I recently read an interview of Marianne Williamson as she discussed her new book, The Gift of Change. During the interview she talked about the happenings around 9/11 and that we had an opportunity to engage in an authentic inquiry into such questions as, "Why do these people hate us?" Unfortunately, instead, we then turned away from the inquiry and chose a path of fear instead.

But perhaps it's not too late to engage in the inquiry again. As I started to do this for myself what came up was quite interesting. I realized that I also hate, or at least fear, which is closely akin to hate, those that attacked the US on 9/11. Why do I hate/fear these people, and who exactly is it that I'm directing such energy towards?

Ahh, there's the rub and possibly even the beginning of a solution to the dilemma. I actually know very little about the people that my country had designated as our enemy. At best, I have only vague, poorly formed thoughts about them. I think of them as 'Islamic extremists' akin to the KKK in this country, an analogy I learned from an episode of West Wing that aired shortly after 9/11. But the truth is I know very little about the religion of Islam, how it is different from or similar to my own beliefs, the countries where it flourishes, what the people are like who live there, on and on. The degree of my ignorance in this area is alarming. Might it not be the same for them?

Could it be that it is in this field of ignorance where the current crop of fear and hate has grown on both sides? While the well-known maxim says "familiarity breeds contempt," it seems to me that ignorance breeds fear and hate. If so, then, isn't it time for us all to begin to know our "enemies?" For sure this has been considered a wise strategy to use in times of war, but perhaps it's also a wise strategy that can lead us to a time of peace. But knowing our enemy is not enough, is it? For sure it's a step in the right direction, just not enough. Christ admonished us to now only know our enemy but to learn to "love thy enemy," and then went on to demonstrate this spiritual principle when he pleaded, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do," as his Roman persecutors nailed him to the cross.

The Romans were ignorant as to what they were doing, and this is another example where ignorance fostered fear and hate. Knowing our enemy could be a wise first step that makes it easier to then love them. In seeking to remove ignorance we have of another culture, we can also be available to help them understand us better as well; to understand us at a deeper level than just our commercials, our rap music, and our other superficial cultural clichs.

Isn't it likely that if we take the time to know each other at a deeper, soulful level, we will find some common ground based in shared commitments and core values that will allow us to appreciate and even embrace our differences? It is time to plow up the fields of ignorance with the plow of authentic inquiry into the nature of each other, to pull out the weeds of fear and hate and to plant a new crop of understanding and love.

2005 Brad Swift of Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.