ORDER FORM | HOME PAGE | SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
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By Ulrich Bold |
The terrorism that hit the U.S. has shocked the world. The feeling of helplessness that each of us experiences is a critical stage in the process of bearing the shock. Our inner sense of emotional security is out of balance. Thus we tend to gravitate to old patterns, be it actions, thoughts or emotions, that we know from the past, to bring us individually and collectively back into emotional balance. Yet herein lies danger, because not every old pattern is applicable to new circumstances.
I know from my healing work with perpetrators that the cause for hate and violence is always rooted in their own inner pain that they once experienced at the hand of other perpetrators. If that pain grows deeper over time and gets additional propagandistic fuel of a political, militant or religious nature, those people will now have man-made permission to live out their pain by hurting others. Yet, simultaneously, being violent creates an inner shock within themselves and an awful feeling of guilt and self-disgust.
These additional painful, nasty emotions will now tend to be suppressed and substituted by righteousness, political/religious fanaticism and bonding with other people of like-mind in order not to have to face the torturing emotions inside caused by their own actions. Other people, countries and/or cultures will now be needed as their enemy, believing that as soon as that enemy is weakened, hurt or even wiped out, they, the perpetrators, will feel better and will be at peace--a vicious circle that has been spinning for thousands of years and that became the trademark of Piscean Age. The terrorism in NYC and Washington was just another chapter of that vicious circle.
The endless spiral of inner pain that is usually suppressed and counteracted by more outer violence, revenge and superior righteousness creates within all perpetrators an emotional dungeon beyond words. I have seen them collapse and be overwhelmed by their original pain and the pain caused by their violent actions. These breakdowns are triggered in one of two ways. In the first, perpetrators are exhausted and long for that breakdown; thus, only a little guidance makes them fall into their own shame, which then will become the basis for healing. The other way leads them to their original pain (what was done to them), then to have them face their own cruel actions, and then to lovingly guide them towards forgiveness while taking responsibility for all their actions. A very tough process!
If that process is avoided by drugs, alcohol or other forms of numbing the emotions, then these perpetrator patterns of pain and guilt will be energetically passed on to the next generation, i.e., the children. As it is written in the Bible, the sins of the fathers….
I, as a born German, was always most deeply touched by the ability of Holocaust survivors and their families to truly forgive and to be at peace. Also, I see the deep pain and wounds among the Germans and the generations after the Holocaust, and their emotional burdens of having to deal with the perpetrator energy of their grandparents, yet often still avoiding facing the emotional pain that the Germans had created it for themselves.
The U.S. right now, which has almost never experienced a bombing of its own country, raises its voice for revenge--a natural human instinct. Yet is that really what our challenge is? Do we come from fear ("false evidence appearing real"), or from love and compassion, peace and wisdom? Do we have the quote, In God we Trust, only on our money, or do we have it within our hearts and souls?
