G.I Gurjieff was asked about the power of his philosophies, derived from the enduring ideas of love and compassion, to stop war. It was specifically in the context of WWI. His answer stuck with me. “Sometimes humanity is overcome with madness, like lemmings. Nothing we can say or do can deter them when this madness takes hold. War will come…” He recommended the only thing to do was avoid the war zones and wait for the “madness" to exhaust itself. It seemed a bit cowardly I thought at the time but over the years I have been compelled to accept the truth of it. I have railed against Desert Storm, invasion of Afghanistan, War for WMD, the Global War on Terror…et al. All unsuccessfully, filling me with sadness and frustration. I guess we can try to stay out of the way, survive, be there to help healing and be the voices of reason once our fellow Americans have exhausted their anger, frustration, fear, bullets, money and willing soldiers in their “rush to the Abyss" which threatens to swallow the United States of America