Looking Through the Prism of 9/11
Mohammad Atta, chief terrorist butcher of 9/11, said in his final communiqu to
fellow fanatics, Now we pledge allegiance to death. Thats the essence of
their Islamic jihad, total nihilistic (life-negating) annihilation! Their holy
war distorts the religion of Allah into filthy shards of blood-drenched debris,
dishonoring their God, their Prophet and their own people through unspeakable
acts of violence. In the very same spirit and representing untold multitudes of
murderous martyrs, the New York Times on July 10, 2004, reported that a
father, 23, in Najaf, Iraq, says that, not only are he and his wife ready to be
suicide bombers, but that he will, if necessary, take his 24-month old boy, put
mines in the baby and blow him up. This is not religion. This is not
patriotism. This is insanity!
When asked what people could do to prepare themselves for the possibility of
another massive terror attack and possibly help prevent it, the New York City
Police Commissioner said on August 1, 2004, Look at everything through the
prism of 9/11. And I do look through that prism constantly. I will never
forget! I imagine someone dear to me on one of those doomed planes, just trying
to get somewhere, suddenly realizing that their life is going to be totally
ripped away from them and destroyed, along with thousands upon thousands,
because some crazed idiots have pledged their allegiance to death. If I were
asked to devise a just punishment for such rabid beasts, in this world or
another, I would force them, night and day forever, to look at the minute
details of every innocent life they so uselessly destroyed.
By the way, Im not alone in feeling that the current proliferation of suicidal
murder through martyrdom is a manifestation of mass insanity. Paul Berman,
author of TERROR AND LIBERALISM, describes in depth how Al Queda and related
constituencies of Islamic terrorism qualify as a mass death cult psychosis, a
tragic mixture of anti-Jewish fascism, religious fanaticism, and totalitarian
control.
-- Bill Joyner
Preaching is moral violence.
-- Alan Watts
In a listing of North African terrorist networks by The New York Times
(5-11-04), I came across one called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.
Preaching and combat, an extreme, but concise example of what Alan Watts was
talking about when he said, preaching is moral violence. In the realm of
demagoguery an explicit connection exists between exhortations of hatred and
acts of violent destruction. A powerful visualization of this connection occurs
in the WW II movie, THE VICTORS, when historical footage of Adolph Hitler
ranting and raving at one of his giant pep rallies is juxtaposed with scenes of
Nazi dive bombers wreaking destruction upon European cities. Erich Fromm, in his
wonderfully profound book, ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM, describes Hitlers oratorical
objective as the breaking of the will of the audience by the superior strength
of the speaker, which he regarded as the essential factor in propaganda.
Of course, it might be expected that an ex-preacher would make such a dour
appraisal of the polemical nature of what often passes for homiletics. However,
I have seen and heard, and even spoken, sermonic words of which St. Paul might
have approved as the foolishness of preaching, by which we are saved, sermons
devoid of charismatic coercion, rendered in such a way that listeners are
encouraged to think for themselves. The recorded lectures of Alan Watts
(available at 1-800-696-2887) are, in fact, the best exemplification of what
good preaching might sound like.
-- Bill Joyner
Love your neighbor as yourself, suggests the necessity for certain prerequisites: self-respect, self-trust, self-love and self-realization. Such qualities are the basis of our ability to effectively connect with each other and with the world. Love is the key!
Wait! That was the critical word whispered to Tom Cruise in MINORITY REPORT by the pre-cog girl, as they were being pursued by the thought police patrols. Then just for the briefest of moments, when the coast was going to be clear, she said, Now! and they moved. Timing is everything!
Were never going to get anywhere watching TV. At best, its just warmed over news, from somewhere else. Infotainment will not save us from that inward rendezvous we have with ourselves, an appointment most likely to occur within sacred sanctuaries of solitude and silence.
FDR said during WWII, We have nothing to fear but fear itself. It could also be accurately asserted that we have nothing to fear but nothingness itself. More and more I am seeking the pure essence of emptiness, remembering that, as someone said, Tadpoles and caterpillars fast before becoming frogs and butterflies. In an odd, obverse manner, therefore, emptiness is an antidote for the fear of nothingness. As Paul Newman said in that movie, nothing can be a real cool hand.
The Seed
Catalog
William T. Joyner, Editor
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