The Spirit of September 12

Much is said, for good reason, about September 11, 2001. Far too little is said about September 12, 2001. There is as much to learn from 9/12 as there is to learn from 9/11, perhaps more. We seem intent on remembering the lessons of the former, and almost equally intent on forgetting the lessons of the latter.

On the morning of September 12, 2001, we awoke to a different world. That world was not just one that had been shocked by an insane act of terrorism. It was a world that was united against the insanity of terrorism.

The “we” who awoke that morning was not limited to Americans. We were the world, and the world was us. Essentially every person who did not fall within the small circumference of religious or political zealots who we call “terrorists” was, on that morning, united in its revulsion.

On September 11, we gazed in stunned silence upon the destruction formerly known as the Twin Towers. On September 12, we witnessed that silence give birth to a precious unity and an incomparable resolve. The doors and windows that had been blow off those Towers were simultaneously blown open to all who watched them fall.

It was a moment of light breaking through the darkest cloud that had ever passed over America and all that America stood for in the world. It was a light coming from all good and decent people outside America, which was immediately joined by the light from all good and decent people inside America.

We were not Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Islanders or any other national, ethnic or cultural clan; we were not liberal, conservative, moderate, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or any other political persuasion; we were not Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, atheists or any other adherent on the religious spectrum; we were not rich, poor, middle class or any other economic classification; we were not black, white, brown or any other racial hue; we were not straight, gay, bi, trans or any other orientation. We were a world united; we were good and decent people everywhere.

We, the world, bonded in our shared goodness and decency on September 12, 2001. We, the world, thought and felt and spoke as one that day. We, the world, were prepared to act as one that day.

But, then, the moment passed; the fires were smothered; the smoke wafted away; the dust settled; the planes began to fly again; the funerals were held. We went back to business as usual with little impact outside the airport security lines. What we had found together in stunned silence and what we shared together for several unique months in history began to dissipate, along with the unusual opportunity that this outrage presented us.

What happened? The new vision of unity gave way to the old illusion of division. From the horrible union represented by the commingled rubble of 220 floors at Ground Zero we once again erected a house divided. The world extended its hand to us and we extended our hand to each other – and then we let go and each of us walked our own way.

We forgot the power of silence and we began to talk, again. For a while the voices spoke words of wisdom and security, but before long the voices began to speak words of fear and insecurity. A frightened and deafening noise became the order of the day and the new pledge of allegiance.

America, the presumptive guardian of peace around the world, almost unilaterally declared war on two nouns – terrorism and tyranny – apparently losing sight of the fact that that war had first been declared not long after humankind organized itself into nations, religions and political powers, and had been fought endlessly for thousands of years in countless places around the world. Absent the millennial reign of a just and merciful God, there is no end to that war. Mankind cannot achieve victory against evil because evil resides in the hearts and minds of fearful people, nestled close to the false righteousness of self-interest.

What do we do? We can start as we started on September 12, 2001, by stopping and observing moments of silence during which we rediscover the ever-present basis for unity with other people throughout our country and around our world. In those moments we can reconnect with the reality that the world presents us with a unifying horror of some kind every day – be it war, terrorism, tyranny, genocide, torture, slavery, assassination, nuclear proliferation, poverty, famine, drought, deadly disease, infant mortality, the violent abuse of women and children, drug trafficking and addiction, abject hunger and homelessness, or the ever-near natural disaster.

Everyday thousands of men, women and children, most of whom are innocent victims, die from these horrors just as the 2998 innocent victims from 90 countries died from the horror in America on 9/11. Each of these horrors is equally deserving of its own war. Which is more deserving of the blood and treasure of our national and personal sacrifice? Which is less deserving?

What do we do? We can realize that we are in every one of these wars together, whether we believe that or not. We can realize that what happens to others and their families happens to us and our families. We can recall the oft-used words of John Donne:

All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all….

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

Meditation XVII from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

Can you hear the bell toll today?

The Score

Yesterday, John McCain said that Barack Obama is willing to lose a war so he can win an election. Outrageous rhetoric like that depicts what is wrong with American politics. To accuse a candidate of such a thing is akin to an accusation of aiding and abetting the enemy, which is treasonous, and that makes it ridiculous in this instance. Being willing to launch an insult like that for political gain reveals a character flaw in Senator McCain that indicates that he is not fit to serve as president, that he does not have the temperament to engage the country and the world in meaningful dialog. That is not the rhetoric of a leader.

Senator McCain has been attempting to cast the debate on the war in Iraq in simple-minded terms that play to the American ego. He speaks about the war almost exclusively in terms of winning and losing – it’s about victory or surrender, he tells us. It’s simple – Americans never lose; Americans always win.

But launching this war was never justified or explained as a war on Iraq that would be won or lost on the streets of Baghdad – we were told repeatedly that it was and is a war on international terrorism.

How does one ever declare victory in such a war? How does one win, or for that matter lose such a war? Who keeps score for such a war? Because the streets of Baghdad are less violent for a few months, we can declare that we’re winning the war on terrorism? That sounds like a young boy on the playground who just needs to yell, “We win!” no matter what the score is. That is not the rhetoric of a leader.

Senator McCain does not declare that we’re winning the war in Afghanistan, which is where the war on terrorism started, which is where the war on the terrorism of 9/11 should have been fought with undivided resolution. As long as Osama bin Laden remains a free man, free to plan and execute the next attack on America or its allies, then no American president can claim victory in this war.

It’s fair to conclude that in this war the score remains as it was on 9/12 – al Qaida, 1 – America, 0.

Tao Te Ching 81

True words aren’t eloquent; eloquent words aren’t true. Wise men don’t need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren’t wise.

The Tao nourishes by not forcing. By not dominating, the Master leads.
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I can’t count the number of times that I have been eloquent, but unwise. I will try not to add to those numbers today.

I can’t count the number of times that I have forced, but not nourished. I have tried not to add to those numbers in these postings on the Tao.

I can’t count the number of times that I have dominated, but not led. I will try not to add to those numbers tomorrow.
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This is the end of my online journey through the Tao Te Ching. I will try to continue my offline journey through its teachings as I go on along the way.

I am grateful for the Tao Te Ching – a New English Version, written by Stephen Mitchell. I encourage anyone who reads these words to read his words. There is far more to be learned in that reading than I have captured here. It’s an “easy read” and it opens a door to a life of peace, contentment and wisdom. It promises true wealth in the form of simplicity, patience and compassion – our greatest treasures.

Tao Te Ching 80

If a country is governed wisely, its inhabitants will be content….Since they dearly love their homes, they aren’t interested in travel….People take pleasure in being with their families, spend weekends working in their gardens, delight in the doings of the neighborhood. And even though the next country is so close that people can hear its roosters crowing…they are content to die of old age without ever having gone to see it.
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As usual, there is more to this chapter than is quoted here. It should be read in its entirety, but there’s enough here to glean both a gross and a subtle point. The gross point is political – one might conclude that we aren’t governed wisely in America. We seem a little shy of contentment; many of us don’t find the doings of our neighborhood all that delightful; and most of us seem to be in love with the allure of traveling to other countries. I’ll leave it at that.

The subtle point is that this chapter isn’t about our “country” – it’s about our life. If our life is being governed with wisdom, then we are content with our life as it is. We aren’t seeking greater pleasure, enjoyment or fulfillment in the material world around us. We’re content to stay “home”, where we have what we have and it’s enough, no matter what we have. In this contentment, we don’t take flights of fancy to the realms of other, hopefully better relationships; other, hopefully more remunerative places to work; other, hopefully bigger homes and cars; other, hopefully finer clothing and jewelry; other, hopefully more contented lives.

Hope is a place that is defined by fear – the fear that we aren’t enough; that we don’t have enough. Hope is an attachment to something better in the future, just as fear is an attachment to something worse in the past. Hope and fear are opposite sides of the same coin; we can’t have one without the other. Said another way – they are the same thing.

Many of us have taken vows to love, honor and cherish, for better or for worse – a vow that should apply to life, not just to marriage. If we seek contentment, we need to know that we already have it, right here at home.

Tao Te Ching 79

Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she needs to do and demands nothing of others.
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Failure is an opportunity to take personal responsibility for our life. The other option, which is wildly popular, is to blame someone else, often anyone else. But once we go down that path there is no destination, only an endless walk over hot coals.

The Taoist Master understands the wisdom of meeting her own needs and tending to her own business without making that business dependent on others fulfilling her demands. In so doing, she removes the possibility of blaming someone else for her failure, which at the same time removes the possibility of someone else causing or contributing to her failure.

Standing on our own two feet, in our own shoes, is harder than it appears.

Tao Te Ching 78

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice.

True words seem paradoxical.
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These words give a concrete example of the related teaching in Chapter 76. A newborn infant can move water aside without the slightest effort. Yet, that same water can drip on concrete and wear the concrete away as if it had no more strength than a newborn infant.

Everyone understands the power of water on the move. Yet, few understand the truth that being yielding and gentle will overcome the hard and inflexible. Most of us believe that power lies in being hard and unyielding, rather than appreciating that power resides in the relentless flow of the soft.

Note, too, that true words only seem to be paradoxical. They are paradoxical only in the mind that sees the world in dualistic terms. In the mind of those who see the world in reality, there is no dualism and thus no paradox.

Tao Te Ching 77 (Teaching 2)

The Master can keep giving because there is no end to her wealth. She acts without expectation, succeeds without taking credit, and doesn’t think that she is better than anyone else.
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The ability to give is infinite in those whose wealth is infinite. Recall that in the economy of the Tao Te Ching the three great treasures are simplicity, patience and compassion. It’s easy to see how drawing from a bottomless well that contains those living waters can go on forever.

Such wealth is amassed by following the simple, if not easy, guidance to act without expectation, succeed without taking credit and never think that we’re better than another. The effort expended in making expectations, taking credit and comparing ourselves to others drains our treasury.