As a psychotherapist I have seen over and over again how individuals suffer a terrible setback or trauma and eventually find new life through their response to it. I don't want to romanticize tragedy in any way, but it can waken the soul and provide the opportunity for new vision and a new way of life. In the first weeks after September 11th I was filled with worry and concern for my children and for the world, and I still have those deep concerns. But now I am glimpsing the hope contained in this unimaginable tragedy.
In the first hours and days after the event, radio programs and magazines asked me to comment and offer guidance, but I didn't know what to say. All I could do was rely on the basics: don't avoid the emotions and thoughts that rise, and talk freely and frequently to trusted friends. I had mixed feelings about all the talk taking place on the airways and in print. Much of it I thought was defensive, taking a belligerent attitude as a way of avoiding the fear or being fully impacted by the event. At the same time, intelligent information and thoughtful analysis I felt could be very important. A traumatic event like this spins uncontrollably in the minds of people until some sense begins to appear, even if that meaning is threatening and confusing.
At first the most promising development was the spontaneous ritual -- flowers, posters, shrines -- on the streets of New York, and the fact that people quickly began reading about the history and nature of Islam and the politics of the Middle East. On the other hand, the widespread patriotism felt mixed. Much of it was bravado and defiance and vengeance. I'm shocked, for instance, to learn that an elite and powerful group quickly organized to find out what was wrong in the universities, since they were not fully united behind the programs and analysis coming out of Washington. Patriotism, like any -ism, is a exaggeration headed in the right direction but off the mark.
I could sense a feeling of community in much of it, but that communal feeling, which allows dissent and diversity of opinion, wasburied in aggressive pressure to allow no philosophical differences.Especially those voices which expressed concern about our own arrogance and self-interest came up against simplistic patriotic thinking that wanted no self-analysis, believing that any self-questioning was to put the blame on ourselves. But merely demonizing others, identifying them with evil and ourselves with virtue, is an extremely immature and dangerous response. It creates an opposite lethal force that leads to spirals of violence.
Individuals who have been severely impacted by tragedy sometimes find a crack in the worldview that has sustained them to that point. Then they find reason for going on and an easing of pain in their new dedication to life and a new level of involvement. Through all the fog of self-interested politics I can see such a possibility in our current crisis. It's possible now to become aware of the needs of the world, to realize that ordinary people everywhere need a share in the good life that we in the West have been keeping to ourselves. We could learn that we will prosper morally as well as materially if we honestly help the rest of the world care for its children and offer the possibility for good work and good living.
I don't trust our leaders to have this vision and to follow up on it. They seem to be living in an old and much out-moded philosophy of colonialism and imperialism. But I do trust ordinary people to take it on themselves to learn more about the world and to do their part to make it a better place. It appears that many, perhaps the majority, are taken in by tough expressions of defiance and calls for unity, and I wouldn't be surprised if our current leaders get re-elected. Still, you can't undo the impact on the imaginations of people waking up to their responsibilities to ordinary men, women, and children in all parts of the world.
Peace is not the absence of violence. It is the positive condition in which we appreciate each other's ways sufficiently to need the other and wish for the other's prosperity. I would like to see our government create a world coalition for peace, a cabinet position of peace, and educational opportunities for our children to understand and appreciate the conditions for peace. I would like to see us take the lead in conflict resolution -- not bombing but talking. Of course, I don't expect any of this to happen. I have to do my part, and you have to do yours. Then we have to pray and hope.
Here is my formula, then, for dealing with our tragedy:
1. Receive and hold the many thoughts and emotions that rise out of the tragedy.
2. Talk honestly and thoughtfully about it.
3. Create rituals and art forms that both express the emotions and portray the complex mysteries involved.
4. Live a new vision that is based in a sparkling, compassionate, and newly matured level of ethics.
© 2002, Thomas Moore
