| Subject: An historical (and spiritual) perspective on Osama Bin Laden |
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Date Posted: 21:05:05 10/18/01 Thu
Paul, myself and several other people on this forum have discussed the concept that "we ARE America". That feels right and true to say that. Conversely, if this is true, then it must follow that "I AM Osama Bin Laden". This does not feel as comfortable to declare; still, there it is-- I say it.
If this is the case, what is Osama Bin Laden telling me about myself? About the world I live in? Can he be an inhuman monster, as the media pundits and commentators , as my neighbors, would have me believe? Or is he simply reflecting back-- big time-- assumptions and beliefs about this world in an extremely focused and deadly way? Beliefs that on a basic level we all grew up with?
I am not talking about a belief that it is acceptable to slaughter innocent people. I am not talking about a belief that it is acceptable to demonize other cultures and ways of life (although it is ironic to me that the one Representative who voted against war in the House has received thousands of death threats. Death threats from people who have recieved death threats--i.e. America? What's wrong with this picture?).
Please, spare me those reactions.
What I am talking about is more subtle, pervasive and pernicious than that. I am pointing toward an arc our Western minds have been tracing (and yes, I would include the Arabic world in the West) for thousands of years: the destruction of the Goddess.
Let me explain.
I happened to read the latest issue of Rolling Stone. The world affairs feature dealt with Osama Bin Laden as not only an historical figure, but also as a mythic figure; what he represents on an archetypal level to many, many Muslims (despite the protestations from Sunni Muslims to the contrary, he has quite the following).
I highly recommend reading this article. For me, it gives a human face to this man who seems so alien to us, and seems so implacably bent on our destruction. It also helps me put things in an historical context, as did Ellen's enlightening post from Benazir Bhutto (thanks again, Ellen!).
Quoting from Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces", the author makes the declaration that Osama Bin Laden, on an archetypal level-- in his cultural context-- is embodying the journey of the hero. The ultimate goal of the journey of the hero is reunification with the Father.
Let me repeat that. The ultimate goal of the journey of the hero is reunification with the Father.
Over one thousand four hundred years, figures have arisen from the desert to purify and reclaim the Kingdom of Allah. Their vision: One people under a loving but severe God. For these men (and they have BEEN all men), no price was too high to realize this vision. The embodied the figure of the warrior-ascetic; this world and their actions therein, however horrific they might seem to their adversaries, meant little or nothing to them if it brought them Paradise.
These figures, from Mohammed to Abu Bakr to al-Mahdi to Abdul Aziz (the latter, ironically the founder of the current Saudi dynasty, set out and accomplished the overthrow of the corrupt Ottoman regime-- which itself once aimed to purge the world with religious zeal. Now Al Qahdi is bent on the ouster of Aziz's heirs.), have acted out a cycle of outrage, anger, war, and renewal again and again since the founding of Islam. Any war, any death any price here on this Earth is justified. Why? Because in the end, they believed they would be reunited with Allah, the Father.
Again, please understand this is not to indict an entire (or even a sect of a) religion, or to demonize those who would want us dead because of who we are and what we stand for. It simply suggests a possible way to understand seemingly incomprehensible actions and motives of people we are in conflict with.
Anyway, is this really so different than believing blowing up the Temple Mount in Jerusalem will precipitate the coming of the Messiah? Or the avid interest of
fundamentalist Christians in reading the signs of the Apocalypse as interpreted by Pat Robertson? Or the popularity of the Omega Code movies? Or the sentiment that "we pass through this vale of tears on to a better place"?
What I'm saying is that the basic, unquestioned archetypes we have gravitated to as a species, the morphogenetic patterns have created, ALL point towards a reunification with the Father.
WHAT ABOUT THE MOTHER? WHAT ABOUT MY LOVER?
For months I have been sitting with, working with, my fear of the Goddess. I am a man. I have been in abject fear of the Goddess, in abject fear of "surrendering" to Her, all my life.
I suspect that most men are.
As I have felt into the events of the past month, it struck me like a diamond bullet between the eyes that for the past 70 or 80 years, things had been pretty quiet in the Middle East. No jihad, no prophets, business as usual. Then, in the 70's, all Hell broke loose. The PLO, then Iran, Iraq. Wow. Wha' happened? Everything was going so well....
I asked myself, what else was going on in the 60's and 70's? What world political movement arose; what Voice was also making itself heard?
I could only think of one (besides Big Oil, and that's not really a political movement--um, well...not in a strict sense): the Women's Liberation movement. From the West, it found it's way to the Middle East; women began to be educated, found their way into business, public service, world events.
I find it extremely interesting that Heifez (sic) Assad of Syria is coming under attack these days. Assad, despite his despotic tendencies, has been a huge champion of sharing power with women. What does this signify?
Can this be a coincidence? You decide. For myself, I have observed over the years that the more Arab women came into their power, the angrier Arab men got. We have all seen or heard about the 20/20 report about the treatment of women in Afghanistan. We cluck our tongues, and say, how awful-- what barbarians they are.
I submit that it ain't just in Afghanistan, folks. It happens down the street from each and every one of us, in every city in America, every day.
Men around the world are angrier; it's just that in the Arab world, the fear, anger and violence have become justified and rationalized as religious "purity".
This "final conflict" everyone seems to be waiting for, longing for, is nothing less than the destruction of the Goddess in the blind hope that the Father will save us all.
For me, I am willing to be no longer afraid of the Goddess. I can't afford to be; our survival on this planet depends upon it. I am willing to risk my very Being on this Matter.
You see, very recently, I realized that "I"-- my body/mind, even my soul, my Spirit-- is part of the Goddess. Her Life Force courses through me. There is absolutely no difference between my body/mind and Her. I am One with Her. Hence, there is nothing to surrender TO.
And yet, it still feels scary as hell. But I don't care anymore.
This is the energy I intend to hold: to know that I am HER. To realize that to reject Her is to reject my Self, to reject the reason I came here: to Know my Self through Her.
I will not let Her be harmed. If someone pricks her, I bleed. If someone hacks off her limb, My Blood gushes forth. This I cannot abide. I vow to learn to love Her ever more fiercely the more She is attacked, to bind my Self to Her with bonds of steel. To hold Her in my arms and never, ever let go.
I invite you all to Lover Her with me. To defend Her by becoming who YOU are, by remembering who YOU are.
We can not wait! Our Love needs us now more than ever! Ask yourselves, "What about this? What about this? What about
this? How may I serve you, Sweet One?"
She will Call to You. I promise You.
She will Call to You.
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