Collective Co-Evolution
A Responsibility to Dignity beyond Suicide Bombs and Retaliation
by Wolfgang and Soleil Aurose
In the past weeks a modern nightmare has became real for innocent people in Paris, Ankara, Beirut and also in a Russian tourist plane. However in some parts of the Middle East this tragedy has already been a reality for years: Terrorists with seemingly ideological motives detonate hidden bombs or they emerge out of the blue, kill all those who are accidentally around and blow themselves. The attackers claim to take revenge on nations, governments, and groups who are fighting them and their cause.
For an observer they may seem to be a faction of a religious belief or cult which has gone pathological. In fact, all of our spiritual and religious beliefs can bring out either the best or the worst in any of us. Our beliefs can sanction both our most selfless and compassionate actions and our most monstrous behaviors. But what is triggering these deep feelings and decisions in these fanatical terrorists ?
An Israeli research study came to the conclusion, that the vast majority of suicide bombers are not driven and motivated by being soldiers of a religious battle – which is what they claim, and perhaps believe themselves. Instead these attackers are suffering from a deep hurt of identity. Psychology knows that behind all rage are deep wounds of hurt, so deep in fact, that those suffering will do anything, Anything, to stop that pain and probable humiliation. They feel hurt for being members of a community, culture, nation, which is not honored, which is exploited, colonized and not treated as equal by other more dominant and prevailing countries and cultures. It´s a hurt dignity, the neglect by others to recognize the uniqueness and true value of centuries old cultures and developing countries. Often this is combined with the psychological lack of recognition of one´s own personal development. However the felt violation of the dignity of one´own group is what the study sees as the main motivation for suicide attacks.
But what does dignity mean today? The old concept of this term was reserved for kings, nobility, priests and other selected ruling groups. But in an evolutionary view, we have reached a non hierarchical and integral stage now, where in fact, we can confirm dignity as an expression of an inner and highest quality of our pure essence - both unique in each individual and connected to a greater oneness of which we are all part. Now we become able to see this quality of dignity in each one us and in each culture, be it traditional or modern. Dignity in this essential view refers to the deep acknowledgment of the evolving uniqueness in each one of us, the soul of all human beings, and of soul-bound collectives. Learning to identify with this essence is crucial for peace in the world. If this deepest identity is neglected by ourselves or others, in most cases the shadow aspect of our individuality, the deep hurt of what is sacred within us and what has been violated just like rape, will try to take the ego response of revenge.
This is true for groups and collectives too. Selling weapons to brutal dictators and regimes is felt by the suppressed peoples as dishonoring them. Precluding members of a cultural or ethnic minority through inequality in a society is another example of neglecting their dignity. It is not only a matter of material and outer discrimination and suffering, but what is maybe hurting even more is the denial of their inmost value as an unique identity of something, which is part of a whole, our whole. And this neglect sets in motion a chain-reaction of hostilities.
This understanding can help to make sense of the present terror. It is horrible and all has to be done to cut off more of this barbarous murdering. In a short term, it may be necessary to use additional military power to stop ISIS, which seem to have opened up to Nazi-like forces beyond all reason. They are not only killing and torturing their victims, but they are also dividing people worldwide, fueling dangerous peace-preventing animosity between Muslim populations and the West. Quite practically they generate a problem for the integration of present and future Islamic refugees into European and all Western societies.
But counter violence alone has failed in these cases in the past. It needs to be accompanied by a change of politics and consciousness on a deeper or higher level. If governments choose to fight ISIS, they shall fail if this is not accompanied by the authentic honoring of the unique dignity of the Arab and Muslim cultures. This refers to nations, as well as to minorities in Europe and elsewhere. This does not mean to accept or respect the shadow aspects of these or any other peoples. It means to never stop trying to reach the soul level of these cultures or countries at the same time.
There are striking examples of healing 'soul gestures' as well as of the tragic absence of them.
In 1953 the CIA and UK´s intelligence had initiated a coup in Iran dispossessing the first democratically elected president in Persia´s long and illustrious history. The US has never clearly apologized. This intervention hurt more than the oil-greedy USA could have ever understood. A disregard for the evolutionary identity of Iran fueled the huge hatred of this country towards the States to this day.
On the other side, this year a number of US-American cities voted for a highly overdue soul gesture towards the original inhabitants of their country. They admitted that the ground for the American soul was not laid by Europeans 'discovering a new land' in 1492, but that this ground was laid by sophisticated, native American cultures thousands of years ago. The cities renamed the traditional commemoration day from 'Columbus Day' to 'Indigenous People Day'. It may look 'only' like a symbolic gesture, but according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the term 'symbolic' means nothing less than being the language of the soul. The public recognition of the presence and the value of the indigenous cultures may not only help to heal a deep hurt of native Americans, but it can also support the integration of a formerly dis-integrated foundation of the US-American soul.
Many more of these soul gestures are needed.
So it might be necessary, but is certainly not enough, to chase the attackers and to prevent them from repeating their monstrous actions. However, only if at the same time we authentically find collective expressions of respect both for our oneness and for each country´s and culture´s essential uniqueness can there be lasting peace on earth.
This view is not an idealistic pipe-dream. There is an urgent need for a deeper 'International understanding'. We must acknowledge our responsibility to live with dignity for our own and others soul essences, both individually and in nations. Together with our ecological awakening, it may be the only way forward for a viable, livable future on our planet.
Namaste - 'We salute the Divine within you..'