Spiritual Thoughts and Resources for Healing

 


a photo from Norway posted on a website with others from around the world

These are some of the many wonderful thoughts I've received from friends, family, musicians and spiritual teachers around the world.
I've found some comfort and insight in reading these, and hope you do too.

 

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall - think of it, ALWAYS." - Mahatma Gandhi

 

From Margaret Lembo of the Crystal Garden:

This was forwarded to me from an old friend. This email is TRUTH. Let us all remember to move into positive thoughts. May we all pass through this Initiation into Mastery.

Blessings and Love, Margaret

* * *

Recent Events: A Collective Initiation into Mastery

Hope you, your loved ones, and friends are well. A number of people have asked me how I see the current series of events. So I thought I would share my feelings with a broader audience.

This is the time of the Collective Initiation as Gregg Braden has written. It is our fears that have created such horrific events and it is our Love that will heal them all.

As best as you can, stay away from fear and keep envisioning the best possible outcome. For if you keep imagining the worse, you add to it. If you see the best, then so shall it be.

The ancient rites of initiation were ones in which individuals were put in circumstances where their greatest fears would arise. This was done after one had trained to master their minds. For the Masters understood that all of Reality is formed by our pervasive thoughts and feelings; and they knew that the only way to change a fearful world into a peaceful and loving one would be to teach individuals to learn to rise above their fears permanently. So, in the Ancient Mystery schools one was buried in a sacred sarcophagus or a tunnel for three days. If one could master their fears in this setting, they would live and be reborn. If they succumbed to their fears, then their fears would literally create that which they most feared right there in the sarcophagus and they would be consumed by their own creations.

We are now in the time of the Collective Initiation. We no longer need to enter the solitary sarcophagus or tomb to be initiated into mastery. Our whole planet is this sacred sarcophagus now. The events transpiring are our Collective Initiation. We are all in this together. We are not alone.

Go within and connect with the Embrace of All That Is. There you shall find peace, compassion, understanding, and inspiration. There you will rise above All fear. This is what we are all being called to remember and to do.

Please trust and believe that you can do this. Know you have been preparing for this moment all your lifetimes. You are a Master. You have the training. The time has come to claim your true inheritance, i.e., to be reborn, to be a Master!

Our collective ability to do this will create a new Reality. This event can be a blessing that catapults us all into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth at warp speed; reborn into a whole new reality!

Walk in peace!!! Talk in peace!!! Breath in peace!!!

And step aside from any conversations or TV coverage or any exchange that instills fear.

Step away from the fear of those who have temporarily forgotten what the meaning of this time truly is. Step instead into the Light and into your Mastery!

Pray for Peace! Pray for those directly and indirectly affected by this!

Pray for our leaders and for the actions they take!

Pray for those involved in the rescue efforts! Pray for those who were involved in causing these events!

All the best!!!

Love, Yanni

 

 

From 100 Fires:

Dear Friends,

Please do not give in to the negative tide that is attempting to sweep across our evolving planet. take comfort in the fact that Love will always overpower Hate. These heinous acts of violence against mankind by doomed,misguided souls will only serve to make us stronger after the painful sting of loss has been eclipsed by brighter days. I have wept at the sight of falling bodies, hands entwined, cutting across the dusty New York sky but have also shed tears of awe for the courage exemplified by so many individuals who have risked and are risking everything to help others.

I will put my faith in the courage of the human heart and its ability to decipher messages from the positive forces at the center of the universe. It will be my revenge against these so-called "terrorists" until they face due justice in courts human and beyond.

Much love to you all, R   

On100Fires@aol.com

 

From The Jim Camacho Band:

Stay in life. Be a part of life. Have fun. Go out. Keep working, dreaming & feeling.

Peace & karma, jim camacho

www.jimcamacho.com



From my Canadian cousin:

I'm sending our love and sympathy for the loss of American innocents. We are your family and best neighbours. The response in Canada was immediate - blood donors, volunteer fireman, police, doctors, nurses, an emotional bonding with your needs and shared fears and anger. We are thinking of you very much right now.

Joey and Barry
Wildewood Guest House

 

 

From Chrystal Hartigan:

What a sad, tragic week we have all witnessed, I know that everyone is so devastated by this senseless attack on America! I trust that I can speak for the south Florida music community in extending our heartfelt sympathies and prayers to the victims and families of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, and the airliner that crashed in Pa., as well as the victims and families of the rescue and recovery teams. These scenes will be etched in our minds for a long time to come.

We have witnessed at close hand an unbelievable tragedy, but out of that tragedy a renewed sense of spirit and love has emerged... patriotism and volunteerism is flourishing... the people of America have come together, to forget differences and to be more considerate of one another.

It's time to stop the hatred and the violence!

The thing I love most about the music community is... there is no color, no gender, no religion... just people making music and uniting together!

We should all take this time to reflect on our own lives.... put aside your petty differences.... call your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, a friend of many years ago... play your music for the elderly in a nursing home... teach a child to read (or play an instrument).... help a neighbor.... do whatever it takes to make this world a peaceful, loving one!

As cold, and as hard, as it may seem, everyone is getting back to their normal everyday activites and going on with their lives... it's all we can do for now. I considered cancelling Thursday's Music Industry Showcase but so many people said they wanted to play their music and others want to attend so it's on, I prefer to downplay my birthday however, after all it's just another year and I'm just glad to be alive... and sharing my life with family and good friends. Besides, what I promote is all about the Music anyway!

There is no cover charge at the Music Industry Showcase, however I've asked representatives from the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Way to come out and let us all know how we can help! So please donate what you can to the cause! Come out and join in the comraderie of good friends and great music!

Peace to everyone and God Bless America!

Chrystal

 

 

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. - Mother Teresa

 

 

From Arlo Guthrie:

My Friends,

Yesterday was a day we will never forget. The images of the attack upon ordinary people will remain with us all of our lives. In her daily prayers this morning, Ma said, "THERE MUST BE PEACE ON EARTH OR THERE WILL BE NO EARTH". She is right.

Once again we are reminded that our journeys through life are filled with opportunities to do good or evil. We must learn to know the difference between God's will and man's choice. Our choice must be to love and respect each other no matter that our traditions and cultures are varied and different.

Our enemy is clearly before us. Hate, religious intolerance, fear and anger are our foes. We are a people of love, welcoming our global family with open arms. We know no fear - Our hearts are already filled. Just remember who we are and we will be all right.

Today, I will remain in prayer with my family and friends from a dozen different religious traditions - We are all in tears.

Keep The Faith,

Arlo

 

 

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence, you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence, you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

From my friend Natalie:

It's not received a lot of coverage, but 100,000 people (most Canadians) piled onto the lawn of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa yesterday to mourn with the United States for the loss of so many lives. Ottawa, by the way, has a population of just under a million. All over Canada, as in the United States, there were vigils and prayer services. It was incredibly moving to see so many people in the place where I used to work who were not gathering to celebate Canada Day (our equivalent of the 4th of July); The Hill usually gets about 100,000 visitors on Canada Day.

I'm sure Americans will have shows of equal size once we feel safe enough to gather in large numbers. Personally, I find myself trying to make a distinction between Canadians & Americans in this tragedy, and I cannot. I don't think any democratic nation can make the distinction when the symbol of democracy is attacked. I went out on impulse and bought 15 yards of red, white & blue ribbon yesterday and sewed it into little lapel ribbons for members of my congregation to wear at Shabbat services last night. Never in a million years did I ever feel that I would think I would need to do that, as I've always felt that Americans had patriotism aplenty. But you know, just making them made me feel better somehow, and I was gratified to see people eagerly pinning them to their chests.

And let's not forget memorial services & vigils in England (the Beefeaters and footguards playing "the Star-Spangled Banner" as opposed to "God Save the Queen" is bizarre, folks, but touching), the Russians leaving roses in front of the US embassy, the vigils in Paris and Berlin, the moment of prayer in Korea and the laying of roses by the Korean parliament.

We are with you, and this event may actually bring together the majority of the world's nations who truly feel threatened by terrorists.

Natalie
wife of James London
mother of Emily
Canadian citizen

 

 

HEART & SOUL HEALING NEWSLETTER FROM KEN PAGE
http://www.kenpage.com
ken@kenpage.com

September 11, 2001

---------------------------------------------------------------

Attack on Our Spirits: The 911 Call

---------------------------------------------------------------

By now we have seen horror and devastation beyond the memories of most of us. Family, friends, our own freedom -- has been touched. Our lives have been attacked, our freedom has been challenged. For those of us who have not experienced war before, that day has come.

I struggle for the meaning in this devastation. Seeing people celebrating in the streets of the East Bank was overwhelming. There have been more wars in the name of God -- or Allah, or any of the other seventy-two names for God -- than for any other cause.

We in the US are minorities in this world. Our 270 plus million people only make up 4% of the world population. How many Americans believe in metaphysical or spiritual ideas? I believe we can help to heal and bring peace to the world during this time by having compassion for all creation.

I received a phone call from a friend asking me what Light Workers should do during this tragedy. Each of us must reflect on what this has done to the world, to our country, and to our homes. We have been personally wounded. I feel deep loss and sadness.

I ask each of you to take a moment to reflect on your freedom, the life spark within you, and your will to move out of these heavy feelings of helplessness and anger.

During this time, I am looking inward, being quiet, and grieving for those who lost their lives. The grief is personal, as though I have lost a loved one or a part of myself. What has happened today has affected the entire collective consciousness of our planet. The energetics are far-reaching. The energy around the ideas of war, revenge, and hate are highly charged.

You can help by loving yourself and having compassion for the world. I believe that all of us are helping in more ways than we can even imagine. It is important to rest, eat right, and be aware of what is going on in your own body. Be sure that you keep your life-force energy moving by being as physically active as you can.

If you feel that you need to send light, love, or energy and at some point feel physically overwhelmed, you may want to use these techniques to help you recenter yourself. http://www.kenpage-mch.com/healingtechniques/moment.html

Each one of us must do what we believe is in alignment with our own hearts and souls. By being true to ourselves, we are empowered during this time of tragedy.

God bless our brothers and sisters.

Ken Page

 

From Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues:

i have been thinking about violence, what it feels like to be nothing to someone else. what it feels like to be a consequence of someone else's disassociated rage, disconnected fury. i have been thinking about the cycle of hurt for hurt, nation against nation, tit for tat. i have been thinking about how deeply something else is required. i have been thinking about the courage it requires to think about something other than violence has a response to violence. i am thinking about the complexity of this and the loneliness of this and the helplessness and the sorrow that would be felt in the space where violence was once and the grief. i have been thinking that for those of us who are living on the planet right here, right now, nothing less will do if we are to go on as a species. that we must live in this dangerous space, allowing the helplessness, the grief, the sorrow to create new wisdom that can and will and must free us from this terrible world of violence. i urge you, each one of you - fall into this space, weep, be lost, let go, die into the grief - on the other side it will be revealed.

 

 

From Rev. Kathy Bishop:

Dear Friends of Unity:

This week has been a day of awakening for each and every one of us, a time of testing our faith and a time that we have been given to practice what we teach... the world thanks you for all of your prayers, prayer vigils, and loving thoughts. We as a Federation hold in love and peace everyone concerned - both victim and victimizer. 

It makes my resolve even stronger that the Federation of Independent Unity Churches' mission is to spread the Unity message of a God of love around the world, we can not leave even one stone unturned. We have been given a great task and God is supplying us with the power and the wisdom to accomplish it.

As it says in I John 4: 7, 8, 11, 12. "Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. ...since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

When we have shared this Truth with everyone we meet, every day this world will know only love and our planet will be transformed.

This is my life's goal and I know it is yours as well. Let us hold to the Truth, that God is good and only good and these people will not have lost their lives in vain.

In His Name,

Rev. Kathy
President, Federation of Independent Unity Churches

 

 

From Christopher Tims:

Dear Friends,

I speak to you this evening not just as the head of the Blue Star Mystery School but also as a fellow American. Today's terrorist attacks have been like no other in our young country's history. The perpetrators of these actions are not desperate. These actions were a careful premeditated strategy dedicated to create specific results of violence, panic, destruction and the loss of life.

I suggest the following to assist you all in working through this tragedy.

1) Be real, be authentic. Honor whatever it is you feel: fear... anger... sadness...

2) Move your awareness from the lower centers, beyond your mind, emotions and memories up to the Spiritual Eye (the ajna). As you do this, you will begin to depolarize yourself from the attachment to the emotions and feelings you have honestly experienced and now are ready to release.

3) Once established in the ajna, a sense of stillness - emptiness and then a feeling of well-being fills you. You move beyond being effected into just Being.

This is how you remind yourself that you are IN this world yet not OF this world. By being in communion with this stillness within you, the Divine, you bring heaven to earth.

I ask you not to think of creating new things - new worlds as that is not the need. But to find within yourself the stillness of the eternal, the Divine, for that is the world you seek, it is the true nature of reality. It is not new, it cannot be created, destroyed or made manifest, it simply is; always has been and always will be within you - the Oneness that you are.

As you pray, bring your prayers with you and make your life your living prayer. Then you will be praying without ceasing. This is the most powerful thing we can do to help.

For those of you who find these worlds difficult to accept at this time, I understand and I can offer you this: the state of unconditional acceptance of even this catastrophic event is the first and founding component of change. Acceptance becomes release.

The Bhagavad-Gita shares with us "The wise lament for neither the living nor the dead". We accept as basic teachings that life does not begin with birth and end with death. Remember all the people who have passed in this tragedy today are no longer suffering and are waking up in the astral plane even as you read this email this evening.

Baraka Bashad "May the blessings be"

C. Christopher Tims
Founding and Officiating Minister
The Order of the Blue Star
www.soundhealing.org


 

From Robyn Fear:

Hello dear music friends,

just keeping you posted on a little bit of music... hard to get out and carry on with life because nothing is normal... I am holding onto the belief that love will prevail and our world will come to a place of peace and acceptance. How we will get there remains to be seen? When we look around I do believe and have always experienced most human beings as caring, compassionate, loving and kind. And...we are the majority. Not a slim majority, a huge one...love will win over everything. My best wishes are with you all.

as to a little 'live' music... in case you need some joy to enter your soul in this form once again... I will be playing this weekend....

From Children of Light:

Hello everyone.

We are writing today with a message of great importance. Undoubtedly, we are all aware of the terrorist attack on the United States that has taken place today. However, we feel that it is extremely important to create a healing response.

For that reason, we have placed some helpful information on our web site at Children of Light, offering perspectives that can create some clarity and bring together a focus on healing around our world. We ask that you pass the word to your friends and loved ones, so that we may come together in healing and oneness.

Though this is a time of loss and human tragedy, there are higher perspectives of the soul that are vital to consider if we are going to move out of these fearful, survival manifestations. We hope that what we have to share will help you in some way.

Blessings to you all,

Ron Baker and Robert Baker

http://childrenoflight.com

 

 

 

 

Our message of Love and Hope

From Jon Marc Hammer and the Shanti Christo Foundation <joyful@shantichristo.com>

Dear One,

In light of the tragic events of this morning, Jon Marc Hammer and the Shanti Christo Foundation wanted to send you our message of Love and Hope to carry in your hearts in the next few days, weeks, months, and forever.....

'What is not Love is but a cry for help and healing.' - Jeshua, in A Course in Miracles

After a disturbing early morning sleep here at my mother's home near Seattle, Washington, I felt a strong impulse to turn on the television. There I learned of the devastating terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. I am sure my responses were much like yours: shock and disbelief, denial, and then - as the mind recognizes that what it is seeing is really happening - the attempt in the body to grip and tighten against the wave of emotional energy and feelings arising from the deepest parts of myself.

I noticed after some ten minutes that my breathing was restricted to my chest, my belly held tightly. Finally, I stood up, and focused fully on making the breath descend more and more through the 'wall' of resistance which is the normal and usual response of the body to 'hold it together'. Then, it erupted; waves of tears and moaning, along with a cascade of the images I had been watching, and many more made up in the mind based on what others must have been experiencing as their lives were suddenly and unexpectedly disrupted in acts of deliberate viciousness. Images of the families forever broken, and the often-devastating effects of trauma of this magnitude, which will reverberate for many for the rest of their lives.

I focused on sustaining, giving my body all the deep breath I could, to encourage these surges of emotion, feeling, imagery, and thoughts of helplessness, rage, fear, and - as is always the case when the body is released from its defensive gripping against feelings - finally deep sadness. My tears emerged it seemed from the roots of my body, and then even from the depth of my soul.

I heard the thoughts of Buddha: "Samsara [this world in which we live as body-minds, clutched in deep unconscious fear, unaware of the sacred unity underlying all things and at the heart of each and every being] is brutal." I heard the words of Jesus/Jeshua: "In the world, you will have tribulation…" and "…never underestimate the viciousness of the ego, nor the power you have given unto it."

The tears flowed more torrentially; it was difficult to fight the urge to cut off the breath in order to be 'saved' from feeling it all. But not feeling our deepest fear, our deepest pain, is precisely what causes it to perpetuate in our own individual lives, and to 'outpicture', or be projected onto, the world around us. And when pain, fear, and the terror of samsara is acutely suppressed, it erupts in the millions of ways in which human beings attack, judge, condemn, withhold love, control, coerce, denigrate, and also physically hurt or destroy each other.

As I continued to force myself to stay with feeling, to keep making the body receive breath, finally, after about an hour of waves of emotion, my body suddenly softened. The sadness diffused, and what arose was compassion, and a return within my soul of the one incontrovertible fact of Reality: I am one with all beings; my brothers and sisters are a part of me, and me of them. And this includes those who perpetrated the tragic events of this day.

For anyone committed to the spiritual path, the greatest danger is to perpetuate the illusion(the ultimate 'ego-trip') which keeps the world spinning round: the duality of us-and-them. It requires amazing mental dexterity to justify the egoic denial of the oneness of all beings. It requires denying what every great Master, mystic, and sage throughout all epochs of mankind have realized and sought to teach us.

Finally, I was able to rest in the acceptance that I am a part of what occurred this day. For what is unhealed in my brothers and sisters remained unhealed in the deeper part of my own universal being. And the call of Christ necessarily requires the embrace of the very difficult truth that what Jeshua (and all spiritual masters) insists upon: separation does not exist.

As I rested in this embrace, I had to also accept how often I give into the temptation to avoid doing all I can to awaken this world; the amount of energy I have expended complaining, whining, or at least directing my attention to my immediate comfort, pleasure, and sheer laziness. Lately, I have been far more interested in the magical season the Seattle Mariners are having in major league baseball. Meanwhile, brothers and sisters were completing plans to hurt America, their personally projected 'enemy'. And if we accept the opening quote from Jeshua found in A Course In Miracles, as well as other sources, these beings have been crying out for help and healing for most probably most of their lives, this tragic event being their last gasp attempt to cry out for attention to be brought to the vast insanity often colored and minimized by nations - such as the United States - which makes our world as it is.

Christ once used the analogy of leaving the safe confines of the flock to search out and embrace the few who are lost, recognizing that without doing so, the true desire of the flock cannot be realized. Likewise, the human family will never experience peace until we fully realize our oneness with all beings, and our on-going responsibility to work in whatever ways we can to heal our personal separation, and to reach out to help heal and awaken all beings.

The genuine spiritual path is not a bed or roses aiming at the goal of a comfortable personal life. It is nothing short of the radical evolutionary transformation of humanity living according to the laws of Spirit, not the ego. Each of us must cultivate the capacity to embrace, to enfold all beings in forgiveness, compassion, healing, and whatever help can be given to lessen the grip of fear and all its dysfunctional projections tormenting the One Soul we all share.

I have become convinced over the past 30 years of my own spiritual awakening, that Love is winning all the time. This does not deny the painful birthing process required by the very creations fear has birthed in and as this world. When China devastated Tibet, for example, forcing the Dalai Lama to flee, it caused the gifts of Tibetan Buddhism to become available to the entire human family. The Dalai Lama has become a global spiritual leader, and who among us cannot be overjoyed at his presence in the greater world? Likewise, Love finds a way to break through the effects of Fear, and I have no doubt that - in the months ahead - we will witness 'surprising' and positive effects growing from the painful and chaotic events, which have unfolded this day.

Therefore, I invite all who will read this, to do the following:

First, bring all of your attention back in to yourself, and away and off the events themselves. Guard your heart and mind from any temptation to judge, to condemn, to want revenge. Rather, by turning within, and opening to what calls to be felt in your own being, let your awareness penetrate any inner resistance to owning such Fear at the heart of your own soul. Be carried deeper than the defenses of judgment, anger, helplessness, sadness, and hurt. Be carried into the heart of compassion, born of the full realization that your brothers and sisters are a part of you, and you of them. This will take as long as the ego's grip in your soul is deep.

Next, center your attention in your heart. Breath in the pain and suffering of all 'victims', the men, women, and children; the wives, husbands, and grandchildren; the cousins, friends, and associates who died today. Feel it, breathe it, and as you exhale, send out love, golden light embracing their souls, whispering to them to turn to the Light just above them. If you feel emotion, give it space and permission to arise and pass through.

Spend as much time here as you can, allowing the unplanned images of others whom you have never met arise in your infinite awareness. Become the field of healing you are always capable of being, when the mind is turned away from the world, away from the superficial domain of the small self, the separate and separating ego.

Next, turn your attention to the brothers and sisters whose pain and separation is so deep that they chose to perpetrate the events of this day. Resting in your heart, breathe in their personal pain, and breathe out golden light, enveloping them, whispering to turn their awareness to the Light just above them. Notice any feelings or emotion arising within you, and continue. Again, continue as long as you can.

Then, turn your attention to all world leaders, and breathe in their fear, their anger, their rage, and - breathing out - surround them in golden light, whispering to come to a higher law, a deeper truth. Permeate the world with the light of Christ Mind, for that universal Light is your true Being.

Extend love, without conditions, until the world is permeated in Light.

Finally, bring your attention to your own life, and take a real, hard look. What more could you do to help extend the Invitation to awakening, the power of forgiveness, the hope of realizing higher laws, the healing embrace of Love into this very world? Here is the great work, here the sole purpose, here the reality of our very existence. All of us are an aspect of the one mind that made this world, and within us all is power of the Christ Mind to transform this world. But heaven on earth must become the passionate priority of enough of us to break out and become this world.

Until that occurs, until you and me and a hundred million beings all step into 100% ownership and commitment to fulfilling the potential of Life as heaven on earth, what occurred this day in New York and Washington, D.C., will continue to occur every day somewhere in this world, in ways great and small, stunning and unnoticed, until - perhaps - it strikes even closer to one's own soil, one's own soul.

And, lastly, spend at least one hour today in utter celebration of all the ways in which Love has seeped into this world. Laugh, sing, dance, and play, and join me in embracing the one truth which has been at work since - in Jeshua's words - we all together as one being dared to dream the dream of Separation, setting into motion the making of this world: Love is winning all the time.

Terrorism, because it does not align with or express Divine Law, will come to an end, and the events of this day bring with it an opportunity for the nations of the world to unify in a commitment to no longer tolerate what does not serve Life, just as each of us must become unified within our own souls, unwilling to 'tolerate error within yourself' (Jeshua).

Let us then celebrate, before this day ends, and renew our commitment to owning this world as our own, and work toward the inevitable and certain end of our evolution: the outpicturing as the world of the Reality of Divine Love yet resting in the depth of our One Soul.

Please invite everyone you know to participate in this practice of prayer, meditation, and inner call to us all to take up the Great Work.

Blessings,

Jon Marc Hammer
Shanti Christo Foundation

 

 


 

From David Giller:

Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them... he cried, 'Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?'... God said, "I did do something. I made you." - Sufi Teaching

 

From Flash at the Wallflower Gallery:

Just as war is an organized effort, so is peace. We still have the ability to create the world we want to live in, we just need to be strong enough to work together and help each other through this difficult time. May Peace be with you all!

 

 
From Karyn Altman of CenterPeace:

Dear Friends,

I've been hesitant all week, to write to you all, because I did not want to barrage you with more information. Yesterday, I finally noticed just how addicted I'd become to constant sound of the news from either the television or the radio. When I turned everything off, in order to focus on writing this letter, I suddenly heard the sound of the wind gently blowing across the bay and noticed also, that the sun was shining. I also realized what had been missing in my life this week, was the comfort that comes first from silence and then from taking a few minutes to connect from within. 

We are glued to our televisions, hungering for every piece of news, anxiously awaiting the next update or breaking story. Our eyes are singed by the barrage of stories of terror and pain, of loss and horror as we watch the sifting through what once were scenes filled with vibrancy and life. Permeating through it all, is the uneasiness of knowing that this is only the beginning and the fear that the worst is yet to come. This becomes more and more apparent every time anyone in our government gets in front of a microphone and further fuels our fear by promising us (while at the same time "revving us up for action and patriotism), difficult days ahead while we "smoke out those terrorists". 

One news reporter said he was awakened from a sound sleep last night at 2 am by the sound of thunder which he first thought was a bomb. Many friends have commented on their noticing every time a plane goes by overhead. I found myself transfixed this afternoon, by the sound of the birds chirping immediately followed by a police siren. Our senses are on overload, our anxiety level is heightened in ways we cannot even begin to process or fully comprehend. One of the things that can happen during these periods of overload, is we wind up being careless because we're not focused on being present and we loose patience, as I'm sure many of you have noticed. I keep losing things- my keys, my cell phone, even my car in a parking lot today. As a result, I've had to remind myself to come back to the present-- be as mindful (one of my favorite words) as possible- which means bringing my attention back to the present. I invite all of you to whenever possible, remember to breathe and stay focused on being in the moment. As for the patience, this is a lesson we'll all be learning again and again in the days ahead... 

I've received so many emails with words of wisdom, it was difficult not to want to share them with you all, so I've enclosed a few from some of our most brilliant writers below. They are, rather long, so if you don't have the patience or time to read through them all, that's fine. Do whatever feels best for you.

Please, to be good to yourselves during these difficult days. Stay in close touch with your loved ones, honor whatever you are feeling, be it anger, or pain, or sadness or even fear. Know that we are all in mourning and that it is not humanly possible to process all of the images and stories that are now coming at us from so many directions. Share your feelings if this brings you comfort because for many of us, this is how we heal. Give yourself permission if you don't feel like sharing because for some of us, remaining quiet is also a path to healing. Give yourself a break from the barrage of images being broadcast around the clock- they'll all still be there later on- all you need do is turn on the switch. I invite you to remember to make time in your day, to reconnect from within and to pray in whatever way feels most comfortable for you. 

Also, may I suggest that we avoid sending around emails predicting mass destruction (such as the one I received with the predictions from Nostradamus) because finding comfort in these limiting thoughts can only contribute to the negativity and do not propel us forward. These types of messages only continue to foster a fear based consciousness, which we know, is not healthy. We must all make a choice here and stay focused on lifting our collective vibrational force to peace and justice - not of revenge, hatred and anger. We "KNOW BETTER" - now we must all make the decision to act on it.

One more thing, Ted Koppel recently interviewed Maya Angelou late one night, and asked her "Will America Recover from this crisis?" Her response was so powerful, I ran from my bed in search of a pen so that I would be able to send this to you all. Here was her response:"Yes, I do believe that things will turn out all right. But we must first realize the difference between revenge and justice".

I send you my prayers of hope and healing,
love, Karyn

__________________________________________________

From Elizabeth Lesser, author of "The Seeker's Guide", and the co-founder of Omega Institute:

In the aftermath of Tuesday's heartbreaking events I have been leaning on the words of my heroes. I turn to people like the Dalai Lama, or Thich Nhat Hanh, or Jane Goodall, or Iyanla Vanzant -- courageous people who have confronted evil in their lives, and met it with the strength of love. I think of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and our own American hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. If our country were under the leadership of people like this, what would they be telling us and the world?

I believe that these people would tell us that strong and just action in the face of evil is legitimate. But they would also say that such action must not mirror the terrorist's actions. They would say that we have an historic opportunity to demonstrate a different kind of action, and in doing so to unify and heal our global community. This is what Martin Luther King called a "double victory." In speaking to those who sought violence against him and his dream, King said, "We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."

We need this "double victory" now. Yes, we need to bring the perpetrators of evil to justice. But we also need to be agents of enlightened thinking in the world. When the shock and the grief of the past days have been given their due time, we must try to transform the terror into something positive. The double victory will occur when we find a way to protect everything we love about America AND simultaneously address the misguided policies and values that have unwittingly contributed to the very terrorism we deplore.

When I see on television young, ignorant American men driving through Muslim-American neighborhoods, waving American flags, and denouncing innocent people, I am reminded that the roots of terrorism are in the human heart. They are not only in one religious or ethnic group, nor only in third world nations far from here. Cruelty is born in the hearts of angry people. Fundamentalist groups, be they the Ku Klux Klan, or the Kymer Rouge, or the hate-filled organization responsible for this catastrophe, can form anywhere there is fear and ignorance. Whether it is a young Arab man who grew up in poverty and violence in the Mid East, or a young white man who grew up neglected and mistreated in America, the hatred that dwells in the hearts of man will not be vanquished by more hatred.

It is my prayer that each one of us, and our country, and the world might use this tragedy for a "double victory." That as individuals who care about the world, we would also be on the lookout for misunderstanding, intolerance, and arrogance, in our own hearts. That as a country we would not only search for the people who committed these crimes, and bring them to justice, but that we would also reexamine our policies that contribute to terror in the world, and bring ourselves to justice. That as we denounce behavior that is lacking in the values we cherish most -- respect for life, equality of all people, love and care of children, generosity as opposed to greed, stewardship of the land-- we will also look deeply at how far we have strayed here at home from those values.

The light of justice is bright. If we dare to shine it on others, a strong reflection will come back on ourselves. Are we Americans ready to look more clearly at our individual life styles, our national policies, and the ways in which we do business in the world? We will have done nothing to avenge the grievous destruction and loss of life if we don't take this time for self-reflection.

On Tuesday night, when President Bush spoke to the American people, I had an opportunity to shine a light within my own heart. Since the presidential election nearly a year ago, I have hardened my heart in bitterness and intolerance towards President Bush. After his speech on Tuesday, I cried for the first time since the planes had smashed into the Trade Towers and the Pentagon. I cried because I was ashamed. Ashamed at my own ability to hate. Certainly, I can find a way to have my own strong beliefs and to disagree with people without putting them out of my heart; without demonizing them; without thinking I know everything about them.Yes, my internal feelings towards President Bush are a far cry from highjacking a jet and causing death and destruction, but intolerance has a way of building and spreading, and I for one, am comitting myself to the spirit of healing, not the spirit of violence.

People have asked me how each one of us might contribute in some way to the spirit of healing. In my own life, I prefer to "think globally, act locally." Here are some "local" things each one of us can do:

- Pray for those who lost their lives in such frightening and violent ways. Pray for those grieving the loss of family members and friends. Pray that the cities of New York and Washington, DC, and the people who live there, recover their trust and their zest for living. Pray that the leaders of the United States and other nations will use restraint and wisdom as they search for answers and justice in this crisis.

- Make time during these days to slow down, quiet your mind, and open your heart to the grace and wisdom of a higher force. Be mindful of your own reactivity and judgments. It is so important to be guided by a steady and quiet heart, not fear or speculation. Fear breeds the kind of actions we witnessed on Tuesday. When you feel waves of terror rising within you, stop for even a few breaths, and listen to the quiet voice of peace that is the harbinger of wisdom. And when you feel the strong pull of anger and the very human urge to retaliate, rest gently for a while in a love that transcends bitterness and hatred.

- Resist focusing only on blame. Search deeper, for the causes of pain in the world. For even as we bring these particular madmen to justice, so too we can root out the madness in a world that perpetuates hunger, torture, poverty, inequality, and environmental destruction. What happened on Tuesday is connected to what happens everyday to people within our country and those far from America's shores. Truly we are all one people.

- Dedicate your life to spreading love in your daily interactions at home and work. Do not be afraid to take a stand for love. In his famous letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King wrote, "Though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter, I eventually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love? "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice? 'Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.' Will we be extremists for hate or for love?"

- Have faith that there is a higher reason for everything and that good will prevail. At the beginning of the bus boycott in Montgomery, King told his followers that "faith in the dawn arises from the faith that life is good and just. When one believes this, he knows that the contradictions of life are neither final nor ultimate. He can walk through the dark night with the radiant conviction that all things work together for good. Even the most starless midnight may herald the dawn of some great fulfillment. Tonight we must believe that a way will be made out of no way."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

COMPASSION AND REVENGE, by Gary Zukov

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are occasions of great significance. They are opportunities for you to feel inside, to find those parts of yourself that are in fear, and to make the decision to move forward in your life without fear. That is the challenge for each individual on this planet today. The pursuit of external power - the ability to manipulate and control - creates only violence and destruction. The painful events in New York and Washington are living examples of that reality.

The causal chain that created this violence is one in which compassion and wisdom are absent. Are wisdom and compassion present in you as you watch the television, and read the papers? It is important to realize that you do not know all that came to conclusion, or into karmic balance, as a result of these events. Because you are not able to know all that can be known about them, you are not in a position to judge them.

When you are able to look at the events of the Earth School from this perspective, you will see clearly the central importance of the role that you play in it. That role is this:

It is for you to decide what you will contribute to this world. Many will be asking your opinion of these events. Each question is an opportunity for you to contribute to the love that is in the world or to the fear that is in the world. This is the same opportunity that presents itself to you at each moment.

If you hate those who hate, you become like them. You add to the violence and the destructive energy that now fills our world. As you make the decision to see with clarity and compassion, you will see that those who committed these acts of violence were in extreme pain themselves, and that they were fueled by the violent parts of ourselves - the parts that judge without mercy, strike in anger, and rejoice in the suffering of others. They were our proxy representatives. If you can look with compassion upon those who have suffered and those who have committed acts of cruelty alike, then you will see that all are suffering. The remedy for suffering is not to inflict more suffering.

This is an opportunity for a massive expression of compassion. It is also an opportunity for a massive expression of revenge. Which world do you intend to live in - a world of revenge or a world of compassion?

--------------------------------------------------------------

IT'S TIME FOR SOLUTIONS By John Hagelin, Ph.D. Hagelin, a Harvard-trained quantum physicist, is Director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management, and Minister of Science and Technology of the Global Country of World Peace. 

Let us not waste precious time lamenting what should have been done to prevent this week's barbaric acts. Let us instead do what must be done NOW to prevent further carnage. For next time, the devastation could be worse. This week's attack was partly symbolic: targeting the icons of U.S. military and commercial power. It would have been easier, analysts say, for the terrorists to unleash a biological weapon, or to detonate a crude nuclear device, than to execute their highly coordinated, pinpoint attack, involving the simultaneous breach of multiple airport security systems. While a NARROWLY TARGETED response against the perpetrators of the atrocity is clearly mandated, we must resist any impulse to retaliate militarily against entire nations or even communities. Such retaliation would be as barbarous as the very act we are condemning - and would only cause an escalation of bloodshed on all sides. Even as we pursue such justice, we must also recognize the impotence of this pursuit. First, because the damage is done; reactive steps cannot change this fact. A proactive, PREVENTIVE strategy is needed. Second, suicide bombers and the bin Ladens of this world will only welcome the perpetuation and escalation of violence. It fuels their cause, expands their support base, enflames their followers - and feeds their own blood lust. 

What do we do? It is abundantly clear that conventional strategies of defense provide NO effective defense against terrorism. And despite the cry for a dramatic escalation of our intelligence services, nothing short of a totalitarian police state - entailing a massive invasion of our privacy and individual liberties - could have prevented this week's horrific acts. Even with the government's ultra-high-tech eavesdropping technologies, ECHELON and CARNIVORE, already prying into the lives of American citizens, our intelligence agencies had NO CLUE of the impending, massive attack. 

Clearly, we need a new approach - one that targets the underlying causes of fanatical, violent behavior. Setting aside, for now, recent U.S. foreign policies that foster international resentment and invite retaliation, such causes include: 

1. Mounting tensions among rival factions in critical hotspots throughout the world; and

2. Deep-seated ignorance and underdevelopment of the brain caused by outdated education. 

Education must expand comprehension, and it must develop the brain fully. It should incorporate the most profound scientific knowledge, including the discovery of the unified field, which establishes the ultimate unity of life and of humanity. This knowledge can be effectively conveyed even at primary levels of education. Research shows that the assimilation of such knowledge, together with its associated balanced brain development, virtually precludes narrowly self-centered, violent and destructive behavior.

Highly successful examples of this "unified-field based" education can be found throughout the world, including at my university in Iowa. But it may take years to modernize education and "enlighten" the world. In the meantime, we must halt terrorism now. And we can, according to research published in leading scientific journals. We can diffuse acute ethnic and religious tensions that underlie regional conflicts and terrorism, using field-tested approaches that have demonstrated their ability to quell violence and warfare. Novel as it may seem, these approaches include the practice of stress-reducing meditation techniques by strategically located groups--an approach that was scientifically shown to produce an 80% drop in war deaths and war-related injuries during the Lebanon war. Right now, Major General Kulwant Singh, a highly decorated 35-year career veteran, is in Washington, D.C., urging President Bush to quickly implement a "prevention wing" in the military - 10,000-20,000 troops trained in the powerful peace-promoting technology of Transcendental Meditation and related techniques. This approach is being supported by a growing number of military leaders throughout the world. Unfortunately, rather than look seriously at something new that MIGHT work - something with extensive research behind it - the Bush Administration is pushing costly, outmoded and invasive strategies that we know DON'T work.

Now is not the time for hollow assurances - nor the hasty abridgement of our hard-won freedoms. Now is the time for a NEW approach - an approach with a demonstrated ability to prevent social violence and stop terrorism. 

______________________________________________________________________

Also, please note that Sherrill Sellman, author of "Hormone Heresy" and publisher of Hormonewise Digest, has a very detailed and important health warning to pass on to our friends and family in the New York area. Further details and specific information can be attained by contacting her at golight@earthlink.net or visiting: http://www.ssellman.com

Another wonderful peace resource Karyn turned me on to is this organization: Images and Voices of Hope. Their website has messages and resources for peace from around the globe.

 

 

 

THE BIGGER PICTURE

by Patricia Diane Cota-Robles
www.1spirit.com/eraofpeace
E-mail: PattiCR@aol.com

This article is copyrighted. You have my permission to share it through any medium as long as the proper credit line is included.

This is a monumental moment in the evolution of this sweet Earth. Incredible things occurred in August that have moved this Planet a quantum leap up the Spiral of Evolution. What we are experiencing now is a result of the dramatic changes the Earth is going through. I have posted a VITALLY IMPORTANT ARTICLE on my website in the LATEST UPDATES section.

I am sending this mailing to thousands of Lightworkers all over the World, so if you cannot get through to my website immediately DO NOT GIVE UP! Keep Trying! Please read the entire article. It will help you to see the bigger picture of what is transpiring at this moment and help to put this horrific experience into perspective. Once again, I am going to ask you to read this information through the eyes of Divine Discerning Intelligence. Ask your God Self to guide you to perceive and accept only the Truth that is in alignment with your Divine Plan.

The seers of old said that during these end times we would experience "screaming and the gnashing of teeth." They also predicted Armageddon--the ultimate battle between good and evil. The reason for their dire predictions is that the seers witnessed what naturally occurs when the Light of God increases on Earth. They saw that when the Light of God penetrates into the physical plane and pierces into the core of purity in every electron of precious Life energy, all of the humanly created patterns of imperfection that conflict with that Divine Light are pushed to the surface to be healed and transmuted into Light. For example,

when Divine Love fills our hearts, everything that conflicts with that Love is pushed to the surface to be healed. That includes hatred, fear, intolerance, prejudice, abuse, anger, lack of reverence for Life and every other thought, word, action or feeling that is void of Love. If people are not aware of what is happening, it appears as though things are getting worse in their lives. That causes them to become frightened, and when people move into fear, it is easy to latch onto the negative patterns that are coming up to be healed. When that happens, they often act out of their old, destructive behavior patterns which, of course, just exacerbates the situation.

The Light of God has greatly increased on Earth since the fifteenth Harmonic Convergence which occurred on August 17, 2001. The negativity that is surfacing is reflecting our abuse of power and lack of reverence for Life. The very best way to reverse what is happening is to invoke the opposite--the Divine Qualities of our Father-Mother God--which are the Divine Authority, Will and Power of our Father God and the Divine Love and Reverence for Life of our Mother God. We must BE the OPEN DOOR that no one can shut. Allow the Light of God to flow through the Power Center of your Throat Chakra and the Love Center of your Heart Chakra. Project the Light into every negative pattern that is surfacing at this time.

Where your attention is there YOU are. Do not allow yourself to become part of the problem by getting caught up I the fear, anger, grief and horror of what has happened. Become part of the solution and transcend those emotions. Allow the Presence of God blazing in your heart to take full dominion of your thoughts, words, actions and feelings. BE A PEACE COMMANDING PRESENCE AND HOLD YOUR HEART OPEN IN THE FACE OF ALL ADVERSITY.

Invoke the Angels of Comfort, Love, Peace and Healing to envelop very person, place, condition and thing involved in this tragedy. And, above all, remember -- THE LIGHT OF GOD IS ALWAYS VICTORIOUS AND YOU ARE THAT LIGHT! This is why you are on Earth during this Cosmic Moment! BE WHO YOU ARE!

Please go to my website and read the article THE BIGGER PICTURE.

God Bless YOU,

Patricia Diane Cota-Robles

 

 

 

From Russell Feingold <genesishealing@home.com>

Hi friends old and new,

I know there are many incredibly supportive, nurturing and inspiring emails being circulated around right now. I am forwarding an email that follows this message because of its directness, clarity and inspiring call to action. I pray for us to rise together to this call to action and create the life so many are feeling more strongly than ever: a life of deep loving, rich with compassion and understanding. A life inspired and empowered by our desire to live peacefully, lovingly and deliberately in harmony. A life that each of us can consciously choose right now!

Let us each ask ourselves, "What is most important right now? And am I willing to once and for all step over that line and live the depth of truth that burns so brightly and intensely within me right now? Do I dare to do what must be done to rise up as a source of love, peace and strength for this world and all those who live here?!"

I say yes! It is time to dare to live the greatest and deepest truths in our hearts and choose to love and care more deeply than we ever have before! Do we need any more of a wake up call to inspire us to fully awaken and embrace our God-given power. It is sitting here for us. The time is now! The greatest opportunity in the history of humankind lies before us, yearning to be birthed.

Let us do it now!!! Let us reach into the depths of our souls and liberate the infinite potential to love, support and truly care about one another. Let us be totally committed individually and collectively to shift the global consciousness to ignite the inherent goodness within us and finally create "Heaven on Earth". We are at critical mass right now to shift the collective consciousness of this planet. How many of us right now will dare to care that deeply that the scales finally tip and the tides triumphantly turn. We each have the power within us. Let us embrace it totally and let us pray with all my hearts and souls to LET THY WILL BE DONE - NOW! Amen

In peace, Russell Feingold

- - - - - - - -

Join Neale Donald Walsch author of Conversations with God, Marianne Williamson, James Twyman, James Redfield and Doreen Virtue in Prayer of Peace

Dear Beloved Friends around the world…

Join us in this prayerful response to the recent terrorist attacks on the US. We join with all the millions around the world praying for peace, and for those who have been injured or killed. Please send this out to as many people as you can so we can keep our minds focused on peace.

Seven Days of Prayer - It took seven to create the world, we now ask you to join us in spending the next seven days recreating it.

Wherever you are, join us for the next seven days "FEELING" this new world and praying it into existence. At 9 pm EST, 6 pm west coast time, from September 11 to 18, simply feel the presence of millions around the world who are praying for all violence to cease. Spend ten minutes in silence each night knowing that we are creating a new world based upon the laws of compassion and peace.

The events of this day cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives, whatever is going on in them, and to ponder deeply the large questions of life. We search again for not only the meaning of life, but the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it - and we look earnestly for ways in which we might recreate ourselves anew as a human species, so that we will never treat each other this way again. The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are.

There are two possible responses to what has occurred today. The first comes from love, the second from fear.

If we come from fear we may panic and do things-as individuals and as nations-that could only cause further damage. If we come from love we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others.

This is the moment of your ministry. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come.

We will set the course for tomorrow, today. At this hour. In this moment.

Let us seek not to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause. Unless we take this time to look at the cause of our experience, we will never remove ourselves from the experiences it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and, likewise, seek retribution from them.

To us the reasons are clear. We have not learned the most basic human lessons. We have not remembered the most basic human truths. We have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom. In short, we have not been listening to God, and because we have not, we watch ourselves do ungodly things.

The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear:

We are all one. That is a message the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember is simple: Love, this and every moment.

If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what then will be the outcome?

These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years. Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all.

If we want the beauty of the world that we have co-created to be experienced by our children and our children's children, we will have to become spiritual activists right here, right now, and cause that to happen. We must choose to be at cause in the matter.

So, talk with God today. Ask God for help, for counsel and advice, for insight and for strength and for inner peace and for deep wisdom. Ask God on this day to show us how to show up in the world in a way that will cause the world itself to change. And join all those people around the world who are praying right now, adding your Light to the Light that dispels all fear.

That is the challenge that is placed before every thinking person today. Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beauty and the wonder of our world and to eliminate the anger and hatred-and the disparity that inevitably causes it - in that part of the world which I touch?

Please seek to answer that question today, with all the magnificence that is You.

What can you do TODAY...this very moment?

A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another.

Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience-in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that.

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.

If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand.

If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another.

Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love.

We love you, and we send you our deepest thoughts of peace.

Neale, Marianne, James, James and Doreen

To join Neale's Emissary of Light mailing list either visit this URL: http://www.topica.com/lists/EmissaryofLight, or send a BLANK email to: EmissaryofLight-subscribe@topica.com

 

 

While I approach things from a largely spiritual perspective, I believe there is also an important political reality to what is happening.
Here are a few of the people who I feel are beautifully articulating the politics of current events:

James Mann's "Ignorance is Not Bliss" in Ink 19

John "Bonefish" Stacey's always brilliantly-thoughtful point of view

From the band Anti-Flag

It has been exactly two weeks since the events of September 11, 2001, and we still find ourselves in a state of grief and shock. These events have devastated us, as they have devastated all of the world's citizens. We deeply grieve for the victims and surviving family members of these heinous attacks.

We have been asked many times, "Why does Anti-Flag hate America?" In these very uncertain times we want to make it very clear that we do not hate America, what we hate are the problems that plague our country: corporate control of our government, homophobia, sexism, mistreatment of veterans, ageism, police brutality, exploitation of lesser economically developed countries, just to name a few.

Therefore, in the spirit of the founders of America, we raise our voices in dissent to draw attention to such problems in an attempt to improve life for all, not because we hate America. For 10 years, Anti-Flag's main goal has been to unite people and fight against violence and oppression. The content of our songs and even our name is meant to break down the artificial barriers we believe are used to separate people, corrupted patriotism or nationalism being the issue we most often target. The most important underlying theme we have stressed in the past, but want to stress now more than ever is that we do not support killing or oppression of any sort, by anybody.

Therefore, in the spirit of the founders of America, we raise our voices in dissent to draw attention to such problems in an attempt to improve life for all!

We know what we believe in, so now we are faced with the question, "Where do we go from here?" After much soul searching we have decided that instead of getting pulled into the media fervor that calls for revenge or justice through military retaliation (we do not see that as a solution to the problem), and dehumanization along national and ethnic lines, we feel it is important to express an alternative viewpoint to violence and blind nationalism. We want those who are searching for non-violent solutions to know that they are not alone. Anti-Flag and our music will always stand with you. We do have a voice, small as it may be, with unity and perseverance we believe the call for peace will grow strong.

With the belief that music can be a powerful tool to rally people around, we have written and recorded a song that can be downloaded for free off of our website, http://www.anti-flag.com, and the Fat Wreck Chords Web site (http://www.fatwreck.com). Please attach it to your website and make it available to everyone. This song expresses in the best way we can the sentiments we have just outlined. We hope this song will be one of the many calls for a new global peace movement that encourages people to realize the madness that more violence will bring to this already insane situation. We also hope it will encourage people to think about the endless cycle of violence that violence creates.

While the attacks of September 11, 2001 were incredibly evil and inflicted a great deal of pain upon us and all citizens of the world, the horrific attacks do not somehow nullify past or present injustices carried out by the U.S. government, or any government, for that fact! That said, when we feel injustice is taking place we will not hesitate to raise our voices in the name of justice! We hope you will join us.

 

 

 

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