It is
a great tragedy and a great loss for us as a country, to be fed news
that is filtered by prejudice and political ideology so that we
cannot see nor feel with accuracy and depth what is truly happening
in the world. This applies most immediately to the news coming from
Iraq, but it also applies to the broader picture of how American
political and business interests operate globally. What happens to
the people who are harmed or at least not helped by the effects of
U.S. policy abroad is often hidden from our view. This is not
everyone, of course, for many are helped by U.S. aid. But the
negative side of the picture is what we rarely hear about through
mainstream media; it is what we rarely
see.
In the moment, we have a
moral obligation to discern, as best we can, what is going on in
Iraq. I thank God and the individual writers whose weblogs and
personal commentaries have crossed my path, for providing personal,
eyewitness accounts of what is happening there. These accounts are
so different from what is presented through American media,
that it is heartbreaking to think of the way in which those who do
not have access to such reports or the energy to pursue more
accurate information are being led into
illusion.
There are two ways to
know something. One is to know it through the facts and descriptions
of others. The other is to know it through inner guidance and our
own deeper intuition. The first provides us with an on-the-ground
picture of what is going on - a map of the situation with as much
detail as an individual witness can glean from it. The second
provides us with a moral and emotional appraisal of what is
happening. It includes the heart and spirit in the knowing and
interprets the available facts for us. Thus, if we hear the story of
how one family in Fallujah buried their nine-year-old son in the
front garden of their home, unable to safely leave the house to seek
medical help, we have the facts as reported by one witness. But it
is the heart that tells us what this means. It is the heart that
pictures the many other garden burials that have taken place in
Fallujah, unreported, unseen, except for the immediate family
members.
As citizens of the
planet, we have a moral obligation to not separate ourselves from
those who are suffering in the world, and especially to not separate
ourselves from those who are suffering at the hands of U.S. policy.
There are various ways of supporting this spiritual identification,
of expressing our concern and caring. One is through knowledge -
through taking the time to read, to listen, to feel about what is
going on. Another is through prayer - through praying for those who
are helpless and in need. A third is through the way in which we
hold light in our minds, hearts, and bodies so that we can transmit
hope to others and an understanding of God's positive purpose for
the earth. Ultimately, it is the combination of a capacity to hold
the pain of the earth and its inhabitants, alongside the hope and
assurance of a positive future, that is the most potent kind of
support we can give to the people of the earth. This doesn't rule
out whatever activity on a social or political level we may feel
called to undertake. But it places an emphasis on the power of
consciousness to change the consciousness of others because we are
connected with them.
The
tragedy of misinformation is that it is presented as fact to the
American public. As fact, it allows us to treat situations that are
happening to
real people and to
real families as
abstractions. It allows us to think that what is needed is being
done. It seduces us into believing what embedded journalists and
government briefings would have us believe, while omitting the great
suffering that is being caused as our military in Iraq pursues the
path of 'liberation'. The tragedy of misinformation not only limits
our perception of reality. It also tarnishes the light-filled words
that are so often used by the government and reiterated by the media
- words such as 'liberation', 'freedom', 'democracy'. Liberty and
freedom are what America stands for. It is not what is happening in
Iraq.
* * * * *
The
weblogs and other sources that I have found to be extremely helpful
in providing information about Iraq are:
http://www.empirenotes.orgRahul
Mahajan
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/index.phpDahr
Jamail: See Dahr's weblog.
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
2004_11_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#110003558181121517Riverbend
weblog.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4008887.stmBBC:
Fadhil Badrani
And here are some of the specific articles
that bring an emotional immediacy and detail to our perception of
what is happening in Iraq:
"Baghdad burning." (Nov. 10, 2004
- Riverbend weblog).
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
2004_11_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#110003558181121517See
Nov. 10th entry.
"Prayers for vengeance, more death..." (Nov.
11, 2004 - Dahr Jamail).
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000109.php#more"Watching
tragedy engulf my city." (Nov. 9, 2004 - Fadhil Badrani, BBC,
Fallujah)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3996111.stm"Eyewitness:
Defiance amid carnage." (Nov. 10, 2004 - Fadhil Badrani, BBC,
Fallujah)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3999899.stm*
* * * *
We must never
underestimate the power of our concern for others, nor be lulled
into thinking that our own, personal response to a situation does
not matter. Everything that we feel matters. Everything is hooked up
to, or omitted from, the great network of consciousness of which we
are a part. If we ignore the rest of life, we thereby remove from
our influence whatever good our being present to life can do. If we
pay attention, if we allow our hearts to respond and our souls to
carry into the present situation our caring and our hope, we
contribute our own life-force to the stream which supports the
wellbeing of mankind.
