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Pastimes : Understanding Islam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IN_GOD_I_TRUST who wrote (544)	11/18/2001 2:22:45 PM
From: Bill Fischofer	Respond to of 2926

While it is true that nothing "necessitates" violence it is also true that there is nothing to "lament" when violence happens as the consequence of atrocity. One of the 'failings' of so-called "New Age" thinking is the confusion of love with inaction and passivity. The two are not synonymous and a passive sort of love of the "praying doormat" variety is in no sense 'superior' to a love which expresses itself with principled vigor. Both are pathways of creation which we are free to choose. The bulk of 'civilization' has chosen a course of action which will reshape a good deal of the world. A useful way to appreciate the role of war in relation to human society is to consider the role of fires in a forest ecology. As modern forestry has learned, fires are not an 'evil' which are to be avoided at all costs but rather an intrinsic aspect and an inseparable part of a healthy forest ecosystem which clears out deadwood and debris and permits new growth. Forests which have been overly 'protected' from fire become overgrown and subject to far more severe conflagration when fire inevitably breeches imbalancing anti-fire 'safeguards'. At the current stage of human evolution, so-called "just wars" serve the same role as forest fires. They clear out dead and decaying ideologies to permit fresh growth. This happened with Naziism in World War II, with Soviet Communism in the Cold War, and is now unfolding with regards to Terrorism in the current conflict.

To: IN_GOD_I_TRUST who wrote (544)	11/18/2001 6:31:40 PM
From: James Calladine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2926

Hi again! Those who believe in peace and peaceful resolutions of conflict, and who also gave some connection to the Divine, should pray to the Divine for that outcome. The fact that the warring parties have or don't have a connection to God has NOTHING to do with it. God is able to work with them anyway, because EVERYTHING arises in the Divine, them included. The key issue is that Prayer DOES work, if sincerely engaged, by enough people, but not necessarily in the way that people think, or with exactly the same outcome. Human history from time immemorial should convince you that war after war after war have not led to any lasting peace. It may look like it at the time, but a very convincing argument can be made, for example, that World War I created the circumstances for World War II. Just read Hitler's, "Mein Kampf" for clarification. On the level of how the world operates, currently, obviously the US and its allies believe that their use of force is justified, and if "successful", the dispute will be "resolved". But from our point of view. Most likely ABSOLUTELY NOT from the point of view of the other side. Which then creates the mood and atmosphere for further violence. Or, if the terrorist factions do indeed have nuclear and biological and chemical weapons (and deploy them), or if the US does, then the whole scene could escalate into a horrifying conflict with much suffering and loss of life on the part of many innocent people. So, IGIT, remember what your "name" stands for and pray in whatever way you can for a benign outcome, however that looks to you. Don't even think about how it is going to come about. That's God's work. Namaste! Jim