In 2012 Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian born U.S. citizen, writer, producer and Coptic Christian, posted a film on YouTube that came to be known as “The Innocence of Muslims”.  The bizarre, laughably unprofessional video contained anti-Islamic content which had been added in post production by dubbing without the actors’ knowledge. On September 11 the film stirred demonstrations and violent protests in Egypt, which spread to other Arab and Muslim nations and some western countries. The protests led to hundreds of injuries and over fifty deaths.  Fatwas were issued against the video’s participants and a Pakistani minister offered a bounty for the killing of Nakoula.  J. Christopher Stevens, an American diplomat, lawyer and ambassador to Libya was killed in an attack upon the U.S. Embassy.

The transmission which follows was in response to the many questions asked about this event. I shared it on my blog in 2012, but I find the guidance in it so relevant at this time I am re-posting it. Please share.

Tell us about the film Innocence of Muslims, the uprisings in protest of the film and the death of J. Christopher Stevens.  

It has been said that all life is but a stage
and its people only actors
There are times when we can witness this truth
in the dramas of our private lives
but then we quickly resume the play
the very next moment
so complicit are we
with our soul’s agreement
to act out our chosen role
until the very end

One of the great gifts
of our world’s present awakening
is the opportunity to recognize the theatre
in so many aspects of our personalities
our desires and our habits
More than ever before
we are shown the puppetry of our ways
And so it is no surprise
that it would be a piece of theatre
a humorously inept story played out on a world stage
that now engages our hearts and minds
like a suffering worm that squirms
on a child’s fishing hook
a small, powerless creature
sacrificed for larger gains
as the small fish
is eaten by the bigger fish
until all life becomes a game of entrapment
the bait, a piece of nonsense
worthy only of dismissal
that has taken hold of Hatred
and threatens
to make it King

Before the illusion falls
it blows up into mythic proportions
Before the Wizard is revealed as nothing
we must believe him to be everything
in our innocence and trust
for it is the power of this belief
that will fuel our new awakening
when we are ready
when we have spent our denial
and spit it like poison
upon the ground
when finally
finally
we have the opportunity
to become truly free

And so if you look around
you will see that the most unconscious of players
are enacting the most flagrant untruths
and the most empty hearts
are living the most passionate
and destructive lies
And as much as we wish to regret them
as much as we are astonished
and hurt
and righteous
even these ones
even these sleeping souls
have a role to enact
in the theatre that plays out
before our very eyes

We tell you now
there is no hate, blame or destruction
to be found in the search for God
We tell you now
there is no Spirit alive
in the desire to control and condemn
But in the name of religion
godliness has been lost
and in the name of righteousness
we are shown only our most base humanity
the very childish fears
we have sought so long
to transcend

And so cruel suffering and death continue
and the sphere threatens to crack
above the heat of hate’s fire
and yet even here
even in this
we are given the chance to see
more clearly than ever before
the ignorance
the foolishness
the supreme waste
of continuing to play this game

Within these lands
where Muslims, Jews and Christians swirl
in mutual torment
we find the cleansing of the most ancient of fears
attempts to take place
for these illusions are old
so very old
they were born even as our world was born
and so we come full cycle
back to the flaws
that keep us weak
now illuminated in hideous relief
until the dark becomes so black
there will be no mistaking the light
until Love’s opposite takes us so far from Truth
we are left with nothing
nothing but that which was obvious
right from the start
if only we will step down from the stage
and live what is real
with utter fearlessness in our hearts

And do you see
that each man who raises his voice
in defense of a dogma
is on the same search?
Each one
thinks to claim his home
each one
believes in his own honour
each one
measures his worth
by his dominance
by his ability to instill respect
otherwise known
as fear

In this
each one is but a child
who holds a hidden terror
that he is without a home
without worth
without value
yet if he would but dare
to turn his eyes to the sun
he would find there that he has permission
to be a child
to surrender to the mother he has cast away
to sink helpless
into Her arms

And when one man appears to be sacrificed
always know
that he is but the face
of so many others who have gone before
and all those who will follow
His name and his status represent
the name and the status of all those who are at war
and as he dies
he plays the role of the hero
the protagonist in the story of the day
as we are asked yet again
to wake up
wake up
wake up to the violence
that has lived
in us all

It is only when we can stop accusing
when we can turn that angry pointed finger
toward our own mirror
that we have any hope of reconciliation
of ending the circle
of denial and blame
It is only
when the most horrific bombs have dropped
when the most ridiculous rules have been followed
when the most absurd stories are believed
that those who sleep most deeply
may be inspired to give up their slumber
because the act is closing
the curtain is falling
and the grand, grand theatre of life
must surely come to an end

So even as we fear
we must trust in a new world
one we may see for the first time
when the house lights come up
and the actors take off their chosen garb
Even as the voices of ignorance
shout in the daily news
we must welcome the peace
they will leave in the wake
of their bombast
and their lust

And for those of us
who are graced with a seat in the balcony
where we watch the closing scenes
of a story as old
as the beginning of humankind
we must take our cue
from the heroes who fall before us
and walk from the theatre
in complete honesty
never again to utter
anything less than the truth
no matter how great the risk
no matter how high the cost

The days of good guys and bad guys
of saint and devil
of friend and foe
are coming to an end
as the pointlessness of all polarities
is revealed
And the only question that remains
is can you
will you
take off your own costume
throw away your script
let go the need
to play to an audience
and then do your part
in this final act
to lead the way
off-stage?

Can you
will you
wake up from your own sleep
before the theatre
burns?

from The Final Act: The Innocence of Muslims and Others
 

Adi’s interview with Hugh Reilly and Sandra Kyrzakos, discussing the process of releasing fear.

Talk with Adi here: