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ARISE FEEL THE POWER
THE SPIRIT REMINDS US
The Politics
of Healing
by Sundiata Najja Alayé
The recent attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York and the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C. have galvanized
American people unlike any event in
recent history. The political landscape
of the country changed dramatically
as evidenced by our country’s
political voice, a once divided
Congress, which now supports the
President of the United States with
an overwhelming ninety percent
bipartisan approval rating. The
attack by terrorists on American soil
has tested us in unforeseen ways.
In the midst of renditions of “God Bless
America” and calls for “One nation
under God,” the line set by the
Constitution separating Church and
State seems to be invisible now. Our
political and even some spiritual leaders
are calling for bloodshed and revenge. For
many of us this becomes a heartrending
dilemma of spiritual consciousness.
We seek conscious understanding of the losses
we’ve suffered; the physical loss of loved ones
and countrymen who died in the World Trade
Center and Pentagon, the symbolic loss of our
perceived safety and security in the richest
and most powerful nation on earth.
This catastrophe and the resulting issues we now
face have shaken our faith to the core. We are
forced into questioning our loyalties as people of
color living in a racist and homophobic society;
whether or not to forego spirituality and love to
side with the politically affluent white majority
and call for war, or to call for forgiveness and
peace. We may even question where is God in
all of this, and how could the Creator allow
something like this to take place.
It is up to each of us to decide how we will be
changed. We can allow ourselves to become
hardened and embittered by this experience, or
we can become softer and more conscious of
love. None of us know what lies on the political
horizon. When we work at finding love in this
tragedy, in the loss, and inn the confusion left in
the aftermath, we can recover in a peaceful way,
resolving our grief to find balance. Individual
peace is what matters most.
Pray for strength. The knowledge of God’s
presence and mercy can do so much for us
now in our time of sorrow and confusion. Our
Spiritual convictions are what will ultimately
see us through. As difficult as it may be to see
or to accept, the intensity of our sadness can
be minimized if we hold on to our faith. And
while it may be difficult to remain steadfast in
faith, as we have often been told that wars
and the resulting deaths are a result of “God’s
will,” we must come to know that death and
dying was never God’s will. Ask this—“Could
a God that created us with the desire to live
truly want us to die?” No. Similarly, can we
really ask God for a healing of our lives if we
truly believe that He is responsible for our
losses? We can’t.
God is not responsible for the losses we
experience, nor is He responsible for the wars,
famine, or unruly state of our existence.
Lovelessness and evil consume this world, and
it is these forces which abound in the universe
that are responsible for war, sickness and
death. Let us not forget that God is our
comforter. He is not our persecutor. It is our
separation from him and our own lovelessness
that not only allows wars to continue to be
fought, but disease to continue to spread, and
children to continue to go hungry.
This crisis is a call to love, and it must be met with
the all love we are capable of collectively
producing. Only a return to He that can soften our
hearts and lift our burdens can do this. It is the
Creator alone that provides us with the strength to
move past these painful times. Remember, the
whole world is healed by healed people.
Peace, Blessings, Light, Love
Sundiata