"Today is 9/11/2017. If you asked me what my intention is for today
it would be this: "to see the world with eyes unclouded by hate."
This has been my goal for several
years and when I observed what was in my heart recently I could feel
the change. I do not feel any hate in my heart. I don't hate ISIS or the
US military. I don't hate Hamas or Israel. I don't hate the CEOs and
profiteers of war. I want all of them to stop what they are doing. But I
don't hate them.
I have
come to understand that we are all family. Behind all the labels - ISIS,
US soldier, terrorist, war criminal, I see human beings. They are my
family. Family members killing family members. This is the truth I see.
I believe our child-like hearts all know this in the beginning. But
over time, we take on wounds and pain from growing up in this world and
we forget.
When I look into the eyes of the soldiers of ISIS or
US drone operators or military generals, I see human beings caught in
illusions of separation, caught in karmic cycles of suffering.
Everyone who hurts others I recognize is suffering deeply. They are all
carrying such deep wounds. Those who hate are suffering from that hate,
and it binds everyone in tragic cycles of violence.
What I seek
is a future that values everyone. What I seek is a world where everyone
is acknowledged first as a human being. Those that desire to kill I
remember were once a 5 year old child. That child had no concept of
hate, no desire to kill. All of this is learned. And, if we desire a
world of peace, we cannot ask the other to start first. It has to start
with us."
