Monday, April 23, 2007
"Energy flows where attention goes."
With
the latest example of violence at Virginia Tech, millions of Americans
and people around the world are asking, "What's the cause?"
We
are a nation inundated with violence from every angle. One
manifestation of this is the current ever-increasing popularity of
violent horror films. In fact, according to an article I recently read
in a major paper, "the more violent the better."
Graphic images
of violence in the media are now common place, and our senses have
become deadened to depictions of violence. Is it any wonder that since
Generation Y (or the Internet Generation) has grown up their entire
lives watching graphic violence in their own living rooms night after
night, that this would be programmed into them as "normal?"
To
add to that phenomenon, as a nation we've spent the last half a decade
totally consumed with the "war on terror." Our news brings terror into
our living rooms every single night.
"You cannot solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it."
--Albert Einstein
As
Americans, we are surrounded by this "war," and yet the greatest terror
we experience is in our own homes and airports. I travel over 200 days
per year, and I cannot tell you how many times my bags have been
"terrorized" and ransacked... all in the name of national security.
Every
single time I'm in the airport of late, I hear the announcement
repeated over and over again, "The TSA has raised the security threat
level to orange." What the heck does orange mean, and how are the
colors decided? I've never heard of the threat level as anything other
than orange (as close to red on the visible spectrum without being
red). Will it ever drop to sky blue, white or pink? Doubtful. That
wouldn't be scary enough.
Terror has now crept into our school system at great magnitude and the message is loud and clear that we must wake up!
In my book Practical Spirituality,
I wrote a chapter entitled "Stand 'For' Something Versus 'Against' It."
If our full attention continues to focus upon terror, we feed the
beast... It's a raging bonfire, and we're throwing another log on it
day after day, week after week.
Bottom line: The "war on terror"
feeds and propagates terror... Violence in our media and in our homes
feeds and creates more violence.
I'm not suggesting that the
"war on terror" or any other single philosophy is totally and
completely responsible for the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech
is the outcome of a momentum of energy that has pumped violence and
terror into our homes and minds over time. The Virginia Tech incident
is the REAL "code orange."
And if we don't wake up soon, it will only continue to intensify.
The
only way to stop the madness is to increase our consciousness and shift
our focus. And it seems that our friends across the pond are on the
right track. A member of Tony Blair's cabinet, International
Development Secretary Hilary Benn, said they are no longer using the
term "war on terror." According to Benn, "the phrase strengthens
terrorists by making them feel part of a bigger struggle." It's
definitely a step in the right direction.
I encourage each
individual to release the "war on terror" from their vocabulary and
minds and begin focusing on "propagating peace." As we begin to shift
our individual consciousness, we shift the consciousness of our country
and, eventually, the consciousness of our planet. It may not occur
overnight, but let us begin...
"You cannot solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it."
To your continued wealth and happiness,
James Arthur Ray
President/CEO
James Ray International