Sailing along

Spectacular light today.
The sun hot when the stiff breeze dropped

Thoughts on 9/11 
When I was living in the midwest (of the US) I used to wonder how it would be possible to convey the vibrancy and drama of the Middle East to minds so cushioned by comfort. The joys and sorrows, the riches in the midst of material poverty.  The sheer living complexity of entirely different, equally valid value systems.  The depth of history and culture, the preciousness of difference.  The kindly people of the midwest who were unfailingly good to me seemed insulated beyond any reach of understanding that there were other ways to live, that might even be better than theirs.

So when the planes struck one of my thoughts was 'Now you know what it is like to be under attack'.  Maybe now a chink of humility could displace hubris.  Nah, wrong again.

Jung calls this the talionic impulse, to inflict pain so that others viscerally feel the pain you have endured.  Ditto climate change.  Ditto all acts of terrorism and violence.   Doesn't make any of it right but it does make sense to me.  I know that I never change until I'm in sufficient pain.  Does anyone?