03.18.05

No real news about the film.  We’ve been rejected from a few more festivals.  But we have entered more as well.   

In the news this week is the result of the court case for the bombing of the Air-India flight 182 in 1985.  After waiting years for the Canadian government to bring charges against suspects, and even more years waiting for a trial, the victim’s families witnessed the judge throw out all charges. 

Several questions arise from this verdict.   How could the Canadian government fail its responsibilities so miserably (both in allowing the bomb on the plane and in failing to prosecute the crime swiftly)?   And what is the cause of the religious hatred (this time between Sikh and Hindu) that seems to have been the motive for the crime?  But the question that most troubles me is how the families of the victims can find some sort of closure and solace now that the possibility of justice seems to be denied to them? 

The same question arises in another story much in the news this week.  The story of the Irish family, mostly women, who are protesting so that the IRA will release the man who killed their family member.  The IRA has offered to kill the man themselves, but the family is insisting that their motive is justice, not revenge.  Again, the question is how can they find peace in their hearts if justice is eventually denied them? 

This question resonates a great deal with me, because it is one of the questions that is at the heart of Dark September Rain.  In the film there is a section where one of the Daimons (played by me in this instance) says the following:

FIRST DAIMON: “Assuming that we can eliminate, or isolate our anger while making the judgments necessary to obtain justice, what mind must we then replace it with? Of all the available possibilities only the minds of love, compassion, and wisdom seem to be reasonable candidates.  But any of these minds alone appears equally inadequate, for even wisdom, if not motivated by some superior intention, can be perverted toward ends that are as dissimilar from justice as those promoted by anger. It would appear that the only reasonable course of action is to adjudicate our responses to create a mind mixed as equally as possible of love, compassion, and wisdom.  Or so it would seem to this judge.”

Subtitle: His Honor, Francois K. Renoir, The French National Comment.

As paradoxical as it may seem, I do think that the only way to find real solace, to find real peace of mind, is to open our hearts in the face of injustice and cultivate love and compassion.  Not simply for the victims or ourselves.  No, to obtain true inner peace, our mind must be awash in love and compassion, even and especially for those who have perpetrated violence against ourselves and our loved ones.  If we cultivate a mind of hatred, or a mind of anger, we will never have peace in our hearts.  Anger and hatred are destructive, deluded minds. They cannot bring us peace. 

This doesn’t mean that we should not seek justice, or that we should not prosecute and confine those who perpetrate violent actions.  But the purpose, the motivation, of seeking justice should not be punishment or retribution.  Instead, our purpose should be to create situations and environments where those who have caused harm to others can come to realize that their actions have been the results of deluded minds. On this basis they can develop regret, and eventually learn to cultivate love and compassion for their victims. And finally, they can make restitution to their victims, or the families of victims. 

At the end of the film, one of the Daimons (this time played by Donnetta Grays) says:

SECOND DAIMON: “I know that in the wake of the events of the last year I will likely be considered a fool, if not worse, but I have become more convinced than ever over the course of these many months that the only hope for all of us as a nation and a species and as a planet is if we can learn to open our hearts to the love that is our nature. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take actions that are intended to defend ourselves or others, only that we act out of love and not out of fear. It is only from love that we can hope to rebuild our lives and construct our future. To act out of fear, or anger, or hatred, will only leave us with a future of the same. We must instead act from a place of love.  A place of hope”

Subtitle: Letter to the Editor from The Istanbul Times.

I believe this applies to all acts of violence.  Of course, acting from love, compassion, and hope, is a hell of a lot more difficult than acting from fear, anger, and hatred.  But this is the spiritual path.  Of course, no one said the spiritual path was easy.

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