Spirituality: [concern with things of the spirit.]
Terrorism; [The calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.]
So, we had another guy try to blow up a plane in flight and in spite of all the terror alerts and redundant hassles we go through at the airport, it was the passengers that saved the day, again. Yes, the suspects father told the US government that they should be concerned about his son. Yes we have 35 known, out in the open terrorist training camps inside the United States that train young men and women to make bombs, kidnap and kill. (I have to ask, are they over here because we are over there?)Yes, all of us Americans will take even longer to get through the airport and have restricted movement on the plane now even though we might end up sitting next to someone with a bomb in their shoes, taped to their legs, shoved up their ass or wherever.
For this next part I am going to ask everyone to try something that may be new to some people. I call it “complete thought”. Let’s start off with the act of suicide. Something will drive a person to the act of self destruction. Depression, suffering, a pointless outlook of life and even curiosity. Then there are the selfless acts of putting one’s self in the line of death to preserve others, separated by a fine line of those who plan to kill themselves and others to protect their homeland, religion and loved ones from a perceived enemy. From that last group we get the ones that are contracted or coerced: examples are, detonate this car bomb and we will take good care of your family; detonate this plane bomb or we will kill your family. The next reason is one I think we should really look at. Revenge. Imagine what someone would have to do to you and your loved ones that you would embark on a lengthy plan and proceedure that eventually ended in your death, along with the mass of people you killed.
I just don’t think that people will fly planes into buildings and military nerve centers or use themselves as bombs in countries foreign to them just because their target thinks or lives differently than they do. I do believe you can construct a series of events and circumstances or create an environment in which people could resort to these actions against you. I think most people want to do nice things for people they like and respect so if someone did an extremely devastating act against me or my people, I would have to ask “What did I do to you to deserve this?” Is anyone else asking themselves this?
Propaganda: [Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause.] (i.e. FOX “News” The others are bad too but FOX is the worst.) The sources say that the people who make these efforts to kill us are religious extremist and they are on a religious mission. (You know, like the Crusades, witch trials, Spanish inquisition and spiritual endeavors.) They are out to destroy the infidels (A person who does not acknowledge your god) yet I haven’t heard of them blowing up Buddhist temples (ok, maybe one in Afghanistan) or poisoning Hare Krishna feasts but they do have it out for us. Why? Really. Why? What did we do to have a very disciplined and determined group of people want to cause such death and destruction on us? Are they angry about what our big business and government has done to them and find us, the people, guilty by apathy? What will it take to order those 35 terrorist camps inside our country and the thousands of highly trained terrorists to get called into action and go on shooting, bombing/suicide sprees? When that day comes, and it will since someone put out a lot of money for those camps, it will be more serious that the last two flunkies like shoe bomb boy and burning legs man in airplanes. I can tell you that a large group already based in our country could do more serious things than we have seen in the past and with lasting effects that we will not be able to prevent in a useful scale, should these guys decide to act. That’s not a paranoid statement, that’s reality.
What does this have to do with spirituality or Shamanism? Plenty. We have substituted a spiritual mentality for that of instant gratification and greedy comfort. I would call the apathetic attitude about your governments actions towards other peoples as long as you have cheap gas and something to watch on TV and very unspiritual state. I’m sure to some peoples we would look like we worship a god of war and our spirituality is taking resources from other lands to offer in tribute. Every military in history knows occupation breeds resentment and eventually hate. I don’t like the way things are run here but if we were to be occupied by another military, for any reason, I would be killing them everyday just because they are here in a military capacity.
For the interests of complete thought I propose we work towards changing our outlook of the world and in turn, the world will see us differently. The first thing is to get into the government’s business because it’s our business and their actions always affects us. I think these “climate talks” are another way to hold back develpoping countries. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be concerned and proactive about our part in global pollution so much as we should be setting an example of change and be sharing the technology of that change so the developing nations can responsibly enjoy a growing prosperity. I think we should work on cleaning up our own domestic terrorism. GMO food and the antics let run wild by pharmaceutical scares me. (If Monsanto doesn’t have a terroristic agenda, I don’t know who does. Controlling the world’s food production?) Why don’t we stop telling the world we know how they should live and we are coming over there to prove it. Maybe we should look at the countries that are not worried about being targets of terrorism. I doubt Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Finland, Norway or other countries that mind their own business have too much to worry about from the guys that like to bomb us. Hmmm, why is that? A “live and let live” attitude is a good place to start.
I think it would be good for every American to put out a personal message to the world in anyway they can to show that they are not mindless, apathetic followers. Here’s mine: “Hey world, I apologize for not doing enough to observe the actions of my government and big business. At this time I can only assume we, as a nation, did something that provoked the attacks against us and put us in a perpetual defense mode against further retaliation. I would love to know what it was we did (or the list of things) to bring this hatred upon us. I promise to get more involved in responsible actions that cut the wastefulness we are so famous for and the consumerism that pillages natural resources and exploits human labor. I will get more involved with spreading productive and proactive ideas and information. I pledge to spend the needed time and effort to make the changes that has the world look at us as a friend to the Earth and all inhabitants and an example of how technology responsible industrialization and peacefully co-exist in a healthy environment. This will take a little time but we are known for great things when we want to do them.”
I think everyday people here and in countries that have major issues with us should communicate at the people level for it is we, not the governing officials or big business management, who will suffer the consequences of escalated conflicts. They will just get richer and have more control over our lives. If we are becoming a global community, we the people, should communicate more so we get the truth about world events. We can make our views and opinions known through blogs, comments and links to like minded blogs. Why not? If the people of the world don’t start communicating to each other as a global community we will all continue to be subjected to the power games of politicians and big business. Finally, every country needs to be responsible for cleaning up their own yard. The global superpowers need to be the first to set that example.
It seems like a lot of the big political issues run around organized religion and that the governments are protecting people from doing things that will have them fall from some deity’s favor. If every person is to answer for their deeds and misdoings on their own to this alleged deity, what does any government have to do with anything that governs the private person and their actions other than what directly harms others and the community? The religious extremist (christians included) want to force people to follow a doctrine but they aren’t any more evil than the big companies that force harmful drugs and chemicals into your life or utilizing cheap child labor in the name of “providing employment” to developing nations. There are a few definitions and levels of terrorism. We should be aware of how we allow ourselves to play into them. Allowing ignorance to go unchecked is a sure way to condone women being hanged for showing too much skin or wearing brightly colored clothes, vaginal circumcision to help them be “clean”, any gender being executed for same sex relationships or relationships with more than two people and people in poverty to let themselves be used up as just another resource.
Terrorists would have a smaller playing fiels if everyone were more of the “live and let live” mentality and worked to irradicate ignorance and dogma. Terrorism doesn’t have any spiritual value to the intelligent mind.
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