7.2.3 What can the ordinary person do to assist in the struggle against terrorism?

Every event, however terrible or savage it may appear, occurs through the infinite compassion inherent in this. Witness and understand the horror of terrorism, with the clear and certain knowledge that it is not possible for an act of terrorism to remain unpunished. Karma ensures that the perpetrators of terrorism, and those who assist terrorists, incur corrective and balancing experiences in this life, the after-death state or in any of the lives to come.

Terrorism is an act of violence committed for political purposes by lawfully appointed or self-appointed individuals, groups or bodies, and is perpetrated on those deemed by the perpetrators to be legitimate targets. An act of violence committed by one armed force on another is ordinary human stupidity and not an act of terrorism. Severe karmic penalties will be incurred by those who commit the act of terrorist violence, those who assist, and those who create the climate of authorisation for such violence.

The manifest injustice and consequent violence of late-twentieth century life is the product of collective karmic consequences incurred over many, many previous generations of incarnations. The prevalence of violence as an accepted expression of political will is a product of our widespread lack of understanding of fully developed models of reality. Having lost sight of our inherent unity, we rend and tear apart the lives of others in the vain hope of fulfilling our own.

Your problem is this: how can you, as an individual, contribute to the end of terrorism? What can you do to stop the actions of anonymous cells of self-appointed killers, or to stop the vast apparatus of state terrorism which is utilised in oppressive wars and repression? How can you alter the destructive nature of forces over which you have no direct control, but which can arbitrarily seize on you as a ‘legitimate’ target for violence?

Know as a certainty that all occurrences are subject to karma. Even after you have attained the freedom of the final stage of enlightenment, know that only your mind will be freed from the karmically reactive system and not your body. Your body remains subject to karma.

Within this context, the one power you do possess to pit against harsh external forces is the mind’s inherent ability to purify and cleanse itself of accumulated negative karma. If you set about doing this as instructed at the end of this chapter, you will begin to purge your own negative karma. With sufficient effort, the beneficial effects will also spread into your surrounding environment.

The meditation taught at the end of this chapter offers you the genuine possibility of contributing directly to the benefit of all other people. Although the results are neither immediately tangible nor measurable, the practice of the world-healing meditation is an important and positive individual contribution to a safer and more peaceful world. Throw yourself into the world-healing meditation, and, as you become proficient, teach others how to do this meditation.