Oneness not War

We as a nation, and as a humanity, are standing at the threshold of a new cycle of change, but there is still time to share from the heart. I was born and raised in Greenwich Village, in Manhattan, so this national tragedy strikes very close to home for me.

On Tuesday, the morning of the attacks, my dear mother called rather hysterical, from our Manhattan home thinking she too might be killed. I surrounded her with love, and feelings of peace. Last Friday, the day of prayer, I sat with my wife and daughter (age 6) at breakfast and said, "I may come home early from work today, so that we can go somewhere as a family to pray." My daughter replied, "Why?" In response I said, "Because many people will be praying today in America, and the world, for the people who were killed in the attacks, and for their families. Many people are suffering right now." Then my daughter very clearly stated, "Dad, we need to pray for the people who did this, because they died too." We need to surround everyone with love and feelings of peace.

Yesterday, I took a short walk downtown when a young man stepped right in front of me, as I came down the Aspen Avenue, intentionally blocking my way. He pointed at my snow-white tee-shirt which has a beautiful picture of Meher Baba on the front, and a quote from him at the bottom. Speaking boldly he said, "Tell me about your shirt." Raising my sunglasses to make eye contact, I looked at him and said, "That's Meher Baba, my Spiritual Master." The young man replied, "You had better watch out, even Sikhs are being shot right now!" I felt the peace of God's presence in my life and could only respond, "I am not worried. Ignorance prevails, but not forever." He seemed stunned by my remark, and then reaching out, he firmly shook my hand and let me pass. It is important to realize that the Sikh faith has absolutely nothing to do with this terrorism, they are not even Muslims. Because Sikhs wear turbans and long beards, deep ignorance combined with anger and hatred has made them, and many other fine American people, random targets of hate crime. We need to surround ignorance with Knowledge, in order to bring lasting peace.

Now dramatic feelings of "us-against-them" and a war of good against evil have been fortified by various means in the media and elsewhere. In spite of strong words about the need for compassion and forgiveness, the American people as a whole are clearly out for blood. In fact, even this sentiment of forgiveness contains the seeds of separation, and will not be enough to avert a war. What is most needed right now is not more words but direct spiritual guidance and living spiritual experience which leads not to unity but understanding, not to war but Oneness. All great faiths have at their core the greatest spiritual leaders whose messages have forever touched the heart of humanity. From the lives of Jesus and Buddha to Krishna and Mohammed, as well as Meher Baba, these Prophets have all exemplified that God is the sole reality, and that this world is not our final destination. I believe with all my heart that if given the opportunity today, they would all deliver one clear message: We are not separate, but we are all One in the eyes of God who wants us to love God by loving one another. Whatever we do to another life we do to our own self. The way to God is not the way of the world.

May God's Grace descend with the real experience of being not we but One.

By Laurent Weichberger, Flagstaff, AZ on September 18, 2001