Panoramic Vision for Collective Healing 

 

Panoramic vision is historically informed vision – all inclusive. Voices asking for slowing down rather than blindly escalating – we need them. We need to remember our own as well as others’ historical stories and sufferings, put them into the equation, find room for understanding. Acknowledging the often-unconscious forces of collective memories, which in any conflict, on all sides, play themselves out. A very difficult task that humanity is facing globally. Humanity’s future might depend on it. Collective memory has been of interest to me all my life, and I have highlighted its importance throughout my work. History is a part of us. So, I was struck by yesterday’s essay of António Guterres (Portuguese Secretary General of the United Nations), titled “Why Israel Must Reconsider Its Gaza Evacuation Order.” 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/opinion/israel-gaza-united-nations.html 

 

But any solution to this tragic, decades-long ordeal of death and destruction requires full recognition of the circumstances of both Israelis and Palestinians, of both their realities and both their perspectives.    We cannot ignore the power and the pull of collective memory; the circumstances that shape and define our identity and our very essence. 

 

The secretary general of the United Nations writes about putting himself into the shoes of Israelis and Palestinians, seeing through their eyes. I call this seeing with the heart. Guterres quotes José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher and essayist. At age sixteen I was very influenced by his writing. Like by this: “Fate gives us an inexorable repertory of determinate possibilities, that is, it gives us different destinies. We accept fate and within it we choose one destiny." Guterres elaborates on the famous quote by Ortega y Gasset: “Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia” — “I am myself and my circumstances.”  Yes, both. This means history is important, and we need to remember, honor, educate, not wash over, simplify, forget, ignore, leave out.  

 

Extremes are appealing, the Middle Path is boring, seems weak. But Peace is not possible without the Middle Path and Balance. No sides can be taken when we witness the Middle East region on the brink of utter catastrophe. Guterres goes on: 

 

Ortega y Gasset’s quotation concludes: “Y si no la salvo a ella, no me salvo yo.” (“If I don’t save my circumstances, I cannot save myself.”)    This horrifying cycle of ever-escalating violence and bloodshed must end. It is clear that the two sides in this conflict cannot achieve a solution without concerted action and strong support from us, the international community. That is the only way to save any chance of security and opportunity for both Israelis and Palestinians. 

 

Life is sacred, we must know and feel this, and start seeing with panoramic vision, not tunnel vision. All sides and circumstances must be part of the whole picture with equal importance. We share the grief, we bow. What a difficult task. Will it be possible? The suffering of many millions is on the line, here at home and worldwide their survival depends on our moral imagination and skills.  

More on hope for and history of Palestine, referencing South Africa's liberation struggle: "There is a Jewish hope for Palestinian Liberation. It must survive." 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/14/opinion/palestinian-ethical-resistance-answers-grief-and-rage.html