Terror. It is a word brimming with negation. Yet it is a word that is everywhere, charging us with a sense of constant unrest. So it is worth asking what is at work when a word so capable of saturating us with fear becomes a buzz word, and not just any buzz word, but one poured into us around the clock. The sudden proliferation of the language of terror into our lives has brought with it a feeling of impending assault so pervasive that it no longer feels as if that assault is coming from a particular person or place or even an ideology. . . . instead, it is as if it is part of our daily experience and always has been . . . that it is not only the herald of the possibility of violent death but a disembodied fear that attacks our very sense of self. This sense of invasion, for many, if not all, is likely to be coupled with a sense of numbness or distance. Yet in the moment we are able to notice that numbness, the value of the word for those who wield it ( whether they are terrorists or the media, bureaucrats or politicians) becomes readily apparent: the word “terror,” not to mention the terrorist acts it is inclusive of, numbs us to ourselves as beings of sense, feeling and will, making it more difficult than ever to act out of a sense of freedom..

What becomes of human beings who have been reduced in this fashion is yet to be seen. But it is easy to imagine that a population so bombarded with the word ‘terror” and the images it calls to mind could be mindlessly led into knee-jerk reactionism. Recall for a moment the massive manipulation of the west for decades around the idea of Communism. The constant reassessment of the “Communist Threat” was the occasion for an unending series of rising allocations for defense spending that benefited, in the end, only a few well-placed corporations. The west, and especially the U.S., assented without question to this process. Looking at Halliburton today with the same critical eye, one begins to see the intent behind the “Terror war” as something similar, but with one new and sinister twist: the wielders of the buzzwords that grease the wheels of our New World Order are ever more willing to attack our sense of self from the inside, to undermine our desire life, our aspirations, even our capacity for discernment and clear thinking by weaving the terror threat more and more into the fabric of our public and private lives.

It is our work in the face of this onslaught to cultivate an awareness that is more inclusive, more sensitive and more compassionate than anything the purveyers of terrorism or its language may imagine. That is the real work of Spiritual Psychology in our time --the work of cultivating a numinous understanding of ourselves and of others --an understanding of who we are in the world and of the true significance of the events that are unfolding around us. Such work is hard, and it is likely to

get harder . We are called on to see clearly and not to look away. We are called on to understand what we may prefer to ignore, and still to remain kind , compassionate and understanding. In recognition of this, it is fitting to bring forward these words of Rudolf Steiner, who saw very clearly the future that approaches us, yet never allowed what was fearful in it to interfere with his work or his love for the world :

“We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man, out of the future. We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future.We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come. And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world-direction full of wisdom.It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely, to live out of pure trust, without any security in existence - trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world.Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us. And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves, every morning and every evening.”

David Hickman