It is shocking to watch the horrors unfolding in New Orleans from the hurricane and floods, and to feel the pain of so many people who now have nothing but their spirit and will to survive.  And it was especially painful to see American people left with no food, water or medicine because of the incompetent and uncaring response from local, state and federal governments in the first few days of the disaster.  And as the rest of us sit watching the suffering in our comfortable homes, it is a great test of our compassion.  How are we responding?  Fortunately, many people coming to the area and volunteering to help and thousands are sending donations.

     From a deeper perspective, this disaster seems designed as a spiritual wake-up call to highlight every significant issue Americans need to address today: ­ poverty, racism, the deteriorating environment, oil depletion, increasingly huge debts from the war.  Clearly the disaster is revealing the huge racial and social divisions still festering in our nation that need to be healed. The whole world could see on television that it was poor, black people who huddled in the Convention Center for four days with no government help--while whites had the resources to quickly evacuate. Our friends around the world are emailing us in disbelief at the callousness of our government, saying the government’s handling of this disaster looks like what you would expect from corrupt governments in the developing world.

     As we wrote in our book Spiritual Politics ten years ago, many cultures see a link between events in the natural world-- drought, earthquakes, hurricanes-- and collective human thought.  This is the element scientists miss and why they can’t accurately predict the weather.  Major natural disasters are often seen as a spiritual message-- a sure sign that “the mandate of heaven is passing” and it is time for a new ruler.  Are you listening America??

    The long delay in federal response left many people wondering if this was due to bureaucratic incompetence--or was it intentional, due to racism and a desire to remove poor blacks so the area could be developed at great profit to wealthy elites?  Why were all the federal and local studies urging serious preparation for hurricane disasters and immediate action to repair the levies ignored?  Was the meager federal response because many National Guard troops and their equipment had been sent to the war in Iraq?  Or perhaps more darkly­, was it a way to create more fear and chaos and thus justify increasing use of martial law?  Is this a rehearsal to see how we will respond as a people to even more imposed controls and loss of our freedoms under our new Homeland Security Agency?

    The response to Katrina seems to reflect deliberate, underlying policies of reducing government until it can, in the words of one conservative activist, "be drowned in a bathtub," --a policy which has now karmically come home to roost.  This policy of "drowning the government in a bathtub" has instead drowned thousands of helpless, poor citizens in a bathtub of greed, deliberate neglect and endless wars to fulfill a misguided national policy of dominance of the planet's energy resources for our selfish use.

    The disaster is also revealing the glaring lack of awareness of the natural environment in the region.  There has been little protection of the delicate eco-systems that could have prevented much of the flooding.  Wetlands have instead been covered over by development with no thought of the long-term consequences.  Government funds requested by New Orleans to rebuild the levees for storm protection were diverted to the war in Iraq and to tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy. The floodwaters are now so toxic from sewage, bacteria, chemicals, and leaking gas that many more deaths may occur.  (Yet the floodwaters are only bringing to the surface toxins that have been hidden underground in so many major cities).  Recovery costs will have a huge effect on our national economy, as will the skyrocketing price of gas and oil due to damaged refineries.

Symbolic Aspects of the Disaster

    The flooding is also revealing the negative impact of the floating gambling casinos on the Mississippi River.  The huge casino barges became battering rams in the floods, destroying many homes and businesses ­ symbolic of how gambling addiction and greed has destroyed many homes and lives. The symbolism of these destructive barges is quite illuminating.

     And significantly, the waters are flooding New Orleans, the sacral or sexual center of the country.  There may have been an accumulation of negative mental and emotional energy in this center which needed to be purified with wind and water.  It was interesting that the hurricane left Florida as a Category One hurricane and hit New Orleans as a Category Four—much more severe. 

    Each nation has major energy centers or chakras where specific types of energy flow in and out of the national energy body.  The Big Easy is known for its excesses of sex, drinking and drugs, and water is the element associated with this chakra. Thus it is not surprising that the primary destruction of the city was not by wind, but by water. The previous disaster of 9/11 was in the throat chakra of the U.S., New York­, the creative and communication center.

     Like 9/11, the Katrina disaster has become another toxic wound in America’s psyche.  Seeing the pain and suffering of the poorest of poor who’ve been left without homes, food or money, is a huge wake-up call for America.  We need to get back in touch with our higher purpose as a nation, symbolized by the lamp held aloft by the Statue of Liberty, welcoming and embracing all people with true compassion.

     We need to realize that as a nation we are defined by how we treat the least of our citizens. This is what determines our greatness as a nation, not our military might, or our economy--but our compassion and generosity. Individual Americans are very generous in times of crisis, but they usually do not see how the government representing them is causing great harm and suffering in their own nation, and to other nations all over the world.

    And very importantly, we need to not to confuse our spiritual need to forgive the human frailty of government officials that made the disaster worse, with our political responsibility as citizens.  We must hold our politicians accountable, both at the ballot box and in direct action.

Meditation for the Crisis

   So what can we each do to help, besides sending donations or volunteering?  We can offer our prayers and meditations to see Divine Purpose outworking through this crisis, bringing the highest good to all involved.  We can visualize the light of compassion filling the Gulf area, the nation’s sacral chakra, to bring healing energies to the flood victims.  See an outpouring of compassion from the entire world to these people that their basic needs may be met.  Then visualize the floodwaters being purified with light, cleansed of toxins.  Ask that this light may heal the anger and divisions among all races and economic classes and renew the spiritual consciousness of America.

   We can also meditate and pray that this crisis, which seems to be designed for our maximum learning as Americans, lead to an awakening and transformation of our personal and national conscience. If we learn to care for all our people as our own “kind,” and thus demonstrate true “kindness,” then perhaps we will learn one day to extend this compassion to all our fellow human beings in the world, regardless of race, religion or nationality.