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We don't approve of suicide, nor killing of any kind. In London we attended the peace march against the plans for invading Iraq in 2002. It did not seem to us that invading Iraq was a good response to the issues raised by the 9/11 attack on the Trade Center in New York. That attack did not come out of the blue. Without defending it in any way, clearly a whole series of experiences - frustration, alienation, disrespect, globalisation etc - preceded it.

If only we could find more wisdom, to understand what is happening in our world, how people feel about it and so learn how to deal wisely with atrocities when they arise. Just invading anyone who has a different world-view cannot be the solution. Indeed, it's amazing that the people implementing such policies do not foresee the cumulative destructive effects of their 'war on terror'.

A tragic result too is that the governments who condone such wars, with the tremendous loss of life and suffering they engender, lose their moral authority to forbid suicide bombings etc when they happen in their countries. People need better examples from their leaders.

How to handle situations like the attack on the Trade Centre or the Iraq wars? What position to take? How and why do we allow atrocities to happen? Even if we can’t initially prevent them, why do we allow such situations to continue? What is our role and responsibility? What can we do? Whilst condemning atrocities, do we also have to accept them, as part of creation?

Maybe thinking about the question 'how to deal with death’ could help us. When we study death and engage with it, our experience is that the threat of death disappears. Perhaps the threat is not the same as the actual occurrence of death and dealing with it, but it's very close.

Maybe the ultimate consequence of dealing with negativity and destruction is the same: death. It will not threaten us if we know what we are doing and why. Perhaps we could simply say, we reject all negativity and destruction. How? By refusing to become negative or destructive ourselves in response to another person’s thoughts or actions; and by accepting the consequences of this. This could be our positive stance. In the face of destructive forces, we can affirm: we will not be destroyed by them, even if they kill us.

Are we prepared for this? Have we lived our life in such a way that we have this strength? Even if we are disappointed by our own failure we can try again and again. Maybe then, one day, one situation, we will realise that negative forces cannot touch us. We can deal with them. We are not negative or destructive anymore and no one can ever change this. The more of us that can realise this, the greater the positive forces in our world.