In addressing the September 11th attacks and what has transpired since, I would like first to express Gloria's and my condolences to all those who have suffered as a result of these attacks. Their suffering cries out for understanding how all this could have come about, and how the world has reached this state of war -- once again.

I shall begin by mentioning two principles that might be considered prerequisites if we are to deal with the situation in a constructive way that does not simply perpetuate and reinforce the insanity that has prevailed to date. After this brief review, I shall then present a paradigm that I think can be useful in our attempt to understand what has happened, stemming from my early work as a therapist in a school setting when I worked with disturbed children and their families. The crucial problem of nationalism will be examined in this context as well. I close with some reflections, based upon the principles of A Course in Miracles, on what can be done to correct this terrible situation.

The invitation to the Holy Spirit rests on our willingness to bring to Him or to Jesus all our judgmental, fearful, hateful, and murderous thoughts, so that this shift in thinking can begin. This process cannot take place if we conceal our feelings out of shame or fear, or if we hold on to them because we believe we are right. And there certainly are millions of people around the world who would concur in that—that they are justified in their rage, anger, or the need to retaliate. If that is where we are with our feelings, we could at least recognize that we can never be at peace with them, understanding how these feelings are rooted in a deeper belief in separation and a one or the other perception of reality. We could acknowledge that much, and realize that such thoughts do not reflect the true perception of the Holy Spirit or the vision of Christ. Rather, they are the misperceptions of the ego that always sees a world consisting of good versus evil, victims and victimizers, winners and losers.

Our personal and collective histories consistently show us how much easier it is to identify with the victims, but A Course in Miracles would teach us that every victim is a silent victimizer. That is why it emphasizes: "Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated" (T-26.X.4:1). We also can recall the line: "Behold me, brother, at your hand I die" (T-27.I.4:6). In other words, we unconsciously derive great secondary gain from our pain, as this enables us to shift responsibility to others, hoping that they will be punished—even unto death—thus sparing us the punishment at the hands of the avenging deity. To repeat this important dynamic, every victim is secretly a victimizer, because we all want to suffer so God will see other persons as sinners, punishing them instead of us.

Therefore, it is very easy to identify with the victim. But we need to realize that the victim and victimizer are merely flip sides of the same coin of victimization. Victim and victimizer share the same insane thought system of separation. They share the same insane thought system of living on the battleground. If we stepped back and looked at the hologram of what we call the world of time, we would inevitably see that today's victims are yesterday's and tomorrow's victimizers. We all share the same insanity—we just shift roles. And this will go on and on and on until we finally recognize that both victim and victimizer are equally insane, and therefore both need healing.

This same dynamic is at work when we take sides politically. The lesson is that regardless of the position you take—and A Course in Miracles would never say you should not have a political position—do not take it too seriously. Instead, see the situation simply as an opportunity to learn that everyone shares the same madness. That is very, very important. We shall never get to the sanity that we all share in our right minds until we first realize that we all share the wrong-minded insanity that is also our common heritage as creatures of this world.

It is helpful to remember that the ego does not recognize the word same, just as the Holy Spirit does not recognize the word different. We must learn to see that we all are the same, both in insanity as well as in sanity. All of us share the same wrong mind. All of us share the same right mind. Moreover, we all share the same decision-making ability that has chosen the ego because we are so afraid of the unifying Love of the Holy Spirit, and that includes everyone: the hateful villains as well as the suffering victims. That is the lesson. And it is an exceedingly difficult lesson to learn, but yet the only one that will truly lead to peace— inner and outer peace.

When our minds are free of the ego dynamics based on the thought that we are separate from God, exclusion and judgment are impossible. The Love of God in our minds only then can flow freely through us. At that point, one could meaningfully shift to an understanding that on the level of form—realizing that a situation such as the one we are all now experiencing does not develop in a vacuum—there must have been events and policies that preceded it. But the idea, again, is to first look without judgment and without casting blame, rather than trying to reach an understanding that involves condemnation. We need to reach that quiet center within, from which can only come wise and loving activity. This is what is meant by that beautiful passage near the end of "I Need Do Nothing" in Chapter 18:

Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware of this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly (T-18.VII.8:1-4).

The first step was to try to contain the behavior, physically stopping the children in such a way that further harm would not be inflicted in the process of this intervention. But it was also essential to obtain the information that would help us to understand the immediate causes of the upset. And usually that was something that was going on in the classroom. Thus, secondly, I began sitting in on the classes, and I observed how the child who was about to get upset would often give out clues. If the teacher continually missed them, the child would take one step and then another and another, until finally, unchecked, the acting out erupted in full-fledged violence. I tried to help the teachers identify these early causes—to look for these signs—and to stop the agitation right at the beginning. At the same time I was doing all that, I, thirdly, began visiting the homes of the children. A family approach to psychological disturbances in children was still fairly new in the field, but it seemed obvious that the disturbance in the child mirrored the disturbance in the home. The causes of the child's upset, and at times violence, could often be seen in what was going on within the larger family dynamics: the disturbance in the family was acted out by the child. Therefore, if the parental source of the problem could be isolated, the child's symptoms could correspondingly be alleviated. It did not always happen this way of course, but in a surprising number of cases, when the parents began to address their problem, the child's problem began to ameliorate.

It was necessary to work with the parents because they were the adults in the family. They were the ones who had the power in the situation and, therefore, they were the ones who had the greatest influence in the family. But it was crucially important not to introduce blame into the situation. We could conclude that the child's behavior reflected the unconscious of the parents, for example, but that did not make the parents bad or even evil. It was thus important to work with the parents without blaming them for what was going on with the child. They were already guilty enough. It was essential to work with understanding, while at the same time dealing with the real substance of the problem.

So, basically, my work in the school included these three components: 1) containing the child physically; 2) helping identify the immediate causes of any upset and respond to these causes in order to prevent any destructive acting out; and, 3) working long-term with the underlying familial causes of the problem.

I think this can be a helpful framework for understanding what is going on in the world today. If we look at the world as one family, as A Course in Miracles would suggest, it is not difficult to conclude that it is a very highly disturbed family. There is pathology and acting out all over the place—much more extreme in form than what went on with the boys and girls in the school, but basically the same content; the quantity of the violence is different to be sure, but qualitatively the behavior follows the same dynamics. In the school there were violent outbursts and reasons for them. There were immediate causes, and then there were the long-term, underlying causes. This did not deter me or the teachers from attempting to stop the behavior, however. This is a vitally important point. The violent behavior had to be stopped—for the good of everyone involved in the situation. But, as I pointed out earlier, the ways of stopping behavior that are punitive only reinforce the dynamics that lead to violence; whereas there are ways of stopping behavior that are more loving and kind, yet just as firm.

Once again, the world, looking at it as a family, has now reached a point where the pathology is rampant—on the levels of behavior and thought. In fact, I doubt whether one could conceive of a more dysfunctional family, and there seems to be no way of stopping the eruption of violence. But to meet insanity with insanity does nothing but reinforce the insanity, and indeed, makes it even more explosive. Therefore in the school situation, if we had adopted a vengeful, punitive policy against the errant children that reflected the same mindset they exhibited in beating up other children, a chaos of anger and violence would have reigned supreme.

I do not have specific answers to current world problems, but I certainly know what the mindset or attitude ought to be in addressing them. A thought system like the one found in A Course in Miracles is most helpful in this regard, providing an understanding of the dynamics of the special relationship: how we use and manipulate our special love and hate partners. These mechanisms include the harboring of guilty, judgment- laden, and murderous thoughts; the constant need to project responsibility for our belief in separate interests, which inevitably lead to perceptions of mine and yours; and our need to believe that what we lack others have stolen from us—all of which conceal from our awareness the secret thought that it is we who made the first theft.

A psychological understanding of family dynamics is also very helpful. The kind of violence we have all just seen—and continue to see—makes it quite apparent that something is seriously wrong with our family. If we see the family as a unit, and thus the world as a unit, we must look at this world quite differently.

To continue with this paradigm of family pathology, I think it is fair to say that in the last 56 years the United States has been the most powerful influence—economically, financially, militarily, and socially—in the world. The United States, in this sense, is the parent in the family. We are the ones with the power and, unfortunately, have to a large extent been an abusing power. That does not mean that what the militant Islamic groups are doing is sane. Their behavior, as well as ours, results in pain, loss, and suffering—all part of the ego's insane thought system. But we are just as insane—that is what cannot be overlooked. When one looks at the underlying dynamics within the family structure, one sees that all members are a part of it. If we looked honestly at what is happening in the world today, we would inevitably see that all parties share the same insanity of specialness.

Going even further, the tenacity of nationalistic fervor may be seen to be ultimately rooted in the choice we have all made to claim our identities as individuals, separate from the oneness of Christ, God's one Son. Right then and there we became embroiled in a battle to keep our identity safe and secure. The battleground was established, requiring defenses to protect our identity from outside threatening forces. We chose at that instant not to hear the Voice of sanity, the Voice that told us that we are all one with God, our Source. And so it is no wonder that people are willing to do just about anything to defend their identities on so many different levels. It is all a shadowy reflection of the deeper unconscious battle in our minds: the ego's made-up war stories against the imagined mortal threat that God Himself stands ready to viciously strip away our identities as autonomous individuals.

And all this gets played out on the geopolitical stage. Governments seize lands, establish national boundary lines and claim these newly won borders as their own, then try to protect these borders from being seized back, and on and on throughout history. The insanity seemingly has no limit. And so in looking at recent events, it is obvious that we are viewing a very violent expression of a very violent thought system—all inevitable once the original premise of separation and specialness is accorded reality.

Whoever is saner at the time the threat is perceived should remember how deep is his indebtedness to the other and how much gratitude is due him, and be glad that he can pay his debt by bringing happiness to both. Let him remember this and say:

I desire this holy instant for myself, that I may share it with my brother, whom I love.
It is not possible that I can have it without him, or he without me.
Yet it is wholly possible for us to share it now.
And so I choose this instant as the one to offer to the Holy Spirit, that His blessing may descend on us, and keep us both in peace (T-18.V.7).

Any observer of the last hundred years must conclude that no one has learned the lessons from the First World War. No one has learned the lessons from the Second World War. No one has learned the lessons from the Cold War. No one has learned any lessons. The seeds of the Second World War were sown in the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War. The Second World War ended, and the same insanity versus insanity persisted. There was a shift of sides, to be sure—an ally became an enemy, and an enemy became an ally—but nothing really shifted. The Western interventions for control over the Muslim world in the last century have been historically documented. It was just such manipulation of a people's destiny that sowed the seeds for what has happened now. Although, again, in no way does that make what happened on September 11th a justified act, it should give us some pause to consider that there is something here that we are not looking at that we desperately need to understand. As we learn from A Course in Miracles: "The world…is…the outside picture of an inward condition" (T-21.In.1:2,5). To restate the earlier point, one cannot understand another's behavior if one first has judged it. Without such understanding, we remain condemned to fight the same insane wars over and over again, each side firmly believing it is right, even to its death and destruction, let alone the death and destruction of others. And all the while, the inward condition of separation and specialness remains buried, and thus protected from being looked at and undone.

Again, we are the elders, the powerful ones in the situation. We are the ones who have made decisions for the last 100 years, along with Great Britain, France, and other colonial powers, that have had a deleterious effect on the whole of the Middle East, extending into South and Southeast Asia. We have the responsibility to look at ourselves and the others in this conflict without judgment. We must openly admit that something is seriously wrong here. And if we as individuals truly want to be instruments of peace, if we truly want to look at this in a way that would uphold the ideal of A Course in Miracles, then we must want to make a decision that will benefit all people. We must want to choose the vision of the holy instant that includes our brothers and does not exclude them through judgment and attack.

Now what this would look like in the world of form I do not know. But let me emphasize once again that, just as with the boys and girls in the school, I do not think violence should go unchecked. I do not think Hitler should have been allowed to do whatever he wanted, and overpower everyone in order to achieve his goal of world domination. But there are ways of stopping, and there are ways of stopping. There are ways of stopping people and placing limits on their ability to "miscreate," as the Course says, that are loving, and there are ways of doing it that are unloving. There is a way of halting aggression, whether it is on the individual or world level, that can be firm and resolute, and yet still be kind. A Course in Miracles frequently reminds us that underlying all attack is fear, and beneath the fear is the call for the love that we believe we have lost forever. And such a call deserves help, not judgment and attack. Indeed, "frightened people can be vicious" (T-3.I.4:2), and yet meeting viciousness with viciousness merely reinforces the insane thinking that led to the insane behavior in the first place. It does not correct it. Only a wiser and saner party to the battle can end it by lifting itself above the battleground and exemplifying the other way. From this perspective one recognizes that whatever the form of the mistake, it still does not have the power to hide the light of Christ that shines forever undimmed in all our minds, as one. Thus, if you refuse to see that light in even one person you judge as evil, then you are denying the light in everyone, since we are all truly part of God's Son. It makes no sense that one person, one group, one nation has the light, and no one else does.

A Course in Miracles is not a course in behavior. It is a course in changing how we think. We are reminded that "This is a course in cause [thinking] and not effect [behavior]" (T-21.VII.7:8). So what A Course in Miracles would do is help people—and, one would hope, eventually help those in high places— look at how they are thinking about the situation. It would help them accept responsibility for their part in the problem and therefore help them to do something about undoing their part of the problem—not the whole problem, but their part of the problem. If we want to teach the world that freedom and justice are truly the ideals to which we aspire, then we must represent to the world that freedom and justice embrace all people, not just who we deem to be the "good guys." If that does not happen, and our history does not lend much optimism in this regard, then there is no hope for peace. No mistake—regardless of its form— deserves the attack that delivers the message to others that they are not children of God, that they deserve to be punished because they are such terrible and evil people. This practice of forgiveness is so difficult for us to do in our daily lives; imagine the difficulty on the national or international scale.

The United States may well win this current war because we are the greatest military machine in the world. But it would be a pyrrhic victory. We would have lost the war on other levels, for when one side is defeated, everyone is defeated. At some point we must recognize how we are reinforcing the same insanity of separation—i.e., nationalism—that led in large measure to this terrible situation. The problem on the level of form does not have an easy solution. But I do know that the solution, however it will ultimately be found, will never be reached unless people do it the right way, which means changing how they think. We can no longer think like an American or a Muslim, or a Middle-Eastern person or a Northern Hemisphere person. We need to abandon the thought system that leads the parties to exclaim, with an attitude of full justification: "You started it." "No, you started it." "Well maybe I did, but you really started it first!" The truth is that we all started it. The separation began as a joint decision.

We cannot think that way anymore because it is painfully obvious what it leads to: an attitude and behavior of "This is mine and I need to protect it from you." And part of the way I protect myself is to make incursions into your territory. That is the history of the world. Nationalism inevitably leads to some form of imperialism, because imperialism is one of the ways in which nationalistic needs are fulfilled. That is the very nature of the beast. The United States is not the inventor of that. Every country has done it. Every religion has done it. But someone now must take the first step. Someone has to be sane enough to say, "I will take the first step for peace." And again, if it is not the group in power, nothing helpful will ever happen. In that sense it is incumbent upon the United States to take that first step. And until it does so, there will just be more war breeding war, breeding still more war—an endless cycle of pain, suffering, and death. And, unfortunately, there will be more and more suffering, which in turn will only reinforce more and more the beliefs in victimization. The consequences of such a cycle are not hard to predict, but are horrendous to contemplate, since we now possess the technology to kill all living things on the planet, whether it be through nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare.

One plausible outcome to all this is that it is possible that things will get so bad so quickly, and go on for so long that people will finally say, "There must be another way." That is the only potential saving grace of this very, very serious situation that is dangerously spinning out of control. We may indeed hope that groups will one day come forward and insist that "There must be another way; a way without such brutality and violence." It did not happen in WWI. It did not happen in WWII, even with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Neither did it happen in the Cold War, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. And I am not sure this will happen now, either. But things are not going to get better. They are very likely going to get worse and worse and worse. Only a psychologically naive person would ever believe that crushing humiliation and defeat could possibly breed peace or friendship, security or safety.

A monster has been unleashed that I do not think can be contained anymore. And the monster is not in Islam. The monster is not in America. The monster is the hatred in the world, and it is now incredibly widespread. It is all over the place. Again, the only hope is that this situation will become so unbearable for all concerned that, hopefully, some group in a position of influence or power will say, "There must be another way." I believe that that is the only hope, and the only good that can possibly come from this.

This is a very important time, obviously, for the world. It is a very important time, as well, for serious students of A Course in Miracles to practice what they are learning. We all have certain roles in the world into which we chose to be born: roles as children, parents, friends, and in our jobs and careers. And we have to be faithful to those roles because they are the classrooms in which we learn our lessons. We cannot have a teacher like Jesus if we do not provide him with a classroom and a curriculum to follow. The curriculum consists of all of our relationships, and a significant part of our relationships and roles in this world embraces our citizenship in this country. We need to have that aspect of our lives be integrated into our classrooms of forgiveness.

It is insane to think, especially these days, that we are not personally affected by what happens in the world. This situation is helpful, because it at least allows us not to exercise denial quite as much as we used to. Not only because our lives as American citizens are affected, but because our lives as members of the Sonship are affected. It is an important lesson that everyone has to look at regardless of their political views. To this end, it is important to remember that one of the hallmarks of a democratic system is the necessity for the citizenry to be provided with clear facts and unbiased information. Otherwise true democracy is impossible, for how can one make thoughtfully considered choices if the basic facts of a situation are withheld? Thus, citizens, today more than ever, need such information in lieu of propagandized news that distorts rather than presents the facts.

The process of our learning thus begins with our seeking to become clear within our own minds, for only then can we be in a position to make an informed evaluation of the current situation, and any situation. We then allow ourselves to be guided in whatever way is helpful—to us and to others—to be instruments of change: perhaps to write letters, make speeches, speak in classes, make visits to Congressmen, or to sit quietly and meditate. Regardless of the form of our response, we would have fulfilled our primary responsibility as students of A Course in Miracles: to accept the Atonement for ourselves.

Thus, the only thing that can ensure really meaningful and loving change is that the people who act to effect change will allow their own minds to be healed. If all we do is judge the United States for what it is doing, or judge the militant Islamic world for its actions, and do not change the part of our minds that shares the same thought system, then nothing meaningful is going to take place, even though the symptoms may change. Look for a moment at the long and sad history of religious and political persecution and intolerance. Such anti-religious behavior in the West did not end with the Crusades or the Inquisition; it is still going on and, as in the international arena, will continue as long as people do not examine their underlying thought systems, as A Course in Miracles advocates. In that important section, "The Two Pictures" in Chapter 17, Jesus urges us to look at the picture (the thought system of the ego), and not the frame (the special relationship). We must therefore not look at the frame of what occurred on September 11th, but rather use that frame as the means for getting to the picture that gave rise to it. Unless we look at what is truly going on without judgment and without blame, there is no hope for peace. The unexamined thought system of separation, guilt, and hate will demand the constant protection that projection provides. And so continual attack, in all its myriad and destructive forms, is the inescapable and tragic outcome. In the end, again, one side might win the war militarily, but it will end up ultimately losing, as the side that loses will inevitably seize power in the future and defeat the previous victor. And then the new victor will turn victimizer, doing to the other exactly what was done to it. Thus do victimizers become victims, and the victims become victimizers—a seemingly endless cycle of violence and death. Such has been the history of the Middle East, and every other region on earth. And it is also a parallel truism, unfortunately, that abused children usually grow up to become abusing adults.

In conclusion, therefore, the change has to begin within each of us. There can be no justified judgment of others, which means we must first bring all of our judgments to the One Who is beyond all judgment. Then when we act, we ensure that we shall act in a loving way, based on the vision that all members of the Sonship are in need of help, and so there can be no winners and losers.

Only then can we present the truth as we understand it in a way that is not attacking, a way that is truly defenseless—in attitude.
Only then can there be true and meaningful change.
Only then can there be peace.