We are the Warriors, this is the War.
We live, as the Japanese curse would have it, in "interesting times" so that it is impossible to say what exactly the political situation will be by the time this is printed. Perhaps the so-called "Iraqi war" will be over by the time you read this. Yet this will always be a turning point in the story of humanity, a time when an unprecedented number of people took to the streets to express their objection to the actions of decision-makers; to say "No" to the inhumanity of murdering untold numbers of innocent people, to say "yes" to change.
I do not know if we have ever entered a war so obviously opposed by the people, so clearly lacking in any justification, or been in a situation where a "democratically elected" government has been so cynically dismissive of the concerns and interests of those whom it is supposed to represent. Nor do I know what crisis they have engineered to try to con people into believing that their actions are legitimate - but it's clear they will have come up with something. They can't afford to pay the firemen, they can't afford to fund hospitals and medical services properly, they can't afford to provide support for University students but without batting an eyelid, they can afford to send twenty six thousand people to Iraq.
The world as we know it, totters on the brink of collapse, and where we will be this time next year is anybody's guess - or we may find that life has somehow carried on changing and changing around us, while our routines manage to remain strangely untouched. I honestly don't know. What I do know is that we are soon to face an ecological crisis (to some extent exacerbated by the impact of hostilities) that accelerates us towards the long awaited, long predicted "end of the world". I have no idea in what order the particular events of this crisis will manifest, but we are surrounded by its manifestations - an unthinkable proportion of the African people are starving as I write; one in ten Americans live in extreme poverty; the streets of Britain are flooded with the homeless and dispossessed; there are vast number of asthma sufferers among city-dwelling children; high rates of cancer near nuclear installations - the evidence is abundant and you know as much, if not more, than I do about what's going on in this world of ours.
Armageddon, the dance of Kali, call it how you choose, everybody knows. The battle lines are drawn between good and evil: between soldiers, who obey orders to destroy others and warriors. In the name of peace, we warriors have the courage to refuse ANY MORE to participate helplessly in the destruction of the planet and all its life-forms. Every single person on the planet will face the choice between becoming a warrior or a soldier and how each person chooses will determine our future. The time we have to choose is now.
Our children and our children's children will suffer for the choices we have already made - those who get to be born at all, for we shall learn terribly the true preciousness of a child, so that never again will children be beaten or abused or terrorised as we have been. And in time, there will come a generation that will shake their heads in disbelief when they hear of the things their ancestors have done. They will live in the Promised Land, in harmony with the earth, with respect for all the myriad forms of life they find around them. So Mote It Be.
What I know of what is happening now, I can live with because I see beyond the crisis, see the opportunity nested in the heart of these challenging times. And what do I suggest you do? Whatever is true for you my brother, my sister. I do not know what your gifts are for this time but I know that if you follow the path of heart, walk in beauty, at peace with your inner knowing, you will play the part you were born to play in this time.
Sometimes it seems to me that perhaps that all that is left is to appreciate the wonder of the world we're destroying - to bless each moment of sunshine and revel in how the breeze caresses the grasses into a dance. If these truly are the last days, it seems to me that the love you hold in your heart and how you express that in your life is all we can be when the times are as dark as these.
Attending the peace vigil held on the Cancer Full Moon, I watched the man beside me cradle the nightlight he held, trying to keep it alight. During the half-hour silent meditation, the light went out more times than I could count and each time he relit it and once more tried to protect it from wind and rain. It became a symbol of hope, of what we have to do - no matter how many times it seems that hope has died, no matter how many times the light goes out, we have to simply relight it and go on. It was like each time he failed to protect that fragile light represented loss of faith; each time he relit it, he was asserting the will to peace, our willingness to keep going whatever we may be called to.
We need to recognise our power. We need to understand that all that is needed for evil to be done is that good people do nothing. We need to begin to see the power of our choices, that we can truly change how things are. You don't need me to tell you that the Americans want access to Iraqi oil; that the invasion of Afghanistan happened because we use cars. Not so much that we use cars but that we have become excessively and unhealthily dependent on transport and roads: for example, moving food all over the world unnecessarily. In the summer, I discovered that none of the apples sold in Sainsbury's were from this country, never mind from this locality.
It is time to start growing our own food and supporting the LOCAL economy as much as we can. It might seem daft now but a few years down the road, it'll make more sense. And we need to plant trees - lots of trees, to help us cope with the effects of global warming that will grow ever more evident. How well we manage will depend to a great deal on the extent to which we have already established harmonious ways of living on the great Earth Mother. We will find ourselves very glad of our endless resourcefulness and adaptability and the extent to which we have already adjusted to accelerated growth.
We will watch the dominant culture collapse before our eyes, as the institutions of this sick "civilisation" crumble and we will know deep sadness for all lives lost. We will come to understand that the future of the world is truly in our hands. The rules for living in this time are simple. Our actions reflect who we are; our choices, how we exercise our freedom is the world we create.
The most important aspect of this crisis is that we determine what happens. By the power of our thought and our actions, we change how the world manifests. Energy follows thought. Just as gravity is a physical law, this is a metaphysical law. What we hold in the "field of potential" has power. Whatever we align ourselves with energetically, influences how events manifest. I believe that it is within our power, through prayer and meditation and the practices of thousands of different spiritual paths, as light-workers radiating peace and love, to influence how this situation unfolds. We are everywhere - decent people doing the best we can and mustering our courage for the war ahead, knowing that a warrior always acts with honour and there can be no deeper honour than to stand up now in the name of Love, of Spirit however you understand it, and Be your truth.
The stories of the last war are full of miracle tales; the miracles of this time will be greater, on a larger scale - what each of us holds in our consciousness affects the whole. So if you want peace, make peace - the war of this world is manifest in some form or other within each of our lives. We need look no further than our resistance to forgiving those whose actions lead to our experiencing pain, to understand how we can do such horrendous things to each other. If such a little thing is beyond us, then it is no wonder we are helpless in the face of the global manifestations of the same energy scaled up. We can look within and truth will guide us to see how our thoughts leave tracks for energy to follow.
Making peace is more than a meditation technique. To understand that each time you release a resentment you have held, you are building peace in the world does make it easier. To forgive is a powerful contribution to the global peace building that is going on. The creative resolution of conflict is available to us all and the building of peace in our lives, in the situations we find ourselves in every day, scaled up will become the healing of international relations in a way that seems "unrealistic" within the dying culture of "power over". It is time for us to discover true power - Power with the Earth that nurtures us, power with each other, the power of circles coming together.
There is a network of light-workers all over the planet made up of ordinary caring people like us doing the best we can within the framework of our understanding. It can be so hard to see the influence we have individually although there are moments in each of our lives when we could see clearly how spirit moves us. When we all link up together, as this crisis will force us to, then we will truly see how this law "Energy follows thought" operates. Uniting our will in the name of Love, miracle will follow miracle and we will learn how to manifest peace in the midst of chaos. It's going to take all the light-workers on the planet in all our different religious and philosophical frameworks to hold right thought, so that right living can manifest.
The good news is it lies within our power to improve the picture. To withdraw our energy from the fear-based consciousness that surrounds us is powerful. To understand that this is a necessary wake up call is powerful. To forgive any hurt, any resentment, no matter how small, builds peace within the world and is an act of power. To envisage a peaceful future that mirrors our inner longing has power. We are the warriors, this is the war.
May you dwell in the heart.
May you be free from all suffering.
May you be healed into the moment.
May you be at peace.
May light guide and love hold us all at this time. Blessed be.