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Once upon a time, the Middle East was the Cradle of Civilization, the birthplace of the ancient world. Here the famed Tigris and Euphrates Rivers ran unencumbered to the sea, flooding the land with fertile beauty, abundance, and grace. Here were the first large scale irrigation projects that made possible a new complexity among humans, the first cities, the first writing and mathematics. Here, the first ziggurats arose, pyramids of power, ruled by a lugal, (translated as Big Man) who called all the shots while the blood of soldiers and the sweat of slaves were used to increase his glory. Here, in the oldest Sumerian myth, the goddess Inanna is sent to the Underworld, while her lover Dumuzi, takes over her throne. Later, the Babylonian god Marduk murders his mother, the goddess Tiamat, and stands on her dead body to proclaim a new order of men, a rite that was celebrated for 1000 years. Here, in this land, was born the prophet of Galilee, whose message of love got him crucified on a cross, and whose teachings awakened some of the best and the worst of human behavior. Here, grew the era of Empire, with its organizing principle of domination, ruled by patriarchy, conquered and backed by violence, the awakening of the awesome intoxication of power -- the foundation of our world today. The Mother Goddess was long expelled from the cradle of civilization, as we multiplied across the land, and fought our way through 5000 years of sibling rivalry, through the rise and fall of empires, expanding and contracting with the brief glory of kings and their conquests. We learned to read and write, to decipher and exploit nature, yet all we did was still organized by the principles of empire until we believed it was the only way to live. So we built a Christian empire, an industrial empire, an economic empire, an oil empire. Out of these myths grew the story of the end of time, of Armageddon, the wrath of god, the final scream, the inevitable collapse from the moral bankruptcy of the Abrahamic religions, the first dying gasps of a world that doesn’t work for all and soon will not work for any, unless we radically change this insane and outdated belief system. The belief that war brings peace, that those different from ourselves are expendable, that might makes right, and that my god is mightier than yours and can smite thee into non-existence under the banner of righteousness. The cradle of civilization is looking at its grave. The Sea of Galilee is disappearing. Dams halt the Tigris and Euphrates rivers turning 90% of the fertile delta into desert. Israelis and Palestinians, Lebonese, Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, are bombing themselves and each other, destroying lives, buildings, bridges, hospitals, and all sense of decency. But 5000 years of empire mentality doesn’t go down easy. Just as the collapse of the World Trade Center symbolized an economic system that had moved too far away from the ground, the destructive fighting in the Middle East symbolizes the beginning of the Empire’s end, the falling of the world we know, the destruction of the old way in a worldwide demonstration of how terribly well it doesn’t work. Do we stand by and watch the conflagration in shock and awe? Do we try to halt the inevitable conclusion of a dominator strategy? Do we fail to see the meaning of the sign before another million refugees walk the processional dirge across scorched land, mourning their beloved dead? Do we fail to learn the lesson before the brilliant light of bombs cast thier lengthening shadow falls upon our own doorstep? I pray that the fighting will cease long enough to wake up to another way. I pray that those who have died do not die in vain while the world endlessly repeats the same mistake, destroying what it cannot master. I pray that indeed the old world IS dying but that it can be put to sleep gently, mourned with gratitude and compassion for what it has been, so that it can rise from the ashes into what we can become. I pray that there is some shred of hope left in the hearts of those who gaze upon charred villages, collapsed homes, slain family, lost children, dead babies and parents. I pray that the endless perpetuation of destruction gets caught up in the Great Turning, the Great Awakening, the immense possibility of our time – and that we who are awake to this possibility live to see it turn around. I pray that we see a light in the darkness of our own reflection, and awaken to the awesome power of the god within and without. I pray that what is reborn is an unfathomable mystery, so delicious and profound, the old world pales by comparison, and collapses from a simple loss of attention. And I pray that our mournful tears are replaced by the laughter at our own folly before it’s too late.
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