"I think that the great philosopher George Santayana got it exactly wrong. I think it is precisely those who insist on remembering history who are doomed to repeat it. For a subject with so little substance, for something that is really little more than a set of intellectual interpretations, history can become a formi…
"I think that the great philosopher George Santayana got it exactly wrong. I think it is precisely those who insist on remembering history who are doomed to repeat it. For a subject with so little substance, for something that is really little more than a set of intellectual interpretations, history can become a formidable trap— a sticky snare from which we may find it impossible to extricate ourselves. I find it impossible to read the texts of Tisha B’Av, with their great themes of exile and return, and their endless sense of longing for the land of Israel, without thinking of the current political tragedy in the Middle East. I write this at a very dark moment in the long and bleak history of that conflict. Who knows what will be happening there when you read this? But I think it’s a safe bet that whenever you do, one thing is unlikely to have changed. There will likely be a tremendous compulsion for historical vindication on both sides. Very often, I think it is precisely the impossible yearning for historical justification that makes resolution of this conflict seem so impossible. The Jews want vindication for the Holocaust, and for the two thousand years of European persecution and ostracism that preceded it; the Jews want the same Europeans who now give them moral lectures to acknowledge that this entire situation wouldnever have come about if not for two thousand years of European bigotry, barbarism, and xenophobia. They want the world to acknowledge that Israel was attacked first, in 1948, in 1967, in 1973, and in each of the recent Intifadas. They want acknowledgment that they only took the lands from which they were attacked during these conflicts, and offered to return them on one and only one condition— the acknowledgment of their right to exist. When Anwar Sadat met that condition, the Sinai Peninsula, with its rich oil fields and burgeoning settlement towns, was returned to him. And they want acknowledgment that there are many in the Palestinian camp who truly wish to destroy them, who have used the language of peace as a ploy to buy time until they have the capacity to liquidate Israel and the Jews once and for all. They want acknowledgment that they have suffered immensely from terrorism, that a people who lost six million innocents scarcely seventy years ago should not have had to endure the murder of its innocent men, women, and children so soon again. And they want acknowledgment that in spite of all this, they stood at Camp David prepared to offer the Palestinians everything they claimed to have wanted— full statehood, a capital in East Jerusalem— and the response of the Palestinians was the second Intifada, a murderous campaign of terror and suicide bombings.
And the Palestinians? They would like the world to acknowledge that they lived in the land now called Israelfor centuries, that they planted olive trees, shepherded flocks, and raised families there for hundreds of years; they would like the world to acknowledge that when they look up from their blue-roofed villages, their trees and their flowers, their fields and their flocks, they see the horrific, uninvited monolith of western culture— immense apartment complexes, shopping centers, and industrial plants on the once-bare and rocky hills where the voice of God could be heard and where Muhammad ascended to heaven. And they would like the world to acknowledge that it was essentially a European problem that was plopped into their laps at the end of the last great war, not one of their own making. They would like the world to acknowledge that there has always been a kind of arrogance attached to this problem; that it was as if the United States and England said to them, Here are the Jews, get used to them. And they would like the world to acknowledge that it is a great indignity, not to mention a significant hardship, to have been an occupied people for so long, to have had to submit to strip searches on the way to work, and intimidation on the way to the grocery store, and the constant humiliation of being subject— a humiliation rendered nearly bottomless when Israel, with the benefit of the considerable intellectual and economic resources of world Jewry, made the desert bloom, in a way they had never been able to do. And they would like the world to acknowledge that there are those in Israel who aredetermined never to grant them independence, who have used the language of peace as a ploy to fill the West Bank with settlement after settlement until the facts on the ground are such that an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank is an impossibility. They would like the world to acknowledge that there is no such thing as a gentle occupation— that occupation corrodes the humanity of the occupier and makes the occupied vulnerable to brutality.
And I think the need to have these things acknowledged— the need for historical affirmation— is so great on both sides that both the Israelis and the Palestinians would rather perish as peoples than give this need up. In fact, I think they both feel that they would perish as peoples precisely if they did. They would rather die than admit their own complicity in the present situation, because to make such an admission would be to acknowledge the suffering of the other and the legitimacy of the other’s complaint, and that might mean that they themselves were wrong, that they were evil, that they were bad. That might give the other an opening to annihilate or enslave them. That might make such behavior seem justifiable."
~From Alan Lew's book, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation
Thomas Merton said this:
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”
I said this:
"In considering my own cycle of early childhood abuse, when I make poor choices, I then feel bad about it, beat myself up, act out on those closest to me in anger or blame, feel bad about that, beat myself up and repeat. I have developed awareness around this. I'm not sure what else I can do except continue on the path that consists of: listening, looking, being present, practicing non-reactivity, discerning between the dark thoughts that arise from the cycle of abuse (the past) and present moment awareness, making healthy choices and refraining from making a case for or against... all from a place of softness, kindness, respect, gentleness and love. When I'm clicking on all these cylinders of awareness, I feel okay. When I veer off the path, the sensors often go off and I can re-adjust."
It starts from the inner and works outward.
We've all seen this movie before and it's mostly in our own minds, our homes, and our own communities. It's happening all around us. Sometimes we get jolted by events like what's happening now in the Middle East. The problem is the jolt usually leads us right back into the cycle of violence. Time to turn that movie off and lead with our hearts.
Thank you for all of that. The need for vindication holds everything in a death spiral. Only in acknowledging the pain of the other can one begin to emerge into a different world. But you have to want to.
Eight months ago I found myself acting exactly as my parents did with me: freaking out with my four year son all the time about, really, nothing. I couldn’t stop. Luckily I found a therapist doing Parts Work, which helped immediately. That form of therapy seems ridiculous at first blush, and yet…could it be that many Israelis and Palestinians are acting from the in acknowledged wounded parts of themselves, individually and collectively?
Some on this thread have deplored the 1960’s hippie “kumbaya” vibe they perceive but, hey, is all this bloodshed solving anything? I think not.
Interesting point, regarding the possible negative effects of history recall. It gets me thinking about animals I've had as pets. Those with the shortest memories seem to be the most forgiving, the most happy, the most capable of getting along with others.
Here's another take:
"I think that the great philosopher George Santayana got it exactly wrong. I think it is precisely those who insist on remembering history who are doomed to repeat it. For a subject with so little substance, for something that is really little more than a set of intellectual interpretations, history can become a formidable trap— a sticky snare from which we may find it impossible to extricate ourselves. I find it impossible to read the texts of Tisha B’Av, with their great themes of exile and return, and their endless sense of longing for the land of Israel, without thinking of the current political tragedy in the Middle East. I write this at a very dark moment in the long and bleak history of that conflict. Who knows what will be happening there when you read this? But I think it’s a safe bet that whenever you do, one thing is unlikely to have changed. There will likely be a tremendous compulsion for historical vindication on both sides. Very often, I think it is precisely the impossible yearning for historical justification that makes resolution of this conflict seem so impossible. The Jews want vindication for the Holocaust, and for the two thousand years of European persecution and ostracism that preceded it; the Jews want the same Europeans who now give them moral lectures to acknowledge that this entire situation wouldnever have come about if not for two thousand years of European bigotry, barbarism, and xenophobia. They want the world to acknowledge that Israel was attacked first, in 1948, in 1967, in 1973, and in each of the recent Intifadas. They want acknowledgment that they only took the lands from which they were attacked during these conflicts, and offered to return them on one and only one condition— the acknowledgment of their right to exist. When Anwar Sadat met that condition, the Sinai Peninsula, with its rich oil fields and burgeoning settlement towns, was returned to him. And they want acknowledgment that there are many in the Palestinian camp who truly wish to destroy them, who have used the language of peace as a ploy to buy time until they have the capacity to liquidate Israel and the Jews once and for all. They want acknowledgment that they have suffered immensely from terrorism, that a people who lost six million innocents scarcely seventy years ago should not have had to endure the murder of its innocent men, women, and children so soon again. And they want acknowledgment that in spite of all this, they stood at Camp David prepared to offer the Palestinians everything they claimed to have wanted— full statehood, a capital in East Jerusalem— and the response of the Palestinians was the second Intifada, a murderous campaign of terror and suicide bombings.
And the Palestinians? They would like the world to acknowledge that they lived in the land now called Israelfor centuries, that they planted olive trees, shepherded flocks, and raised families there for hundreds of years; they would like the world to acknowledge that when they look up from their blue-roofed villages, their trees and their flowers, their fields and their flocks, they see the horrific, uninvited monolith of western culture— immense apartment complexes, shopping centers, and industrial plants on the once-bare and rocky hills where the voice of God could be heard and where Muhammad ascended to heaven. And they would like the world to acknowledge that it was essentially a European problem that was plopped into their laps at the end of the last great war, not one of their own making. They would like the world to acknowledge that there has always been a kind of arrogance attached to this problem; that it was as if the United States and England said to them, Here are the Jews, get used to them. And they would like the world to acknowledge that it is a great indignity, not to mention a significant hardship, to have been an occupied people for so long, to have had to submit to strip searches on the way to work, and intimidation on the way to the grocery store, and the constant humiliation of being subject— a humiliation rendered nearly bottomless when Israel, with the benefit of the considerable intellectual and economic resources of world Jewry, made the desert bloom, in a way they had never been able to do. And they would like the world to acknowledge that there are those in Israel who aredetermined never to grant them independence, who have used the language of peace as a ploy to fill the West Bank with settlement after settlement until the facts on the ground are such that an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank is an impossibility. They would like the world to acknowledge that there is no such thing as a gentle occupation— that occupation corrodes the humanity of the occupier and makes the occupied vulnerable to brutality.
And I think the need to have these things acknowledged— the need for historical affirmation— is so great on both sides that both the Israelis and the Palestinians would rather perish as peoples than give this need up. In fact, I think they both feel that they would perish as peoples precisely if they did. They would rather die than admit their own complicity in the present situation, because to make such an admission would be to acknowledge the suffering of the other and the legitimacy of the other’s complaint, and that might mean that they themselves were wrong, that they were evil, that they were bad. That might give the other an opening to annihilate or enslave them. That might make such behavior seem justifiable."
~From Alan Lew's book, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation
Thomas Merton said this:
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”
I said this:
"In considering my own cycle of early childhood abuse, when I make poor choices, I then feel bad about it, beat myself up, act out on those closest to me in anger or blame, feel bad about that, beat myself up and repeat. I have developed awareness around this. I'm not sure what else I can do except continue on the path that consists of: listening, looking, being present, practicing non-reactivity, discerning between the dark thoughts that arise from the cycle of abuse (the past) and present moment awareness, making healthy choices and refraining from making a case for or against... all from a place of softness, kindness, respect, gentleness and love. When I'm clicking on all these cylinders of awareness, I feel okay. When I veer off the path, the sensors often go off and I can re-adjust."
It starts from the inner and works outward.
We've all seen this movie before and it's mostly in our own minds, our homes, and our own communities. It's happening all around us. Sometimes we get jolted by events like what's happening now in the Middle East. The problem is the jolt usually leads us right back into the cycle of violence. Time to turn that movie off and lead with our hearts.
Thank you for all of that. The need for vindication holds everything in a death spiral. Only in acknowledging the pain of the other can one begin to emerge into a different world. But you have to want to.
Eight months ago I found myself acting exactly as my parents did with me: freaking out with my four year son all the time about, really, nothing. I couldn’t stop. Luckily I found a therapist doing Parts Work, which helped immediately. That form of therapy seems ridiculous at first blush, and yet…could it be that many Israelis and Palestinians are acting from the in acknowledged wounded parts of themselves, individually and collectively?
Some on this thread have deplored the 1960’s hippie “kumbaya” vibe they perceive but, hey, is all this bloodshed solving anything? I think not.
I will look for the Alan Lew book. Thanks again.
The important thing is you did stop. Thanks for your words of clarity. We can shift things through awareness, acceptance and action. ❤️
Thank you!
I checked out Alan Lew on Wikipedia. My type of person!!
It was amazing that I was able to stop repeating that multi-generational cycle. Awareness was a big part of it. And allowing love to replace fear.
Excellent post, Josh! Well done. 👏🏽🙌🏽
Thank you!
Interesting point, regarding the possible negative effects of history recall. It gets me thinking about animals I've had as pets. Those with the shortest memories seem to be the most forgiving, the most happy, the most capable of getting along with others.
And we are, after all, just animals.