The complete idiot’s guide to Mideast peace – part 212

How do you bandage the wounds you can’t see? | The Times of Israel    ‘The entire population of Israel is feeling anxiety, experts say, but a small and growing number will have lasting trauma’

A widespread anxiety complex among Israelis and Palestinians cannot be all that surprising given present circumstances. And, with so many similar ones having occurred throughout the past, these also must have made several hefty contributions towards such a state of mind.

But what then to do about it?

First, define the problem. What is its basic nature?

It is, in essence, an involuntary reaction, an automatic response to a situation over which little individual control can be exercised and where no expectation of ever properly finalising the matter really exists. Only by constant vigilance and, inevitably, with even more violent confrontation to come, is the status quo to be retained, this being the one option that is familiar, even if never a comfort to all but the most hostile of mindsets.

Second, address the problem. What can be its remedy?

Another automatic response, perhaps? A compensating mechanism whereby some measure of positive and even personal input adapts conditions so that a marked effect on outcomes is more easily achieved. Instead of a purely reactive approach to the situation, a more dynamic interpretation is placed upon it and a result very much in contrast to all those previously encountered is then found to be readily forthcoming.

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“ TO THE MIND THAT IS STILL, THE WHOLE UNIVERSE SURRENDERS ” … Lao Tzu