“In dreams begins responsibility.” — William Butler Yeats
The award winning BBC program Naked Science caught my attention the other day. A downloaded segment points to writers having a DNA. Explaining that even the best writers have a limited vocabulary, and therefore ability to express themselves, but more, unique, exclusive to each writer, a set of words to play with, like a single person scrabble game. Only so many books or pieces can be written from each gifted source. A word thumbprint; within the lines are the stories, to which there is an end.
Such is life.
This is my thought as I try to figure out a way to express the 2nd half of my DNA trek, the beginning of my journey into the Middle East, Israel, and Jerusalem, my time in the Old City. I’m willing to give as much as makes sense, but what words to share from my DNA, this finite thumbprint, the family saga?
The internationally acclaimed Ulysses, a book by James Joyce largely about the human condition, a mirror of Homers’ Odyssey, the hero’s journey; the aforementioned totals about 265,000 words from a vocabulary of 30,000 words. A fictional story, so consider what it would take to describe something as ancient, broad, complex as the story of Jerusalem, Palestine. We don’t have time for that epic story, for every stream-of-consciousness detail.
The facts, the various sides of the larger debate are readily available for anyone to learn. We know the story all too well, or we should. I’ve decided to focus on what is relevant to this project, to consider the present, get to the point. In previous writings, on this website, I’ve outlined the theory of DNA Memory. This post takes our discussion to another level, fulfilling, in a way, a semi-complete zeitgeist. The full digestion, not quite in epic proportions, will come with the book.
So what does the future hold? And in relation to this project, looking directly into the eyes of the thesis: Can understanding DNA Memory help guide us to a positive evolutionary change that we the people, of all cultures and creeds, control? Not a new philosophy but something we can utilize? Can we find common ground?
I am driven to understand the past, how we got to the present, before I can move into the future. The following is what I’ve learned and experienced.
Jerusalem is a city with visible scars, war displayed like a layered cake, showcasing the grabs for power. One tribe builds for its god or gods; inevitably later another, a growing religious movement destroys the previous in honor of their messiah, the conquerors get conquered, the losers becomes winners, full circle, it keeps going.
[1] ‘It is holy to Judaism as the site of the Temple of Jerusalem, to Christianity because of its association with Jesus, and to Islam because of its connection with the Mi’raj (the Prophet Muhammad’s ascension to heaven). Jewish shrines include the Western Wall. Islamic holy places include the Dome of the Rock. In 1000 BCE David made it the capital of Israel. Razed by the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE, it thereafter enjoyed only brief periods of independence. The Romans devastated it in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, banishing the Jewish population. From 638 it was ruled by various Muslim dynasties, except for short periods during the Crusades when Christians controlled it. Rule by the Ottoman Empire ended in 1917, and the city became the capital of the British mandate of Palestine. It was thereafter the subject of competing Zionist and Palestinian national aspirations. Israel claimed the city as its capital after the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and took the entire city during the Six-Day War of 1967. Its status as Israel’s capital has remained a point of contention: official recognition by the international community has largely been withheld pending final settlement of regional territorial rights.’
A beaten and bruised city that has changed hands a number of times, and in what could be called a miracle, has kept it’s grace. Not true for its inhabitants who go about the business of repeating history, wielding a segregated mission in the most disgraceful way.
Like siblings at the beach, building sand structures, one is architecting beautiful churches and monuments, the other his grand city and temples, yet another produces fantastic mosques, minarets, tall walls surrounding. One finishes, admires with pride his kingdom, to see his brother come quick to knock down the dream and hard work – another brother awaits his turn to do the same to the new victor, eager to build his righteous vision. As to say with the each destruction, gloating in repudiation towards the distraught, “What do you believe in now?”
I’ve learned that the rings of this family-tree-of-faith do not sing, for us, the world, a unified peaceful song of hope. Instead we’re all caught staring, spinning, not knowing where to start or what to do, we’re lost in a ancient olive grove. The ache of each root clings tight to its original promise, the rich soil of its beloved land. But in this grove there is no song, no happy story, no unified set of rings to tell or explain the past fairly, for there is more than one tree, each is different. Each gnarled branch gives out a silent polluted cry of its own, each prayer polarized in stubborn, twisted trunks, broken and fallen, splitting itself in two, three, each displaying, nothing but itself, thinking nothing but it’s own need; very alive despite appearing dead.
Life continues, the battles wage on and the little city that was, still is, the will of the people, their language, their culture, utterly shrouded with religion. Today, Jerusalem is so rich with history; its children have a bellyache, living daily with enduring pain, the tormented sickness of war.
Despite its history and present conflict this city on top of the hill is beyond beautiful, stunning. Time is lost. The light sweeps you into a dream — a dream produced by ghosts. One of the most affecting visions of my adult life; kids, families, and the everyday people of this ancient land, still alive today, living within the epic story. With each breathe, each movement, I could see an exchange from the land, it’s buildings; of a shared dark secret with its people, and vice versa. I, the visitor, a distant relative, was regulated to feel it for myself, but, only as a outsider.
There is no other place on earth with this energy, or so I think as I enter and exit it’s womb, the central battleground.
From what I could see: All together, Jews, Muslims and Christians, these monotheist ‘Abraham’ religions, 50% of the world’s population, share more in common than the other half of the world, yet are too hindered by their pain to accept or come to terms with these facts. Which reminds me with a thud, even the slightest differences matter and once those differences add-up, they turn into deeply rooted divides. DNA Memory is a finicky but random, exact though an evolving power. I’ve stated it before but it’s worth mentioning again, if you combine Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs and Steal with Malcolm Gladwell’s best selling book Outliers, you can predict or rather be empowered to change, what’s next. A clash of the titans, 3rd world war? Or evolution revolution we finally and fairly control with shared values and interests?
As the only living creatures on earth with the ability for abstract thinking matched with the skills to produce what we imagine, a choice, what dreams we dream; doesn’t it come with a responsibility? What was the American Dream after all, but an exercised [2] Right of Revolution for peoples of all cultures and creeds demanding freedom? History gives us proof this works. The future demands we remain vigilant, yes? However, it’s clear now that the United States of America is stuck, no longer building the perfect union, no longer a role model for the future. And surely we understand by now this religious war is stuck, though the sickness of war is spreading faster than the H1N1 virus.
[3] ‘It is worth noting that individual humans generally differ by about 0.1 percent genetically. Thus, chimps differ from humans by about 15-fold more, on the average, than humans do from one another. The 0.1 percent human divergence certainly results in significant variation in physical appearance and traits between different humans. Therefor, perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that chimps could be 98.5 percent related to humans. Relatively small genetic changes can produce major phenotypic changes.’
[4] ‘Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending argued in “The 10,000 Year Explosion” that some human groups experienced a vastly accelerated rate of evolutionary change within the past few thousand years, benefiting from the new genetic diversity created within far larger populations, and in response to the new survival, social challenges…’
Does this story sound familiar? Or do you ask, what does the above information have to do with this project, Zoe Bios? How can an American understand what’s happening in Israel? What is this brazen boldness!? If so, then I must immediately flip these questions on its head.
How could I/we not understand? And how could we/I not respond? Of course this is relevant.
My ancient blood, like many Westerners, little doubt walked these lands, traded goods, survived somehow. I’m personally agnostic, but am alive today, shaped by my religious ancestors whose migration and history link me to this land. I can feel my past here, in Palestine, specifically in Jerusalem. There is strong DNA Memory here. Also, recent recorded history spells the American role in World War II, our ever-growing, connected partnership with the Israel, the only nation on the face of the earth for and by the Jewish people; an important fact, considering the comparison. Take a look at national flags to see the massive evidence of deeply religions nations around the world, predominantly Christian and Muslim. And our unfortunate misunderstandings and mishandling with the largely peaceful and fastest growing religion in the world, more specifically with a small but effective group of disadvantaged angry Muslims hosted and financed by large powerful Arab nations with extreme leadership who has made it their mission to educate and arm these once peaceful young impressionable minds with hate, targeting Jews, Americans, but ultimately the entire non-Muslim world; this could explain some low punches that were received loud, and all too clearly communicated — not just in the United States — in many Western “allied” countries.
Who or what shall win the minds and hearts of the young?
Whatever reality, a version of the story you want to accept, right here and now the scarcity of peace and other essentials for a fair quality of life, is shared, though in many ways harsher, more horribly real for the Palestinians, the majority of Arabs — not to mention millions of people in any “3rd world country” (for a lack of a better term) or people treated as such because of discrimination. The abundance is unbalanced, top heavy for the Jews who use their power (evolved over many generations, but more on that later) to fight for their perceived right to live, fearing a hateful interpretation of Jihad. Terrified to accept what they believe could be a Trojan horse, claiming foul, because Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian groups certainly do not embrace a peaceful interpretation of Jihad (yes, a peaceful version is possible, scripture proves this, but more on that later) when they call for Israel to open territory and economies. Plus Western society waving the capitalism flag like a weapon, eating up the world’s resources, taking advantage of disadvantaged people, benefiting the powerful few with little trickle down, have also weakened it’s wrongly assumed moral higher ground, and no doubt, has contributed to the terrorism of fear, more, to the scarcity it now uncouthly shares with the world. Americans believing the world is flat, that life begins-and-ends between blue-and-red states, exclusively understanding its own culture and ideas from NYC to Los Angeles, Chicago to Dallas as the best in the world, are simply, stubbornly, wrong.
This I understand.
The ancient olive branch continues to reach out, begging for a leader of peace to be born, to united us, to accept the branch once and for all — for all cultures and creeds. This is a wish stated to me by a thirty-something Jewish Mother living in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, with whom I recently discussed these issues. She does not want her kids to be soldiers, mandatory in Israel. Sadly though, the wish for a Gandhi, or better yet, a Martin Luther King, Jr. type-leader (the latter because his was a free speech and civil right battle, not at religous or holy war) – for Palestine — for the world, hasn’t fostered anything, other than wishful thinking. A new enlightment is needed which will take more than one person.
Therefore the battles wage on, horribly and unnecessarily. Because I believe, and so too, young men I met in Jerusalem, Muslim Palestinian peace activists — the will of the people, the majority, everyday-you-and-me-people, are wanting peace. Our Father’s DNA Memory might be compacted with war, but in the hearts and minds of Mothers and young people — of all people before the sickness infects their souls — live today, the desire, and a shared dream, of peace, opportunity, a fair quality of life.
So then, who or what is profiting from this continued war?
I can’t answer these questions by myself. We’re here to discuss. For my contribution, this discourse is presented from an agnostic viewpoint, a freshly defined belief system as: non-absolute, curious, open, harmonious and respectful. And this is how I approached my journey into Israel/Palestine, by not taking sides, coming with a freed heart and mind, wanting to understand the big picture and true intentions, with the will and vision to change myself.
Similar to Karen Armstrong, I believe in reciprocity, the “golden rule” if you will and maybe you do because it’s a key teaching in all major religions. Beautiful things are realized by living this method of relating with people; paying it forward in a positive, dare I say, “sustainable” kind-of-way, versus a backwards stuck kinda-of-way.
First I had to write this precursor, but soon I’ll take you with me, into the modern capital of Israel, one and the same, the Old City of Palestine; Part 1: The Journey into Common Ground
In regards to my DNA thumbprint, as a writer, I accept the limitations. Therefore I’ve decided that I will complete the zeitgeist, for now, with the next couple posts (a final piece on the connection between the Jews and Muslims, the conflict — plus a DNA trek wrap-up); until I’ve completed the book that will showcase it all, soup to nuts.
This is not about a limited thumbprint, or maybe it is, though for now, about prioritizing my time. Soon you’ll notice, if you continue to follow along, and I hope you do come back to see what’s next. Go to the Zoe Bios Facebook page for the exclusive updates. You’ll see clues of the final trek into Egypt and South East Africa, Tanzania. The book will put those clues together into the final picture. Big issues will be confronted. I already sense a discussion on Culture and Language, Economics, Sexuality and more.
We will see, together, if understanding DNA Memory has any meaning or value.
XXX
Credits:
[1] http://www.answers.com/topic/jerusalem
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_revolution
[3] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-does-the-fact-that-w
[4] http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14742737
[5] Curiosity, ongoing question and answer series with Google and Wikipedia helping to round-up the general info, countless hours double-checking facts, Academia who post mostly reliable info online, conversations while traveling around the world with other curious people from all over the world, ambitious compassionate intellectuals who study interesting subjects and write books about it, music, art, inspiration and creativity (wherever it comes from), nature, all my friends and family, especially my mom, “powers that be”, hard work, our life, DNA Memory, the present, this opportunity. Much gratitude.
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