July 27, 2006
Burning Lebanon
Israel's New Middle East
By TANYA REINHART
http://www.counterpunch.org/reinhart07272006.html
Tel Aviv
Beirut is burning, hundreds of Lebanese die, hundreds of thousands lose all they ever owned and become refugees, and all the world is doing is rescuing the "foreign passport" residents of what was just two weeks ago "the Paris of the Middle East". Lebanon must die now, because "Israel has the right to defend itself", so goes the U.S. mantra, used to block any international attempt to impose a cease fire.
Israel, backed by the U.S., portrays its war on Lebanon as a war of self defense. It is easy to sell this message to mainstream media, because the residents of the North of Israel are also in shelters, bombarded and endangered. Israel's claim that no country would let such an attack on its residents unanswered, finds many sympathetic ears. But let us reconstruct exactly how it all started.
On Wednesday, July 12, a Hezbollah uni! t attacked two armored Jeeps of the Israeli army, patrolling along Israel's border with Lebanon. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack and two were taken hostage. In a news conference held in Beirut a couple of hours later, Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah explained that their aim was to reach a prisoner exchange, where in return for the two captured Israeli soldiers, Israel would return three Lebanese prisoners it had refused to release in a previous prisoner exchange. Nasrallah declared that "he did not want to drag the region into war", but added that "our current restraint is not due to weakness ... if they [Israel] choose to confront us, they must be prepared for surprises." [1]
The Israeli government, however, did not give a single moment for diplomacy, negotiations, or even cool reflection over the situation. In a cabinet meeting that same day, it authorized a massive offensive on Lebanon. As Ha'aretz reported, "In a sharp departure from Is! rael's response to previous Hezbollah attacks, the cabinet session una nimously agreed that the Lebanese government should be held responsible for yesterday's events." Olmert declared: "This morning's events are not a terror attack, but the act of a sovereign state that attacked Israel for no reason and without provocation." He added that "the Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah is a part, is trying to undermine regional stability. Lebanon is responsible, and Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions." [2]
At the cabinet meeting, "the IDF recommended various operations aimed at the Lebanese government and strategic targets in Lebanon", as well as a comprehensive attack on southern Lebanon (where Hezbollah's batteries of rockets are concentrated). The government immediately approved both recommendatons. The spirit of the cabinet's decision was succinctly summarized by Defense Minister Amir Perertz who said: "We're skipping the stage of threats and going straight to action."[3]
At 21.50 that same day, Ha'aretz internet edition reported that by that time Israel had already bombarded bridges in central Lebanon and attacked "Hezbollah's posts" in southern Lebanon. [4] Amnesty International's press release of the next day (13 July 2006) stated that in these attacks "some 40 Lebanese civilians have reportedly been killed... Among the Lebanese victims were a family of ten, including eight children, who were killed in Dweir village, near Nabatiyeh, and a family of seven, including a seven-month-old baby, who were killed in Baflay village near Tyre. More than 60 other civilians were injured in these or other attacks."
It was at that point, early on Wednesday night, following the first Israeli attack, that Hezbollah started its rocket attack on the north of Israel. Later the same night (before the dawn of Thursday), Israel launched its first attack on Beirut, when Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's international airport and killed at least 27 Lebanese civilians in a series of rai! ds. In response, Hezbollah's rocket attacks intensified on Thursday, w hen "more than 100 Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon in the largest attack of its sort since the start of the Lebanon War in 1982". Two Israeli civilians were killed in this attack, and 132 were taken to the hospital [5]. When Israel started destroying the Shiite quarters of Beirut the following day, including a failed attempt on Nasrallah's life, Hezbollah extended its rockets attacks to Haifa.
The way it started, there was nothing in Hezbollah's military act, whatever one may think of it, to justify Israel's massive disproportionate response. Lebanon has had a long-standing border dispute with Israel: In 2000, when Israel, under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, withdrew from Southern Lebanon, Israel kept a small piece of land known as the Shaba farms (near Mount Dov), which it claims belonged historically to Syria and not to Lebanon, though both Syria and Lebanon deny that. The Lebanese government has frequently appealed to the U.S. and others fo! r Israelís withdrawal also from this land, which has remained the center of friction in Southern Lebanon, in order to ease the tension in the area and to help the Lebanese internal negotiations over implementing UN resolutions. The most recent such appeal was in mid-April 2006, in a Washington meeting between Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and George Bush.[6] In the six years since Israel withdrew, there have been frequent border incidents between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, and cease-fire violations of the type committed now by Hezbollah, have occurred before, initiated by either side, and more frequently by Israel. None of the previous incidents resulted in Katyusha shelling of the north of Israel, which has enjoyed full calm since Israel's withdrawal. It was possible for Israel to handle this incident as all its predecessors, with at most a local retaliation, or a prisoner exchange, or even better, with an attempt to solve this border dispute once! and for all. Instead, Israel opted for a global war. As Peretz put it : "The goal is for this incident to end with Hezbollah so badly beaten that not a man in it does not regret having launched this incident [sic]."[7]
The Israeli government knew right from the start that launching its offensive would expose the north of Israel to heavy Katyusha rockets attacks. This was openly discussed at this first government's meeting on Wednesday: "Hezbollah is likely to respond to the Israeli attacks with massive rocket launches at Israel, and in that case, the IDF might move ground forces into Lebanon".[8] One cannot avoid the conclusion that for the Israeli army and government, endangering the lives of residents of northern Israel was a price worth paying in order to justify the planned ground offensive. They started preparing Israelis on that same Wednesday for what may be ahead: "'We may be facing a completely different reality, in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis will, for a short time, find themselves in danger from Hezbollah's! rockets', said a senior defense official. 'These include residents of the center of the country.'" [9] For the Israeli military leadership, not only the Lebanese and the Palestinians, but also the Israelis are just pawns in some big military vision.
The speed at which everything happened (along with many other pieces of information) indicates that Israel has been waiting for a long time for 'the international conditions to ripen' for the massive war on Lebanon it has been planning. In fact, one does not need to speculate on this, since right from the start, Israeli and U.S. official sources have been pretty open in this regard. As a Senior Israeli official explained to the Washington Post on July 16, "Hezbollah's cross-border raid has provided a 'unique moment' with a 'convergence of interests'."[10] The paper goes on to explain what this convergence of interests is:
For the United States, the broader goal is to strangle the axis of Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran, which the Bush administration believes is pooling resources to change the strategic playing field in the Middle East, U.S. officials say.[11]
For the U.S., the Middle East is a "strategic playing field", where the game is establishing full U.S. domination. The U.S. already controls Iraq and Afghanistan, and considers Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and a few other states as friendly cooperating regimes. But even with this massive foothold, full U.S. domination is still far from established. Iran has only been strengthened by the Iraq war and refuses to accept the decrees of the master. Throughout the Arab world, including in the "friendly regimes", there is boiling anger at the U.S., at the heart of which is not only the occupation of Iraq, but the brutal oppression of the Palestinians, and the U.S. backing of Israel's policies. The new axis of the four enemie! s of the Bush administration (Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran) are bodies viewed by the Arab world as resisting U.S. or Israel's rule, and standing for Arab liberation. From Bush's perspective, he only has two years to consolidate his vision of complete U.S. control of the Middle East, and to do that, all seeds of resistance should be crushed in a devastating blow that will make it clear to every single Arab that obeying the master is the only way to stay alive. If Israel is willing to do the job, and crush not only the Palestinians, but also Lebanon and Hezbollah, then the U.S., torn from the inside by growing resentment over Bush's wars, and perhaps unable to send new soldiers to be killed for this cause right now, will give Israel all the backing it can. As Rice announced in her visit in Jerusalem on July 25, what is at stakes is "a new Middle East". "We will prevail" - she promised Olmert.
But Israel is not sacrificing its soldiers and citizens only to please t! he Bush administration. The "new Middle East" has been a dream of the Israeli ruling military circles since at least 1982, when Sharon led the country to the first Lebanon war with precisely this declared goal. Hezbollah's leaders have argued for years that its real long-term role is to protect Lebanon, whose army is too weak to do this. They have said that Israel has never given up its aspirations for Lebanon and that the only reason it pulled out of Southern Lebanon in 2000 is because Hezbollah's resistance has made maintaining the occupation too costly. Lebanon's people know what every Israeli old enough to remember knows - that in the vision of Ben Gurion, Israel's founding leader, Israel's border should be "natural", that is - the Jordan river in the East, and the Litani river of Lebanon in the north. In 1967, Israel gained control over the Jordan river, in the occupied Palestinian land, but all its attempts to establish the Litani border have failed so far.
As I argued in Israel/Palestine, already when the Isra! eli army left Southern Lebanon in 2000, the plans to return were ready.[12] But in Israel's military vision, in the next round, the land should be first "cleaned" of its residents, as Israel did when it occupied the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967, and as it is doing now in southern Lebanon. To enable Israel's eventual realization of Ben Gurion's vision, it is necessary to establish a "friendly regime" in Lebanon, one that will collaborate in crushing any resistance. To do this, it is necessary first to destroy the country, as in the U.S. model of Iraq. These were precisely Sharon's declared aims in the first Lebanon war. Israel and the U.S. believe that now conditions have ripened enough that these aims can finally be realized.
Tanya Reinhart is a Professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University and the author of Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948 and The Roadmap to Nowhere. She can be reached through her website: http://www.tau.ac.il/~reinhart
Notes.
[1] Yoav Stern, 'Nasrallah: Only deal will free kidnapped soliders,' Ha'aretz July 13, 2006.
[2] Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon, 'Gov't okays massive strikes on Lebanon,' Ha'aretz, July 13, 2006.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Amos Har'el, 'Israel prepares for widespread military escalation', Ha'aretz internet edition, Last update - 21:50 12/07/2006.
[5] Amos Harel, Jack Khoury and Nir Hasson, Over 100 Katyushas hit north, Ha'aretz July 14, 2006.
[6]'Lebanese PM to lobby Pres. Bush on Israeli withdrawal from Shaba', by Reuters, Ha'aretz, April 16, 2006 :
"Lebanon's prime minister [is] asking U.S. President George Bush to put pressure on Israel to pull out of a border strip and thus enable his government to extend its authority over all Lebanese land... 'Israel has to withdraw from the Shaba Farms and has to stop violating our airspace and water,' Siniora said. This was essential if the Lebanese government was 'to become the sole monopoly of holding weapons in the country'.., he added. 'Very important as well is to seek the support of President Bush so that Lebanon will not become in any way a ball in the courtyard of others or... a courtyard for the confrontations of others in the region,' Siniora said. Lebanon's rival leaders are engaged in a 'national dialogue' aimed at resolving the country's political crisis, the worst since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. One key issue is the disarming of Hezbollah... The Shi'ite Muslim group says its weapons are still required to liberate Shaba Farms and to defend Lebanon again! st any Israeli threats."
[7] Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon, 'Gov't okays massive strikes on Lebanon', Ha'aretz, July 13, 2006.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Robin Wright, 'Strikes Are Called Part of Broad Strategy', Washington Post, Sunday, July 16, 2006; A15.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Tanya Reinhart Israel-Palestine - how to end the war of 1948, Seven Stories press 2002, 2005, p. 83-87. See 'How Israel left Lebanon' http://www.tau.ac.il/~reinhart (Media articles section, as of Thursday).
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Comments: 30 ( 2 removed by Ali A. )
May her soul ascend on high.
It is seldom that I enjoy reading these more lengthy articles and I sometimes have to force myself to take the time to do so. As is often the case, the rewards are in the learning of that contained therein. This was no exception to that.
During the reading of this, my mind wondered here and there, trying to understand the connections and non-such by those on Gather that constantly express the party mantra of the 'right' with such disdain for the views of the 'left' ... where the right claims always to have some 'facts' that they 'insist' be the basis of 'their' discussion that they so often call a 'debate' ... as if they had the only truth involved and their 'opponents' from the left 'needed' to 'participate' in such debate for their/our 'instruction' and learning of what the right wants to think is the one and only real and acceptable fact, that called truth.
I can picture them reading an article such as this with their eyes glossed over, frantically seeking to distort and deny everything in it that they cannot twist and spin to their own selfish purposes ... yet in higher truth, I do not see them taking the time or interest at all in even doing that reading in the first place.
I then wonder what it is about them that makes them think the way they do, as opposed to the way that I think along with others more like me, that do not fall into 'their' category of right wing conservative viewpoints. Perceptions that really seem to me to strictly meet the idea of 'conservative' in the range of 'narrow', as in very meager and limited, restricted and confined ... like behind a fortified wall used for 'protection' of enemies that they feel surround and besiege them ... narrow minded defensive fortress mentality, using a very small amount of memorized 'facts' as their defensive and offensive weapons, those provided by their 'generals', their leadership, those that they so support, defend and follow ... the narrow 'party line' handed down to them to defend to their death ... no deviation as in open minded questioning and thinking for themselves, just 'follow orders' and be super patriots to the 'cause' that only such leadership can understand because of their extraordinary abilities and superior motives, that being the greater good for the 'cause', saying; "just trust us, we have your best interests at heart" ... and of course at the same time blaming all opposition, especially the liberal left (of them) for all failings of their great mission.
I then come to think that it is a symbiotic relationship between leaders and followers, a great division between those claiming qualifications of 'position' and those deemed unqualified, utilizing hope and trust, that being very 'blindly' played out as displayed in the fierce defense of the handed down 'facts' from the right wing think tanks for dissemination by rote to everyone ... their favorite 'media' voices being the messengers. The message so often that of terror, fear and hatred and then called patriotism ... and pridefully so with great disdain for all of us that would not buy into it at face value with the trust claimed to be so deserved ...
Is it any wonder that our society is becoming so polarized between the free thinkers that would read and see truth in articles such as this and those of the mentioned 'patriots' that would so denounce this as trash and attempt to press (force) their 'facts' upon us ... ? What a world, where is the needed intelligence needed to see the needed 'light' of truth ???
The Right is not really that much different from The Left. Both sides are dramatically unbalanced. They're just unbalanced in different spheres of consciousness. It's very difficult to be balanced if the only criterion that you have for what's right and wrong is flawed. And nearly everything that mankind engineers, concocts, or authors is flawed. Because, as The Bible Says, "all human beings fall short of the glory of God." That's why we're supposed to believe in and follow The Ways Of The Prophets.
At this time the right is over reacting because when The Left gained power, they righted a lot of the wrongs that become established by the Ruling Right. Slavery was abolished. Women gained the right to vote. Workers gained the right to organize, strike, and bargain collectively, the progeny of former African slaves, and the bastard children of many slave owners and their "beloved" human chattel, gained civil rights. Women gained the right to demand the same wages a man gets for doing the same kind of work.
The nature of human society, like the nature of the individual human being, has both a left and a right. There are things that the left accomplished when they had power that threw out the baby with the bath water, in my and many other people's opinion who seek balance in the edicts of the Sacred Scriptures,.
Prohibition was repealed. Murderers, thugs, and drug dealers not only were allowed to keep their illicit gains, they became folk heroes instead of being vilified as forces of societal corruption. Entertainment was commodified by these same people, who fought tooth and nail to legitimize all kinds of sexual debauchery.
In the process of being ultra liberal to defend their views on human sexuality, The Left attacked the very idea of a Supreme Being. They went from being a party of Theists to a party leaning heavily towards and totally supportive of atheism.
The left claimed to be against "The System," but by the mid 1970's they had "sold their soul to the company store," and their reward was inflationary affluence. Both males and females were working, and getting paid high union wages which were significantly diminished by high taxes. Some people's affluence means other people's poverty.
The now middle aged affluent left of the 60's, complained bitterly about the taxes that paid for the social programs they protested and went to jail for when they were idealistic youths.
The conservative revolutionaries, blamed The Poor, the disenfranchised, and those who were systematically cut out of the legitimate work force, for creating a bloated government bureaucracy. The Right regained power. The same anti war leftist who were mad at American foreign policy in Vietnam, were now mad at Iran for taking Americans hostage and closing down our embassy, instead of being mad at the way American foreign policy engendered such justified hatred. They never stopped to think that the coup happened without one American being killed.
The Left had gone beyond being sexually liberal and had become sexual libertines. Materialist greed had made them become fiscal conservatives. They voted for Reagan, then Daddy Bush. And by the time Clinton came to power, with many of the left returning to the Democratic fold because of The Republican willingness to go to war, the left was farther to the right than Goldwater, and Rockefeller, and The The Right had nearly gone medieval with their Neoconservative Pax Americana philosophy.
Ideologically both The Left and The Right are in the same corporate influenced mode of thought. So those on The Right will keep on voting for Satan, and those on The Left will keep on voting for The Devil. And in reality both parties are just two hands on the same body.
Folks who are really seekers and worshipers of Truth, And Justice through faith and reason are simply left without a popular trend to blend in with. I'm a there are very few congregations to transcend with. The world is teetering on radical change, who knows what we soon must contend with.
I for one only hope that folks will realize that the final Prophet has been sent. And just because the Eastern world made a huge mess instead of following his dictates, I pray that the prophesy that the sun will rise in the West means that we here in The West will establish the daily bowing and prostrating to The Truth, and The Justice; The Peace, And The Light; The Ever Present Lover, The Generous Lord Of The Throne; The Unique Only One To Bow Before In All His Infinite Attributes Who Has Never And Will Never Be Incarnated; and I pray that we follow His System of Ethics, and Values as they were brilliantly exemplified by The Prophet of This Dispensation, Muhammad The Medium Of God, Oh Allah Bless Muhammad's Soul And Rain Down Peace On His Household.
Change will come, for better or for worse. It will come. Let us pray and work for the best in humility and Faith in Truth and Justice as Attributes of God Almighty.
Commenting upon the life and works of a good person, like Tanya Reinhart is good for our troubled souls. Seeing that there are persons on Earth who are obsessed with the desire to be JUST and OBJECTIVE and who do see CLEARLY through the fog of prejudice and absurdity, is always good for any other soul --enlightened or not. Therefore I join you Abu in the chorus that you are assembling to laud this fine woman. And join you Jerry in your concern for verbal complexities.
I sometimes wonder if there ought to be a cessation of the use of language (writen and spoken) for long periods of time by ALL peoples, so that quiet thought may replace efforts of understand. Let us pray then for our Unitary GOD to assist us to gain bases for truer understandings and perhaps revert to the simple idea of 'love and respect one another' as an ever wise guideline. PERIOD.
In my more active youth when I was a consultant to corporations and governments, I used to say to my wife when I got home after a tiring trip : "Thank GOD for the working person!" or "Thank GOD for the efficient low level bureaucrat!" And I meant to imply by that that I understood and I usually learned key things from the non-executives with whom I always had my usual necessary contacts. There is a great wisdom that lies hidden that we rarely get a full glimpse at, as we scour words for meanings that really matter. There is genius present when some words capture our hearts, and Tanya's words flow well, and build visions and impressions that we wish to store away in our hearts and minds.
At a more esoteric level we can quietly pray for understanding and guidance. And perhaps, like the Muslims, we ALL should pray at least 5 times a day! Perhaps too we should pray for our LEADERS to think clearly and to ACT wisely. Maybe Prayers for too many Words might help as our actions become widely collective. Or perhaps we should hope and pray that there are 'hidden' powers at work initiated by GOD and by GOD-LIKE persons. Such guides are suggested by the GNOSTIC 'secret doctrines' , especially in the New Testament. Maybe such (usually classified) heretical concepts are better than canonical doctrines and will stand scrutiny. Pray for such guidance? Why not?
Maybe this crazy new craze about the 'secret powers of one's self' that will help to guide the acquisition of our desires might help too. Or maybe as the 11th Commandment, that is an augmentation of the Mosaic Decalogue, should be made operative : "Love one another as I have loved you" should be made to prevail in order for ALL of us to to reach for TRUE PEACE, TRANQUILITY and PROGRESS.
Dick
"Maybe this crazy new craze about the 'secret powers of one's self' that will help to guide the acquisition of our desires might help too. Or maybe as the 11th Commandment, that is an augmentation of the Mosaic Decalogue, should be made operative : "Love one another as I have loved you" should be made to prevail in order for ALL of us to to reach for TRUE PEACE, TRANQUILITY and PROGRESS."
>>>>
These "powers" may seem to you as something "New Agey," and about "personal growth," which is resonable. Howeve,r these powers are very real and they aren't about what is called blithely "personal growth." You likely haven't direct knowledge of those powers , such as telepathy, mind-to- mind transmission, bilocality, multiple bodies so on. These "powers" don't get acquired easily, and they get twisted because of human weakness during the work of self-evolution - We have black and white magic , which can make things "interesting." When you work with those who have these powers , you will begin to understand what these powers mean. It isn't about anything "esoteric," really. It's about consciousness and conscience. One obstacle to discovering this is "The mind is slayer of the real."
Between each of us and God as a concept, it is all spiritual and within that infinite and eternal are countless 'spirits', some much 'better' than others. For our own education for the greater good of our Soul, as a learning process, any spirit that we deem worthwhile or desirable, to come into contact with for a relationship, will be granted to us for the purpose of that 'instruction' ... it will be by the actual experience that we will best learn.
If you seek such from a spirit you had best be damn sure just what you are after because you just might get it. If you seek such from another human being, it had best be just for a teaching along the greater and more important path of the personal withIn.
The only 'price' to having a relationship with the real God is that of making that the priority over the lesser ego relationship of before.
>>>>
Terms like exoteric and esoteric are abstract terms. Any description of a relationship to the higher is philosophical, theological,metaphysical, mystical etc.
Transformation is a process involving separation of coarse from fine in order to bring them together to make something new. But what is new today is already yesterday's result. It is a process without end.
There is the image of man with a good angel on one shoulder and an evil angel on the other. The stronger one angel grows, the stronger the other grows. Every man is an incomplete being. To follow the way to completion requires learning to work with both angels. No one can do this for another.
And if you allow me, Jerry, the privilege of editing your most sagacious quote with an addendum, let us also say, "With The Constant, Unwavering Understanding That We Are Nothing But God's Creatures, And That All Talents And Knowledge Must Be Aimed At Serving His Greater Cause Of Good."
In both the world of the Psyche (the so called spirit world)... The Psychic World Of Inspiration, and Revelation; and the corporeal world of academic and experiential learning, it is important to clothe the white (bright) soul in a cloak woven from the black threads of sacred scripture made up of both God's Merciful Gift Of His Commandments and Prohibitions.
This sacred knowledge screens the soul from sympathetic and empathic influences of circumstance. Thus allowing the soul to judge what is of God, and what is of, as you put it Jerry, the lesser egos, some of which would deliberately enslave, or retard the soul for nefarious ends. While others would do the same out of foolish ignorance. He who knows not and thinks that he knows is a fool. Shun Him.
It is also important to bathe the soul in The Illumined Remembrance of God. Study, contemplation, and also willfully bringing into focus the cognizance of the Divine Ever Presence by employing the so called sufic techniques of thikr (Spiritual Reflection), causes the soul to become whiter and more brilliant and more capable of dominating, and directing the lower aspects of ones personality or character (nafs) for the sake of self improvement and oft times self preservation.
Seeking both scriptural, and scientific knowledge, and (while) reflecting on The Ever Presence Of God makes the human soul more apt to act with a high sense of rectitude (Ihsan) at all times, too include the times when one's character must confront the two seductive fiery passions; sexual lust, and blood lust.
All is not fair in love and war, but when passion consumes the black fabric of conscience, rape and murder becomes acceptable strategies and consequences of war, and what damned fools call "love."
It is most auspicious to live life with one's soul clothed in the scripturally woven black garbs of conscience. It is also an adornment of rank to studiously contemplate God's creation, and constantly reflects on the Divine Ever Presence. In this way even if one does not "see" God, he or she is acutely aware that God sees him or her. Thus, a person is a lot less apt to embrace the fire of desire over The Scripturally Expressed Will Of God, even to save one's infinitesimally short time on this planet (Hayyatud Dunyyah) we ludicrously call life.
This is why the standing, bowing and prostrating (Salat or Salah) which is the ritual heirloom passed down from Prophet to Prophet, and enshrined in this dispensation, our time, by Prophet Muhammad, God's Hallowed Reverence Be Upon Him And His Household, is so vital.
In this simple, universally beautiful, spiritually and socially uniting ritual, the participants exclaim, "God Is Greater." Then the leader (Imam) recites the first thikr (Reflection... Mantra, if you will) which I'll render here in a poetic English refraction of The Original:
The Praise To Him Lord Of The Nations. The Source Of Mercy To All Of Creation. The Source Of The Mercy To The Faithful Congregation. King Of The Day To Settle The Obligation. We Worship And Serve You And Seek Your Ministration. Guide Us On The Straight Path To The Blessed Destination. A Path Of Those Graced With Divine Commendations; Not One Of Those Cursed With Wrath And Damnation; Nor One Of The Lost In Erred Deviation.
God Is Greater.
I have no doubts that these most basic principles are not the only right foundation to stand on. But they are most definitely The Most Auspicious in that they are The Best and Closest to totally satisfying God's prerequisites for entering "His Throne Room For Special Audience." And Surely Allahu Sami'a (God Is The Hearer) And Is Oft Returning To Mercy.
That's kind of heavy to lay on me! I pass.
A teacher I knew said "The Devil is necessary." I don't think he meant smile when you met the Devil. More like pay attention and he will be your teacher.
Na oothu bil Llahi Minnash Shaytanir Rajeem.
" ... Terms like exoteric and esoteric are abstract terms. Any description of a relationship to the higher is philosophical, theological,metaphysical, mystical etc.
Transformation is a process involving separation of coarse from fine in order to bring them together to make something new. But what is new today is already yesterday's result. It is a process without end.
There is the image of man with a good angel on one shoulder and an evil angel on the other. The stronger one angel grows, the stronger the other grows. Every man is an incomplete being. To follow the way to completion requires learning to work with both angels. No one can do this for another. ... "
I cannot disagree with what you have said above. As far as I am concerned I stand by my view of the two words ... and see your statements here as being of the esoteric understanding ... something the exoteric peoples have yet to learn/experience to the degree of knowing so.
Abu, I never answered you way back early on when I said I would ruminate a bit. But now I will attempt to do so albeit very briefly.
I see great wisdom and a degree of the esoteric in your words also without a doubt. Yet what is most important to my philosophy is the understanding and use of the symbolic BET (+=-) which pretty much includes much of what both you and Clarke say. ... Maybe with the exception of the 'standing' of evil, the devil, Satan or dark angels ... because in my theory 'they' are only the creation of our minds from the fullness of potentials that God has given us for our 'lessons', that we also self create (with some help of our co-creators) ... If and when we give credence to evil as a threat to our soul, we empower just that. To the degree we fight it, it will manifest into our reality as an opposition. It is not in opposition to God because it is allowed by God. It is here to teach us the truth (and it knows and honors such) ... such as the Golden Rule, and other Karmic realities of cause and effect, what goes around comes around and the like.
When those two opposite angels sit on our shoulders as "+" and "-", it is us that is the "=" INbetween them; (+=-). That would be a symbolic horizontal line configuration when placed upon paper ... (draw out or visualize).
The vertical symbolization of that, superimposed on the horizontal, would together form the symbol of the cross "+" (the esoteric meaning of same, being the completion of what I am here saying). That vertical aspect denoting God, as the "+" at the 'top', unenlightened (exoteric) man as the "-" (the 'fallen') at the bottom. Then that in the center would be the Holy Spirit (simply put, the Spirit of God) as "=".
Overall, the 'man' on the horizontal cross is 'balanced' (centered) (as per designed potential of enlightenment to such truth) And, the Spirit of that between 'normal' man and God is most potent and noticeable at that same "INtersection" also.
To be 'knowingly' at THAT zero point is as good as it gets here on earth for us. IMnsHO.
One of the greatest things about it ALL, is IT is the Truth that sets us Free, free from a dualistic need to strive excessively towards our angel on one side as IF IT were God (like chasing for the gold at the end of a rainbow) and most importantly otherwise, fearing, hating or 'conflicting' with the 'other' angel.
This is all better (I would like to think) explained (although a bit tediously with redundancy) in my book.
To me this is an important concept that the world needs to find some trust in at the present, or most importantly, near future time, in order to reduce the conflict.
I have no problems with those religions, or sects/branches of, that are on the way to this esoteric recognition (in whatever 'words'). I do have a real problem with those religions that are stuck in dualism as (+/-) with no desire to transcend to the Triad/Trinity of (+=-).
To each their own also applies to each and all, because it is through actual experience of trial and error that we all best learn the needed truths. In my opinion, Truth is the most important thing to seek, because in finding that you will come to know it as that of God/Spirit/UNconditional Love.
"On Wednesday, July 12, a Hezbollah unit attacked two armored Jeeps of the Israeli army, patrolling along Israel's border with Lebanon. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack and two were taken hostage"
The logical response is "diplomacy, negotiations, or even cool reflection over the situation". Right, let's not get excited. After all Hezebollah has done this before so what's the big deal.
I wouldn't be so sure the Israeli Jeeps were not inside Lebanon. For a day or so the Israeli media reported they were, before the "official" story changed. Iny case, Olmert admitted that Israel had planned to invade Lebanon for months before. The invasion plans had been made and practised a year before. Check the UN records of Israeli incursions into Lebanon from 2000 to 2006: about 800; for Hizbollah , as I recall about 100, but in any case considerably less. There had been some military encounters form 2000 to 2006, resulting in prisoner exchanges. One Israeli civilian death had been attributed to Hizbollah from 2000 to 2006. There were many killed in Lebanon by Israel. Hizbollah didn't fire rockets at civilians in July, 2006 until after Israel had bombed civilians in Lebanon.
However, speaking mathematically I cannot. And often The Truth of this dimension in which we are mostly trapped in, translates absolutely, and ultimately. So a more definitive criterion is needed in this world, than dogma-less philosophy. Our time here is so short. None of us are Prophets, and nearly all of we Westerners and Easterners have been cultured in a philosophy that has attempted to make oppression laudable, lust love, awareness insanity, good evil, evil good, and The Devil a figment of one's imagination.
Philosophically all we need is love. In an ideal dimension perhaps, but this life we are incarnated in presently be timed, temporal, corporeal, spacial, and by it's very nature inferior to an ideal dimension of existence. There appears to be more than 1 when in reality there is only 0 and 1. Yet we have no choice than to actually think we exist in this dimension. Even after we know better, the consciousness of reality is difficult to maintain. It takes great effort to see past the veil of inhale and exhale, and come face to face with The Truth. Without the proper guide, and purity most people go insane.
The right to our opinion often leads us to believe that we also have a duty to constantly scrutinize it, and destroy it like an idol god when it's proven to be bogus. This was (is) a most difficult thing for the Oriental and Occidental philosopher to do. When faced with prophetic order, they guarded their opinions with closed minds, and clenched teeth, and refused to bow to the advice and the metaphors given to us by The True Mediums between AlHayyul Mumit (The Animator The Deactivator) and human consciousness.
What we as thinking people postulate needs be verified by one who as been initiated into the absolute highest realms of spiritual awareness. Yet, often both Oriental Philosophy and Occidental Philosophy fail to deal with the The Reality, and tend to postulate their vision of ideal, without the knowledge of the real deal in the here and now. The Law Givers were sent to put the abstractions philosophers postulated into a Divinely Guided frame of reference.
All the religions say the same. And they all warn of a malevolent metaphysical entity that conspires with, yet is separate from, The Human ego against the higher nature of The Soul which naturally seeks to submit to what is right, clean, just, and good. And this malevolent metaphysical entity's biggest weapon is fooling human consciousness into believing that it doesn't exist.
The tactic of the devil, as we call it here in The West, is to establish, enshrine, and sacredize ignorance, the mother of all viciousness. Arrogance is the father. In the mathematical sense, vice can only diminish human nature. Viciousness is an absence of virtue as darkness is an absence of light.
But even the dark side can become illumined theoretically. Very few have accomplished this feat. Most of us must struggle to prioritize God's Culture over man's culture. What's more common is that instead of becoming enlightened, and thus creating a positive where there was a negative, which generally happens through struggle, the evil is ignored. The prophetic advices are also ignored, if not vilified. Evil dominates the consciousness in ways both subtle and gross. And the culture enshrines it as "just the way we are."
Most all of what you say is very true, but there are certain experiences that give different perceptions that require modification to those understandings. It is the difference between what I call the exoteric and esoteric ... best explained in my book. But I would be happy to elaborate further if requested (though I often do so as a regular course of commenting here on Gather).
Let me just say that I believe that I know of what I speak of and that it is what all would prefer IF they could just trust it as I do. I speak from having had the experience first with the study and subsequent understanding coming later.
I believe that most people have been so indoctrinated into only trusting 'authorized' leaders (and not their own INtuition) that they would not recognise God's Spirit if it actually 'yelled' at them ... of course it does not do that, it only whispers for the most part ... but when the truth seeker is deemed ready, it will give an unforgettable 'show' !!!
But that "IF" is damned near insurmountable for those who have been hypnotized by the vampiric hypocrites wearing the silk vestments of the clergy careerbots whose main purpose is to become, or stay financially successful by making sure their flock stays within the confines of the status quo. That means no examining one's conscience too much or you'll be labeled as insane, told to stay in line, and or ostracized.
Still, even some of these folks can wake up, turn around and face The Truth, The Reality, and make a revolution of conscience, consciousness and behavior.
Still without the filter of Prophetically revealed guidance; The Commands and Prohibitions given to man by God, and the mantras, verses, suras, literary signs authored by The All Knowing All Wise Creator, humankind can only go so far in our trek towards human perfection no matter how open one's mind is. Plus, we are all social creatures. Most of us need to belong fraternally and organizationally. And God sent us real shepherds to gather us.
La Illaha Illa Allah = There Is None To Be Worshiped But The One To Be Worshiped. Wa Muhammadan 'Abduhu Wa Rasooluh. And Muhammad Is Totally Influenced By Him (His 'Abd = Slave) And His Rasool (Medium = Messenger = The Sent One). Join Us In This Revolution Of Consciousness Conscience And Behavior.
My statement that the Israeli jeep was in Israel was a quote form the article. The auhtor accepted that as a fact and notheless was upset that Israel di d not respond with "diplomacy, negotiations, or even cool reflection over the situation", an opinion that I think is ludicrous. As to where the jeep actually was, even Hezballah has not denied that it attacked Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory - they take pride in it. Unless you think they may be lying which has been known to happen.
As to Israel bombing civilians compared to Hezballah sending rockets against civilians, there seems to me to be a clear sdifference between bombing military targets even if civilains get killed (which may or may not be justified) and sending rockets against purely civilain targets where there is no military advavtage to be gained whatsoever and the exclusive purpose is to kill and maim as many civilians as possible.
Finally yous ay that there were many Labanese killed during Isralei incursions into Lebanon after Israle pulled out of Lebanon. I do not remember reading about htat anywhere. Ithink that you are misstaken.
I do know what Israeli media reported a number of times regarding the soldiers being captured in Lebanon. I don't know what Hizbollah claimed.
If the soldiers were allowed to patrol along the border without any other purpose , it was because of the incompetence of their command or they were set up as sitting ducks.
Bombing civilians and in southern Lebanon and Beirut was responded to by the rockets. The escalation was initiated by Israel . Hizbollah responded in stages, and made it clear to Israel it was willing to stop.
Israel's bombing clearly contstituted war crimes as did Hizbollah's sending rockets. Israel's claims that their bombing was justified is not acceptable based on the record of detailed investigation by the UN and others.
Olmert's testimony to the recent government inquiry made it clear he had wanted the war for months.
You can find many reports of Israelis killing civilians in Lebanon from 2000 ot 2006. A young shepherd tending sheep was a victim reported in the press not long before the war . Israeli spy cells in Lebanon have been uncovered and reported as well as targetted assassinations in Beirut and other areas many times since 2000.
You are aware that Israel's refusing to provide maps to 400,000 mines they laid in sounthern Lebanon in 2000 has been an issue before the UN for years?
Hitlerian terrorism of the worse kind.
that exist as they are. Thank you for providing your readers this perspective. Please pray for us all.
docmike