Hold on! Another doozy alert....Hold on! Another doozy alert.

These are the things that have arisen for me.

Life is too short.

_Witnesseye_
I don't remember where I was but I will never forget the feelings; this had to be fictional (it was too much like books I had read before). It had a surreal, visceral, bigger-than-life feeling to it. Who was directing this film?

I immediately got in contact with everyone I knew that could be involved there.

It took me over a year to be able to watch those scenes again without crying.

_Karma_
The cycle of cause and effect is endless, always happening, there is no beginning and no end.

One cannot act without having further actions arise from that. And your actions are influenced by previous causes.

(A famous dude once noted that wars happen in the past, because the conditions needed for them have already happened)

Practically, it means that every time Laws are made, even if they are Good Laws, one cannot avoid the fact that there will be some negative effects (and some neutral effects). It means that no matter what kind of health care plan or system of government you choose, there will be negative and good and neutral effects. It means that no matter how good your country's foreign policy is, there will be negative and neutral and good effects.

(So one can never exist in a state separate from the world, with no action or only the action(s) that you intend occurring)

The trick is to discover the difference between "this isn't working, let us change it" and "I'm uncomfortable with this. Let's work with my uncomfort."

If one tries to change the world (break free from Karma) when the real problem is how they are reacting to it, then the problem will always be there.

I see a big part of that in the current War on (some) Terror. The big issue is anxiety and fear.

Deal with the anxiety and fear and you deal with most of the problems. What is left, you can fool around with.

(But it's not 'America that caused the current state of the world'. Thinking that way is the old way of thinking. Taking a wide-angle, holistic view--the view that things like 911 are forcing us all to see--is that it is the global WE that is causing it. We are responsible and we will learn how to act together instead of apart. As Carl Sagan has said

)

_Panic_
I was heartened to read eyewitness accounts of how people evacuated the towers (a study on panic in crowds, which took a look at the crowd's reaction in the towers and in Bosnia). The notion of Panic as in people running pell-mell, crushing others underfoot, etc to get away from danger is the exception rather than the rule. People were helping those who needed help.

_Countries_
Canadians and USers are the same.

_Truth_
It has become more apparent how necessary it is for our survival to embrace multiple points of view and get away from the old notions of One Truth (the tower attack was: due to absolutist religion! no, it was a conspiracy! no, it was shoddy building! no!)

So, Bush and co are nasty bastiches. Bush and co are also doing their job. Bush and co are also reacting with anxiety and fear. Bush and co are also part of Karma, they are reacting in certain ways because of what went before. Bush and co are a part of their culture. Bush and co took the opportunity to get their plans established. Bush and co have ideal plans for the world. Bush and co are trying to deal with Islamofascism. The two towers were a statistical blip. The two towers were an important event. And so forth.

And the U.S. way of life, with its near-deification of private ownership, has certain effects which naturally arise. Which, in my opinion, won't fit into the new Global world (everybody is going to have to learn how to play well with others http://www.osearth.com/flashmovie.shtml).

_Change_
Change is happening all the time. And it is and has been accelerating.

We must have the compassion to recognize that it is hard to change.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/94/open_change-or-die.html

_Universe_
Universe gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want.

It is kind of funny what Universe will do to get the point across. More than once.

_Globalism_
Life is too short.

Fear and anxiety are powerful forces. I think we are in a time akin to the Industrial Revolution, a great change.

(The particular model that I use for the tower attack was that it was an attack on Globalism--if it were an attack primarily on the US, they would have attacked perhaps the Statue of Liberty?)

I think Universe is teaching us that we must get along (and what this means, exactly), that there are things we should abandon and things we should adopt. That, if we discover through our rational devices and through our wisdom that we should abandon something that we cherish, we will do it.

The US has a unique role in history in that it is positioned so that it, by itself, has a lotta influence in the world. This has good effects. This has not so good effects. This has bad effects.

_Metaphysics_
It has become necessary for our survival to adopt a global ethics. Countries can keep their own moralities, but globally, morality doesn't parse.

We aren't passive receptors of existence. We exist in a relationship with existence. We affect it and it affects us. We are never without action.

And a more life-positive philosophy, abandoning the nihilistic-pessimism dance of 'nothing is true, nothing has meaning' paradigm.

_Expectations_
We tend to pay attention to what is in front of us and remember the negative. We forget that our devices, our philosophies, our ideas, our technology, works. We remember the bad politicians, the crooked cop, the angry celebrity but we forget what is most of the time.

It is easy to fall into the traps of absolutism, where if one thing is going wrong, then the process is a failure.

We need to learn the difference between accepting what is a natural part of things (and how to deal with our anxieties) and what can be changed.

_The World_
Even in times like these, laughter is important. Humour is important.

We do indeed live in a beautiful world

Life is too short, so, do you worry, or do you DANCE!

ps I found a link to the victims of Sept 11th. If anyone wants it, just wondermail me and I'll send you the link.