Author & Speaker, CLAIRE KRULIKOWSKI

(The following article is written by Claire Krulikowski and reprinted with permission from the Dec. 2001 New Times, Seattle, WA.)

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it always. — Mahatma Gandhi

"Within the thick cloud of horror choking us into stillness on September 11 were woven recollections of why we’d all incarnated upon Earth at this time. The smoke and soot that blinded people’s sight, the mass confusion of running throngs seeking escape, the mute incomprehensibility of so many purposely perpetrated deaths, our wonder at how and why this could be, still remain the backdrop of our lives.

"Symbolically and physically, we remain blinded by clouds of misinformation, continue running from our responsibility to make personal and national amends, remain about the horrors of continual killing, and are left wondering how it will shake out. Yet, symbolically and physically, we are being awakened, challenged to deal with old energies of fear, anger, intolerance, injustice, brutality, war, religious difference (and indifference), and, ultimately, our inhumanity to each other so that we may all shape our lives and world anew.

"It’s a time of great opportunity and change, and of great sacrifice and awe, as we witness the exodus of over 5,000 family members who’d volunteered on some level to take their leave so that we might recall the need for goodness and justice, so we might seek our nobility from beyond ashes of sadness. September 11th was, in its way, a very holy day.

"The earth, and we as people, have stepped through new portals toward understanding how our choices and actions contribute to the whole and how governmental decisions are in effect because of the needs of corporations in high-stakes games for oil rights. We have a new understanding of our less-than-perfect choices, a dawning realization of what we’ll no longer tolerate upon Earth.

Gandhi’s Despair
"I forwarded the Gandhi quote that opens this article to several friends days after September 11th, because the frequency of such words are medicine to the spirit. Too, it might raise thoughts offering opportunities for growth and choice.

In response, someone typed back this question: "Was it Gandhi who acknowledged that if the Indians had lain down on the railroad tracks in front of the Nazis instead of the British, they would simply have been run over? Does pacifism work against a foe with no morality?"

"It’s a perfect question. Other questions reverberate round it, such as: Does desiring peace mean passivity? Does war bring peace? Most importantly, who is the real foe?

"I’ve no idea if Gandhi said he’d have had less chance against the Nazis than the British. I do know, however, that during Gandhi’s lifetime, fifty British soldiers fired 1600 rounds of ammunition for several minutes into a peaceful gathering of 10,000 Indians at Jallianwallah Bagh Park in Amritsar, India, killing four hundred people and wounding thousands more.

"September 11th wasn’t the first nor necessarily the most hideous of horrors to ever touch humanity. Yet, through the brilliance of our technology, for the first time, the entire world sat in stunned witness.

"I asked my friend — and now ask you — not merely to recollect the Nazi Holocaust. Recall, too, the terror of the Holy Christian crusades brutalizing those of the Muslim faith (and others along the way). Recall the murder, rape, and pillage of Native Americans by our early settlers, as well as the native people of Africa at the hands of "refined" Europeans and Americans. Recall the horrific devastation when the United States nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki and other killing fields.

"To these, add the brutalization of women and the political subterfuge that has changed the course of nations, like the U.S.-assisted assassination of the democratically elected President Salvadore Allende of Chile, who’d planned the removal of Western oil and business interests from Chile because he believed Western self-interest was profiting at the expense of the interests of his country’s people. Terror compounds terror.

"Bearing all this in mind, I asked my friend — and now ask you — "Now whose speeding train do you feel safe lying down in front of?"

Questions, Spirit, and the Oil Corridor
"September 11th and the war we’re waging on Afghanistan touch us all. The purposefulness, inspiration, and subterfuge of it all have yet to be completely grasped. Yet, daily, more people feel something is amiss.

"It is natural and inevitable that the multiple prayers and aspirations for peace held by millions of people around the world will bring about a peaceful world. Yet, there can be no peace while we as individuals in our family and communities, much less as nations in the world community, fail to live lives of peace, fairness, love, tolerance, justice, and prosperity. What of the accumulation of fear, anger, and injustice stored within us as well as upon Earth over the course of millennia?

"We’re asked to believe that the number one culprit we must bomb into oblivion is a wealthy desert marauder named bin Laden. How quickly we can find the heinous one out there! Of course, we must take control of the entire country where he’s hiding too. Yet, bad as his actions may be, given the scope of September 11th actions and our placement in humanity’s spiritual evolution, is it bin Laden who truly needs to be brought to justice?

"One afternoon I watched the TV news display vintage video of bin Laden strutting across the parched, rugged landscape while a journalist reported an administration statement that "bin Laden is on the run on horseback to a new hideout." How can we reconcile this visual TV image of him as the one responsible for actions of such immense, intricate, well-timed, broad-based scope as those taking place on September 11th?

"He may very well be one of those who planned the actions, yet isn’t it more likely that the self-interests of powerful monetary brokers of corporate business and political structures continue to act as "the great and powerful Oz" pulling the curtains closed across the events of the world stage? How have they caused unrest amongst world peoples, as well as funded the causes of countries with erratic, non-peaceful aims?

"Bottom-line, Afghanistan is an essential oil corridor we want. The war the United States is waging has little to do with terrorism, though terrorism conveniently brought it on — perhaps too conveniently. Our consumer dollars, our votes (or lack of votes), and our prayers support — or don’t support — industrialists and politicians.

"By focusing on bin Laden, accepting the media marketing campaign, and not utilizing our energies elsewhere, we become distracted from the purposefulness of September 11th and the political and commercial gains being won at our expense in this war. By focusing on him, we as a nation allow ourselves to become increasingly vulnerable to other forays.

"Yet, the magnetism of our prayers for peace to reign upon Earth also drew great nobility from the fount of our spirits. We listened for weeks afterward to stories of calm, of heroism and unselfish actions. "They lived the code of the day," one announcer noted during a relief fund telethon. "Before we save ourselves, we save others."

"People didn’t simply leave others to take care of things. By and large, we acted from a core of goodness. The magnitude of spiritual evolution that is "up" for humanity to address requires us to take action and to ask hard third-dimensional questions, because that is how tyrants and murderers lose their invincibility. The rebirth that is to take place is not accomplished solely spiritually, but is grounded into the physicality of our life choices and societal organizations.

The Blink of an Eye
"All will change in the blink of an eye." We blinked on September 11th.

"We shouldn’t be distracted from the most essential point: we are given free will to choose how we live. The answer is always within. If we wish to transform life, we must accept that we are creating it and are responsible for what is being played out.

"To my e-mail friend and to you, I say that peace is energy, and it isn’t passive. Our daily prayers and meditations must continue to hold light for healing, wisdom, and peace. Our lives and personal choices must be the vehicles transmitting healing, wisdom, and prosperity around the world by walking, talking, purchasing with, and singing our prayer so all hear and feel its effect. "I am God’s hands," Jewel sings.

"Let’s gather people together in our homes as good neighbors for peace and share concerns, information, discontent, hopes, and help remove others from their sense of isolation. Let’s send letters and e-mails to news media, the president, and the secretary of state, urging them to investigate new directions and ideas and to stop the killing, and offer suggestions about how we can better the global world. Let’s vote new choices. Let’s pray that our leaders feel compassion and receive greater wisdom.

"Money is energy, and by using it wisely, we shift corporate practices and philosophies. We, in fact, make policy. Let’s use our consumer dollars and voices to support life-affirming products, whether that be organic vegetables and fertilizer or fuel-efficient cars. Let’s stop production of products harming our sensitivities; we cannot support movies or video games that perpetuate violence, fear, and anger with our money or via our silence any longer.

"Also, be it within families, jobs, or amongst friends, let’s disconnect those "buttons" we swear people are always pushing. Our annoyance is a symptom of our individual sense of isolationism, self-interest, and judgement; the buttons are our own creation. September 11th demonstrated that their usefulness is over because we are all one. Instead, when those buttons agitate us, we can change our habitual reaction and respond from our "compassion" button, our "helpful" button, our "abundance" button, our "Christ" button, and so on.

"The answers are within and meant to be lived (w)holy according to our new, stronger code so that we can then begin creating life anew." - by Claire Krulikowski; Copyright©2001. Reprinted from the Dec. 2001 New Times.