"I am thinking about what has happened, the things that have come to pass throughout the land. Changes are taking place.... Justice has been cast out, and evil is inside the shrine. The designs of the gods are spoiled, and Their requests passed over. The land is in a dire state. Mourning is everywhere; towns and villages are in lamentation. Everyone is stricken with grief. Backs are turned on anything of worth; even the calm are distressed. Troubles occur daily and the heart shrinks from what is about to happen."
From the Lamentations of Ipuwer
written more than 3,000 years ago

The end of the world is not nigh. The above was not a prophecy from an ancient Egyptian wise man, but a simple man's lamentation of a world gone wrong. While we may feel that the world has never seen the like of such a tragedy as we are now contemplating, the moment itself is something that recurs in human history -- a moment when the Universe shows us just how dangerously out of balance we have become.

In moments like these, there are no words. There are no words to convey the depth of the feelings we have for those we know and love who have been harmed or killed in the acts of violence made on the people of New York City and Washington D.C., and truly all peoples of the world, in the past few hours.

There are no words to convey the depth of our sorrow, our anger or our disbelief. It is not enough to say we are sorry, or that we wish to see justice done, or that we don't understand how or why such a horror could occur. It is not enough to shake our fists at the sky and ask our Creator, Whomever He or She might be for us, how or why. It is simply not enough.

For the first time in my spiritual life and I hope the last, I entered my shrine after learning of these unspeakable acts and heard nothing but sobbing. The very gods Themselves were weeping within my shrine. There were no words even from Them at this time when it feels as if the Uncreated itself thrust through the barrier of Creation and sank in its fangs.

In my faith it is said that four is the number of completion. Four airplanes were hijacked; four buildings collapsed. Many, many times four families did not see their loved ones come home. Many, many times four people watched, waited, prayed, continued to gather and pray and offer their help in any way they can to fend off this most wretched of feelings, this wave of helplessness that Isfet always uses for both its advance and rear guard.

Yet, this is all far from over. The nations of the world now come together to punish those responsible for these acts; we must support them and with our whole selves condemn any person who would give themselves over to the Enemy in such a way that they could justify any bloodshed, let alone a bloodshed of this incomprehensible proportion. We must pray for our leaders now, that they have the courage to do what is necessary and no more or no less; and that they have the wisdom to know what that is so that they may do it.

We must pray for those who have been lost, for those who need to be found, and for those helping to find them. We must pray for the dead and dying, the injured and those who simply have had their souls rent to shreds in the fireball shattering a peaceful morning sky. We must pray.

We must pray for ourselves, that we may never forget this has happened nor allow it to happen again. For the world we must all be carriers of Ma'at, to restore the balance when it has been so carelessly tossed aside, so harshly torn from us. We must carry Her back to Her places. We must stand behind all those who will be falsely accused, from the Muslim-American organizations already receiving death threats to those Muslims in the Middle East and the rest of our world who know that Allah, the Great and Merciful, also wept on Tuesday, probably hand in hand with all His prophets. We must seek out those servants of no merciful God who are responsible for these acts and make sure this never happens again, so we may assure our children and their children's children that our world is not ending, that this is a better place and that we will not stand for any atrocity done in the name of any God.

As religious people, we must come together, no matter what our faith or creed, to help, to heal and to carry righteousness and truth back into the world. I call upon all children of faith, of any faith, to come together in prayer and fellowship, to help each other heal in this most difficult time, and to support each other as we now struggle to restore balance to this unbalanced world.