September 11, 2006 marked the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the WTC and the Pentagon. At the time, the various media focused on two questions: Could this tragedy have been prevented and are we safer now?

Could this tragedy have been prevented? Yes absolutely. But not in the way many of us may think. This tragedy was a long time in the making, probably from the beginning of our human history with the first aggressive act towards another human being. And while this kind of behavior has never led to peace, we have collectively chosen it repeatedly ever since. We say we want peace, but we never really choose it. We never think, say or do the things that a peaceful person would.

There are only two ways to respond to any circumstance: with love or with fear. It is impossible to respond with love and fear at the same time; we must choose one. Throughout history, we as humans have most often responded with fear, and that is what we are most often “seeing” or experiencing now: a world filled with fear.

Phillip Gribble said, “Today is yesterday’s effect and tomorrow’s cause.” Through the perfect universal principle of cause and effect, what we think, say, and do right now in this current moment is a conclusive forecast of what will be true for us in our future. It’s painfully obvious that more of us are choosing fear-based thoughts, words, and actions over love or the world would look very different.

Are we safer now? Helen Keller said, “Safety is mostly a superstition. It doesn’t exist in nature… Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than direct exposure.”

“Security” is a relative term. Based on the belief that we are eternal life and cannot die or disappear, ultimately there is nothing to protect. We go on forever. However, from a human point of view, we believe in the illusion that there is something to be protected. Our human nature needs to feel safe.

Trying to create peace only through external means (such as building more prisons, passing more laws that take away more freedoms, tighter security measures, closing our national borders, supplying weapons, etc.) by end does not change anything. Cutting down a weed without uprooting it doesn’t change anything: the weed just grows back stronger. The “root” of the 9/11 tragedy has yet to be addressed or rectified.

The root cause of all tragedies is the unawareness of who we really are. We have the belief that we are separate from each other and are the Source of all life. We falsely believe that there is a “they” and a “they”. We believe that we can harm each other and the planet without harming ourselves. This is a falsehood. We will never experience a peaceful and secure world based on such a lie. But we will continue to experience the need for security based on this lie. And we will until we change our idea of ​​who we are.

So who are we? We, each one of us and everything we see and even everything we don’t see, are intimate parts of the one eternal Source of all. We are all connected, but we don’t always remember that this is so. We are somewhat like drops of water drawn from the vast Lake Superior, so lost in the illusion of separateness that the drops no longer believe they are actually part of the lake.

We have within us the same amazing force that created the universe, just like we do. We are not small and weak because the Source of all is not small and weak. We are eternal beings forever connected to the mighty Source of all. Through our power of thought, word, and action, we become active creators of the world we see. Source (or God) continues to bring whatever we ask for without limits, without demands, without hesitation, without effort, and without judgment. There is nothing that is denied us. It is up to each of us to become aware of our choices and how they cause our effects, in order to then make better decisions based on love and not fear.

A world of peace begins with each of our thoughts, words and actions. To have peace, we must teach peace and we will learn it. When we no longer think, say, and do the unthinkable, we no longer create the reality of it. When we collectively remember once again who we really are, we will never experience another 9/11 again. A gain from this memory changes us, therefore a change also comes to the earth.

Copyright 2007 – Maria M. Bauer. All rights reserved throughout the world.