SENTIENT TIMES October/November 2002

Editor's Note

By Deborah Mokma, Editor

Historian Howard Zinn recently posed this question: “What if the US shifted from a military superpower to a humanitarian superpower?”

Imagine the outcome mega-humanitarian spending would have as opposed to our current mega-military spending. The current US defense budget, now more than $400 billion, redirected toward humanitarian needs would be enough to change the world. That’s right. We could change the world by redirecting our tax dollars towards Peace instead of war.

How can we accomplish this shift? By the power of our will, and by the power of group consciousness. By sharing the same image in our minds. I realize many of you think this sounds impossible. Perhaps the recent phenomenon which occurred on September 11, 2002, when the world was focused on the anniversary of the Twin Tower attacks in New York City, will change your opinion. What phenomenon am I referring to? The New York State Lottery numbers, which came up “9-1-1.” Coincidence? Perhaps. More likely it was because so many people throughout the world were thinking of those numbers and New York at the same time. That’s what collective consciousness is all about. People having the same thoughts. At the same time. And affecting outcomes.

The solution then is not military. It is not political. It is one of consciousness.
David la Chapelle explains it this way: “In Quantum physics it is understood that the observer is a part of conditioning the actual effect of the outcome of events in the physical world. If politics are to reflect the kind of context sensitivity which such discoveries are revealing then we need to deepen our capacity to include those that are beyond our borders in our decision making.”

When we view the current crises throughout the world from the perspective of a single group, the solutions considered will undoubtedly be one-sided, and will include a “winner” and a “loser.” When we view these same situations from a world citizen’s point of view the possibility exists that solutions discovered will be those which are universally positive, where the greater good becomes the priority. With this expanded awareness, the potential to live safely and securely will not be the challenge that it is today.

Consider the opposite. The US continues to bully the rest of the world into following our way. “You’re with us or against us.” What will that look like? It is not a pleasant picture and I prefer not to allow it in my imagination for very long.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaking at UC Berkeley last September stated “We are at a critical and creative moment in human history where we have it within our power to change the world. It is about evolutionary politics which follows an evolutionary consciousness. We can do it by changing the way we look at the world. By contemplating and realizing the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of all persons. We can do it by tapping our own unlimited potential to think anew. Imagine if we could look upon our nation with the same daring with which our founders gazed.”

We must share this new vision with each other, and with our elected officials, through letters, phone calls, emails and faxes to Senators and Congress people, local newspapers and radio stations. Call the US Capital switchboard toll-free at 1-800-839-5276 to be connected with Congress and the Senate. Wars do not stop themselves. They are prevented by the mobilization of large numbers of people who resist the onslaught of propaganda and calls for misguided patriotism.

Please be willing to think anew. By joining together our hearts and our minds, all things are possible. Peace is possible.


SENTIENT TIMES
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