17 Mar What Are We Supposed To Do About This War?

I want to name an eerie feeling of confusion and dislocation that so many caring, compassionate Americans are experiencing.

Writing about this feeling, I hope, might lead us toward a meaningful, Spirit-informed response to our current challenge.

Our country is at war. The possibility of going to war was never explored or debated to any serious degree. Nor was there nearly enough consideration paid to the intractable grievances that have beset the Middle East for centuries and that make military struggle in the region reliably, and perniciously, unpredictable.

The war was launched by two of the most non-reflective, power-mad leaders on the planet. And they’re using our taxes to pay for it.

The last time something like this happened, in Iraq, our government spent months trying to convince us that it was just and necessary. The case for that war was filled with holes and lies, but at least there was enough respect for existing norms that those in power thought winning us over actually mattered.

This time, the administration displayed so little regard for its citizens that it didn’t even try to enroll us. Instead, it just started bombing. Reports suggest that so far it has dropped more than 15,000 bombs, at an estimated cost of over $30 billion. Human rights organizations estimate that 1,500 Iranians have been killed, and approximately 700 those killed were civilians.

It’s important to note that the percentage of Iranian citizenry killed so far in this war is far greater than the percentage of the American citizenry killed on 9-11.

It’s important to note that the percentage of Iranians killed so far in this war is about equal to all Americans lost in the entire Iraq war.

(I did this math myself, using publicly available and generally agreed upon estimates.)

No matter how you look at it, this war is a horrific human tragedy of immense proportion forced upon the citizens of a country that did not attack us or pose a significant threat, according to most analysts.

All these statistics about the ongoing war suggest that we pause to ask: How should we look at it?

We want to be engaged and informed, but the result of that effort leaves us drained of our energy and dangerously sickened. We try to care for ourselves by limiting our exposure to the onslaught of grim news, but the result of that effort leaves us feeling callous and guilty.

Plus, the war is so far away that apart from gas and food prices it barely changes our day to day. It takes real intention, and honorable practice, to keep the war top of mind.

So should we protest? Hit the streets with banners, slogans, and direct actions like those taken recently against ICE?

Maybe, but it’s already clear that Trump and his people don’t really care what we think.

Should we vote for anti-war candidates in the fall? Yes, of course, but that’s months away and thousands are dying daily.

My suggestion is that for every print or video story about the war we consume, we follow that with some act that keeps our hearts open and our compassion operational.

Send a letter, meditate, dance your grief, donate to war relief via Mercy Corps or another reputable group. Hug your kids, tip higher, sing along with music that moves your soul. Bring a poem to your direct action. Cry. Let your inner work and outer work complement and strengthen one another.

If you don’t have time to pay the privilege forward that comes from being so removed from the war, stop consuming the news till you do.

But don’t let more than a few days go by without committing a truly loving act. Love in action is the best possible way to testify that we, as humans, can do so much better than what Trump revealingly named his war — “Epic Fury.”

Many of you reading this message are immediately turned off by Trump’s bombast, in large part, because you derive your understanding, meaning and guidance from your spiritual path. Allow me to take a moment to address the role of the spiritual path right here and now, while we’re at war.

Many spiritually oriented readers have at one or more points tasted of the oneness that cradles us all. You may recognize that from the perspective of the divine there is no separation anywhere, and that what so often seems to be strife and division is actually God encountering itself.

A name for this oneness is the Absolute. What’s key in aligning with the Absolute is the recognition that it never exists apart from the Relative. The Relative is all about ego and suffering and all the ways we can be at war with the worlds around and within us.

I’m sharing this at the end of my message to remind everyone (especially myself) that we’re all in this together whether we like it or not, no matter how much we’d rather take refuge in the Absolute to isolate ourselves from the dark forces that cause mayhem and threaten all we hold sacred.

Here in the Relative realm, I invite you to start talking about this war, if you haven’t already, and to keep talking about it. Do not let any of this truly insane brutality come to seem like business as usual.

Every moment we remain quiet and retreat from all that is so sad and painful to behold is a victory for the enemies of peace.