Energy flows where attention goes.

With the latest example of violence at Virginia Tech, millions of Americans and people around the world are asking, "What's the cause?"

We are a nation inundated with violence from every angle. One manifestation of this is the current ever-increasing popularity of violent horror films. In fact, according to an article I recently read in a major paper, "the more violent the better."

Graphic images of violence in the media are now commonplace, and our senses have become deadened to depictions of violence. Is it any wonder that since Generation Y (or the Internet Generation) has grown up their entire lives watching graphic violence in their own living rooms night after night, that this would be programmed into them as 'normal'?

To add to that phenomenon, as a nation we've spent the last half a decade totally consumed with the "war on terror". Our news brings terror into our living rooms every single night.

As Americans, we are surrounded by this 'war' and yet the greatest terror we experience is in our own homes and airports. I travel over 200 days per year, and I cannot tell you how many times my bags have been 'terrorized' and ransacked...all in the name of national security.

Every single time I'm in the airport of late, I hear the announcement repeated over and over again, "The TSA has raised the security threat level to orange." What the heck does orange mean, and how are the colors decided? I've never heard of the threat level as anything other than orange (as close to red on the visible spectrum without being red). Will it ever drop to sky blue, white or pink? Doubtful. That wouldn't be scary enough.

Terror has now crept into our school system at great magnitude and the message is loud and clear that we must wake up!

In my book Practical Spirituality, I wrote a chapter entitled "Stand 'For' Something Versus 'Against' It." If our full attention continues to focus upon terror, we feed the beast...It's a raging bonfire, and we're throwing another log on it day after day, week after week.

Bottomline: The "war on terror" feeds and propagates terror...Violence in our media and in our homes feeds and creates more violence.

I'm not suggesting that the "war on terror" or any other single philosophy is totally and completely responsible for the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech is the outcome of a momentum of energy that has pumped violence and terror into our homes and minds over time.

The Virginia Tech incident is the REAL "code orange". If we don't wake up soon, it will only continue to intensify.

The only way to stop the madness is to increase our consciousness and shift our focus. And it seems that our friends across the pond are on the right track. A member of Tony Blair's cabinet, International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, said they are no longer using the term "war on terror". According to Benn, "the phrase strengthens terrorists by making them feel part of a bigger struggle." It's definitely a step in the right direction.

I encourage each individual to release the "war on terror" from their vocabulary and minds and begin focusing on "propagating peace". As we begin to shift our individual consciousness, we shift the consciousness of our country and, eventually, the consciousness of our planet. It may not occur overnight, but let us begin...


To your continued wealth and happiness,



James Arthur Ray
President/CEO
James Ray International