11, but stemming from far deeper, older roots.
All of this fear is the same fear in different disguises – fear of the “other,” based on an illusion that we are not all one.
We now see the power of fear more clearly than we ever did.
Our great transformation
This is where hope comes in.
I passionately believe that along with the backlash of fear, we are also in the midst one of the greatest transformations humanity has ever experienced.
What is this transformation?
We are finally coming to understand the necessity of not just understanding our inner life, but of converting our inner wisdom into enlightened action.
Over the long term, we have found that action without grounding in inner wisdom can lead to chaos and outright disaster. But we have also, slowly, discovered that enlightenment without inspired action creates passivity and stagnation.
We see now, more clearly than ever, how much it costs to leave the decisions up to those who are most insistent and speak the loudest. We are finally learning that true power does not mean “power over,” but the power of integrating our inner and outer lives, and showing up as change agents in the world, in connection with each other.
Have no doubt; this great transformation applies on both a personal level – for you, in your life, and for me in mine – as well as for society as a whole.
It was natural that so much powerful fear was unleashed after 9/11. It is also natural now that, as we grow in wisdom, we still face great challenges and turmoil, because the structures needed to support and sustain our newfound wisdom are not yet in place.
That mix of conditions can make the going tough.
But go forward we must, with all the love, faith and courage we can muster. We now know the cost of not doing so.
That is the message I would like to take forward today, twenty years removed from 9/11.
I honor your loving heart,
John
‘Going forward’ is not always easy no matter how much we want it for as humans we get stuck in the presence of our lives and we also flash back to our pasts. It isn’t always a bad thing thougj ad we can find joy in our pasts as well as pain. But each evening we lay down our heads and each morning we awaken. We never know what our future will hold so each new day it all we have. If we only focus on darkness we miss the light. Our world is a rainbow one. Full of difference but underneath we find the same humanity. I know exactly where i was at 9/11. I was over 3000 miles from NYC but it shook me. But I remind myself Goodness is stronger than evil and Love is stronger than hate, May God bless your life each day with joy and nurture you in your sadness. Thank you for your words John. You have been in my thoughts today a lot. Much love. Joyce xx
Joyce, thank you for your thoughtful response and kind words. 9/11 affected so many people worldwide, each in their own way. And I agree, going forward is not always easy. We are helped by something within the very fabric of our being, an impulse to grow, create and express, as well as our sense of support and connection with our fellow human beings. We are all in this together. Blessings and love back to you Joyce!