Time to End the War in Iraq

Written on March 24, 2008 by Tom Stine / 28 Comments »


While mine is a blog devoted to discussing spirituality, consciousness and awakening, today marks a moment in time when I feel I cannot keep silent any longer. I feel that I must stand up and be counted. And today I choose to be counted as a lover of peace amongst men. It is time to bring the troops home. It is time to end the War in Iraq (and Afghanistan). And for that matter, let’s bring home all U.S. service men and women from the 100+ countries they serve in around the world.

I’m speaking out today because the number of soldiers killed reached 4,000 in Iraq. While in Vietnam terms this number may not seem “excessive,” the fact that one person lost his or her life in an unnecessary war is reprehensible. And the only reason that this number is not massively higher is that we have developed body armor and amazing medical care to save soldiers’ lives. One estimate puts the number of wounded in Iraq at close to 100,000. The number of veterans needing psychological help due to the trauma of the conflict is well over 100,000. Add to that the estimated 1,000,000 Iraqis who are dead from this conflict and you have a tragedy of epic proportions.

For all the news you care to have about war, head over to my favorite antiwar site, Antiwar.com. Spend a few minutes being appalled.

Add your voice to mine. Post to your blog today. Send emails to your friends. Send love to everyone involved in this horror. Even send some love to W and Dick, John and Hillary and Condi and all the boys and girls who love a good Mideast War. (Sorry, that wasn’t very loving of me, was it?)

As you read on the Internet today, make a point of Stumbling and Digging as many antiwar stories and posts as you can. And not just mine.


tanks firing

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Guru Quotes

Behind most spiritual practices is the belief that you have to get someplace you’re not- a destination called realization or enlightenment. But realization isn’t someplace else; it’s the naturally occurring human state. It doesn’t belong to anybody. It’s who we all are. Spiritual practices also set up many pictures of what this state looks like. For example, when I described how much fear was present, people told me the fear meant that something must be wrong, because fear was an indication that I wasn’t in the proper state. But fear is just what it is, and it’s there too in the vastness of who we are.

—Suzanne Segal

In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us.

—Jack Kornfield

Those who awaken never rest in one place.
Like swans, they rise and leave the lake.
On the air they rise and fly an invisible course.
Their food is knowledge.
They live on emptiness.
They have seen how to break free.
Who can follow them?

—Siddhārtha Gautama, The Dhammapada

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—Anthony de Mello

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.

If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart.

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.

If a man speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow.

—Siddhārtha Gautama