Between the River and the Sea
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Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
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These are the words of the poet William Butler Yeats
and they have special meaning in an age of increasing freedom of choice in how we define what
it means to be a good person and what it means to lead a good life.
 Many feel exhilarated and liberated by this phenomenon. But there have
been, and will continue to be, undeniable costs. We are drifting away from
each other, and the institutions that have historically served as our moorings.
Our focus has shifted to what makes us unique and different at the expense of
our ability to see and acknowledge the common ground we share.
And the consequences are predictable. Each
of the major religions, and even denominations within our major religions, are
becoming less and less tolerant of, and socialize less and less with, each
other. Ethnic groupings within countries
around the world are moving, or threatening to move, apart from, or do violence
to, each other.
None of us is immune. This phenomenon is affecting, or threatening to
affect, Christians, Jews and Muslims alike on every continent and in every
country around the world. Including ours.
But if we learn about and remember our common ground we can temper the
destructive passions that are too often inflamed by our differences. We
can be different, even apart, yet at a fundamental level stay together.
Where is that common ground? It’s between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea . . . where our histories, cultures and common
heritages intersect.
We need to re-attach to it. It matters little if that attachment is
grounded in religion, culture, history or nostalgia. All that matters is
that we are reminded of something that, in common, we stand in awe of, are fascinated with, feel a fondness for and
in which see our various roots.
Call it what you will. Let others call it what they will. The Holy
Land, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, the West Bank or whatever. It’s the land
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea . The place of our histories,
cultures and common heritages. The place were we can find our common
ground.
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