RADICAL SAGES
Dear President Bush: I'm Coming For You!
B Y   R O B E R T   R A B B I N

I was still the same,
Knowing myself yet being someone other —
- T. S. Eliot

Editor's Note: Cycles turn, seasons change, and each of us must find our way through our own evolution. In this time of new beginnings, Robert made the decision to retire from his Radical Sages column. We wish to convey our sincerest thanks and gratitude to Robert for the insights - and challenges - he has offered to us over the years. By way of a fond farewell, we've elected to revisit one of our favorites of his past columns...

February 17, 2003

DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH,

Yesterday I attended the peace rally at the Civic Center in San Francisco, along with about 250,000 other people, as diverse a group of human beings as could be found anywhere in the world. I wish you could have been there.

You were a central topic of conversation. Had you been there, you would have heard many people denounce you for your foreign policies, and for your domestic policies as well. I do not denounce you.

You would have heard many people express their anger and outrage towards you and your administration. I am neither angry nor outraged.

You would have heard people criticize and condemn you for your implacable desire for war with Iraq. I do not criticize or condemn you.

Had you been there, you might have felt that many people hated you. But I do not hate you—even though you stand alone, belligerent and defiant, against the United Nations, against the will and good judgment of the people of the United States and of all other nations in the world, against prudence, against reason, against every sacred impulse to preserve life...even though you stand alone against all of this I do not hate you.

I thank you, for you have shown me who is truly responsible and culpable for the current state of affairs. It is not you. Though it would be easy to make a case against you for bullying the world toward World War III, for threatening all prospects of a peaceful and prosperous future for our nation and for all nations, I will not do so. You are not to blame. I am. You have awakened me to my own responsibility for these gathering storm clouds of misery and calamity.

You have taught me that when I should have been awake, I was asleep. When I should have been involved, I was apathetic. When I should have been paying attention, I was distracted. When I should have been concerned, I was disinterested. When I should have spoken up, I was silent. When I should have been active, I was passive. When I should have stood tall in the name of peace, I crouched meekly. This is what you have taught me. What you speak of doing is so unconscionable that I am called to action as never before.

You have also reminded me of the central teaching of spiritual traditions and paths from around the world and throughout the history of wisdom and truth: We are all One being, connected and interdependent, sharing the same soul of light and love. From this view, which I have confirmed through personal experience, you are my own self. How can I blame you? When I look at you, I see myself.

It is not a self I want to see. When I see myself in you, I become ashamed, for I see how easily I forgot everything I learned in 30 years of spiritual study and practice. When I see myself in you, I remember what it was like to have lost my living connection to love. And I am reminded of how without love there is no empathy; and without empathy, there is no feeling; and without feeling, a person can send 800 cruise missiles into the cribs and carriages of young children whose names and faces do not exist except as pinpoints on a map, without feeling, a person can launch a horror the likes of which have never been seen on this Earth, a person can brush away all good and wise counsel with the brutal hand of military might married to arrogance and ignorance, one can justify unleashing a firestorm of death on a country, half of whose population is under 15 years of age. Though your motives are clear and indisputable - revenge, imperialism, and profit - these are not the true cause of your intended actions. The true cause is that I have forgotten to live what I know; I have forgotten to love the world in real and telling ways. And now I live as you. And though I speak to you, I am speaking to myself.

You have helped me remember that I am to live what I know, that I am to love the world in real and telling ways. You have helped me awaken from my apathy with a ferocious passion for life. You have touched something deep within me, you have aroused something that is almost fearsome to behold - it is the power of love, too long forgotten and betrayed. And I pray that never again will I forget or betray love.

And with this awakened and aroused passionate power of love I intend to stop you. So, I want you to know that I am coming for you, coming for that part of my own self still steeped in forgetfulness and ignorance. I am coming for you, but not with anger or hate or blame. I am coming for you with love. I am going to bring you back into my greater Self, the one that could never, ever - not in a billion years - think up the things you have thought up. I am coming for you.

One more thing. Do not underestimate the power of love. Do not add this mistake to the long list of mistakes you have already made. Do not think love is weak, or passive, or fearful. Love cannot be intimidated. Love created the universe. Love is louder and more explosive than missiles, more powerful than fear, more conquering than hate. Love cannot be stopped, but you can be. And you will be.

© Robert Rabbin, 2003

Robert will have more to say, we're sure, in the weeks and months to come.
We wish him the best, and thank all of you for joining us throughout Radical Sages!

Visit Robert at www.RadicalSages.com