Conversations For Transformation
Essays By Laurence Platt
Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard
And More
Essays By Laurence Platt
Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard
And More
September 11, 2001
- Ten Years After
Diamond Mountain Appellation, Napa Valley, California, USA
September 11, 2001
"When I don't know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you." ... Hanuman speaking to Ram in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana"When I don't know who I am, I hurt you. When I know who I am, I am you." ... Laurence Platt contemplating September 11, 2001 ten years after
- September 11, 2001
- September 11, 2001 - One Year After
- September 11, 2001 - Five Years After
- September 11, 2001 - Ten Years After
It is the companion piece to
in that order.
Imagine you're on another planet. No, imagine you're from another planet. Imagine you're from another planet looking down on planet Earth, and you see its people fighting each other, making war on each other. Now imagine the planet you're from, doesn't have fighting or war. Imagine the planet you're from, doesn't know fighting or war. What could you say about what you saw the people of planet Earth doing to each other? You wouldn't know what it was they were doing to each other, would you? Whatever you saw them doing to each other would look very strange indeed ...
Of course, you're not from another planet. And you're not on another planet. So you'll never be able to look at what we the people of planet Earth do to each other, from the perspective of not knowing what fighting is, from the perspective of not knowing what war is.
But you can consider it like a possibility. Can you look at what we the people of planet Earth do fighting each other, can you look at what we the people of planet Earth do making war on each other, can you look at all of it from the perspective of ie coming from not knowing what fighting is, coming from not knowing what war is? Can you consider the possibility of no fighting on planet Earth? Can you consider the possibility of no war on planet Earth?
This is what's bass ackwards about planet Earth: here, no fighting and no war are the possibilities which are very strange indeed ...
I won't publish this essay, September 11, 2001 - Ten Years After, on the actual tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 out of respect for the commemorations held on that day for the people who lost their lives and who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. There are times when it's easy to hear new ideas which intrude into our already sensitivities, and there are other times when it's not so easy. The actual day of commemoration of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 may not be the most appropriate day to look newly at who we are in the matter of September 11, 2001.
Be careful. When I say "... who we are in the matter of September 11, 2001", I don't mean us. And I don't mean them either. That would just keep the conversation within the same conflict: "us / them", "good / bad", "right / wrong". And the trouble with keeping the conversation within the same conflict is we already know the outcome of this conversation. We already know "we're the good guys, and they're the bad guys". And it isn't even a stretch of our combined imaginations to realize "we're the good guys, and they're the bad guys" can be voiced evenhandedly by both sides in the September 11, 2001 conflict - indeed, by both sides in any conflict. This is the nature of conflict. So when I say "... who we are in the matter of September 11, 2001", I mean all of us. I mean all of us nearly seven billion people of planet Earth.
"Oh no!" you say. "You're wrong, Laurence. We are the good guys, and they are the bad guys.". No. It's all of us - if you're willing to look at it from this perspective. We're all the people of planet Earth fighting each other. We're all the people of planet Earth making war on each other. And from the perspective of someone on another planet, from the perspective of someone from another planet who doesn't know fighting or war, what we do to each other looks very strange indeed ...
I assert fighting and war are the natural results of not knowing who we really are. When I don't know who I am, I hurt you. When I know who I am, I am you. "Too simple!" you say? Yes. Entrenched as we are in "us / them", "good / bad", "right / wrong", it is simple. We can't get it from the already always listening we are. And maybe we can't get it today, the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. We have to wait until the commemoration services for and the remembrances of the people who lost their lives and who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, are over. It's hard for us to listen this if it intrudes into our already sensitivities. But when the ceremonies are complete, when it's alright to re-look at September 11, 2001 after an appropriate time has elapsed, when you can re-look at September 11, 2001 with new ideas ... then invent it - like a possibility. Try it on for size.
Republished here with permission of the author. I find this a stunning example of what is possible "coming from NOT Knowing" (as my friend Unmani might say). I am profoundly grateful to Laurence for this amazing essay. It is my wish that this move you as it moves me. Or as my friend Werner Erhard may have said, moves both "me and me called not-me!")
With Infinite Love,
Charlie
