#steadfastness

🔴 Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: Keep going on the path toward the rising sun

Richard Gipps :: @DrGipps

The Palestinians like to say that they engage in "sumud," steadfastness, an adherence to the land that they characterize as resistance.

The unstated implication - which is explicit in many Arabic articles - is that the Jewish presence on the land is an aberration of history. In this worldview, the Jews will inevitably eventually be driven out like the Romans, Byzantines or (especially) Crusaders. They are outside interlopers who will flee when things get tough, like the French in Algeria. 

 Arabs believe their own propaganda of the frightened, colonialist Jew who really wants to live in Europe or America and will run away at the first sign of trouble. One reason they love the absurd theory that Jews are really Khazars is because they are not threatened by European colonists - but they are very afraid of indigenous Jews who would fight to the death for their land.

Israel hasn't helped dispel this worldview. In every war, Israel never pressed its advantage to destroy its enemies; every war ended with a negotiated settlement of some sort. The Arabs looked at these settlements as capitulation to their might, and as proof that the Jews really aren't there permanently. After all, if the tables were turned, the Arabs wouldn't stop their wars until the Jews were all gone. Israel's desire for peace with its neighbors, rather than conquest, is seen as weak. 

Worse, after the previous Gaza wars, Israel always stopped and left Hamas in place. The impression given was that Israel did not have the stomach to really fight, that domestic and international pressure was more important to Israel than winning decisively. 

This was the major factor that prompted Sinwar to plan October 7. He knew there would be a bloody backlash but his own study of the Israeli psyche, colored through his own antisemitism, was that Israel would relent under world pressure when Hamas would ensure many civilian casualties.

What Sinwar and the Arab world did not count on was Israel's own "sumud."

The word is actually Biblical. "Tzamad" means "to fasten" or "to bind." (Interestingly, it is often used to describe Israelites' joining idol worshipping cults.) 

Both sides got their opponents completely wrong. October 7 showed Israelis that the conflict with Gaza was not "manageable." And the events after October 7 showed the terrorists that Jews were not running away. 

To the West, most wars are not existential. They erupt and they eventually end without much change in the status quo. Even wars the West is involved in happen thousands of miles from where their populations live, so they are remote - almost like playing video games. And like everyone else, they project their own worldview on everyone else. 

Just like the Arabs, the Western world didn't account for Israel's determination. Its "sumud." Yes, October 7 was horrible, sure, we sympathize, but the Jews will get over it - its just like a big bus bombing. 

The world didn't really get it, which is why the international community thought that Israel would act the way it acted in previous wars.  Israel tried to tell everyone that this was different, that Israel is not messing around, that Hamas must never be allowed to threaten Israel again. 

This is the steadfastness that Israelis have. 

Because the media and world governments don't get this, they look at Israel as going overboard. They want to restrain Israel because they cannot relate to how Israelis feel after October 7. And they simply could not imagine that Israel could prevail against entrenched underground terrorist armies. That creativity and innovation is also a feature of Jewish steadfastness.

Jewish life has been centered around Israel and Jerusalem for thousands of years, and the long diaspora didn't weaken that, although internal Israeli politics made people temporarily minimize that past of their consciousness.

Yet

If I knew how to explain the level of ridiculousness I would express it to the ones who’d listen to this

Yet

Multiple lies reign supreme So I call it human recklessness

Raising hackles in the mist Heart already too heavy Who has time for this Learning To just dismiss

In response to this

Discover and venture Searching out every new adventure For whatever reason doesn’t feel like adventure Having nothing is the cause to venture Eventually

Only One ever set me free There’s no rest for the weary I call upon His name and there’s rest for the weary

Being sensible When it doesn’t make sense to us

Many afflicted are of the righteous Yet who judges the heart in us Who delivers us

From it all

Gonna be signing up and making some calls Will they hear me or will they hear the voices I call those voices y’all

Cause it’s so many Going to be searching like Eeny, Meny, Miny, Moe Hope I catch em by the toe If they holla then I’ll go Hustlers find their own flow Haven’t fully learnt that so I don’t know A general approach is all I do know Cross my fingers as I learn and I grow If impeded at least I know what I do or don’t do That’s just the way my life seems to go to I’ve accepted it cause it’s not mine no mo The kingdom of heaven is at hand Don’t ya know

The Return to Antioch in Syria

21 And having made a number of disciples through the preaching of the good news in that town, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, 22 Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God. — Acts 14:21-22 | Bible in Basic English (BBE) The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain. Cross References: Matthew 28:19; Mark 10:30; John 15:18; John 15:20; John 16:33; Acts 2:47; Acts 6:7; Acts 9:16; Acts 11:26; Acts 13:14; Acts 13:51; Acts 14:1; Acts 14:6-7

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It is natural for humans to have emotions.

Even if you are upset or angry, you swing supplely, and aim to be "steadfastness", to get back to normal again with ease.

People have got to live in a 'sea of strangers', which naturally causes stress and conflicts. Many people may believe that it is better to be emotionally unaffected, but it is natural for emotions to waver and be disturbed. The important thing is not to get caught up in or swept away by the tide. That is, as long as your emotions do not spill out of the vessel of the 'heart'.

Steadfastness does not mean a mind that does not move like a rock no matter what, or a mind that is as quiet as the surface of the water, which does not ripple at all. Without feelings, it is as if you were dead.

Steadfastness is a mind that may sway but does not overflow; a mind that may waver like a balance toy, but its axis is fixed on one point.

Nine out of ten emotional problems are a matter of mindset, a matter of how you look at things. Once you have a correct perception of the situation, you are not at the mercy of your emotions, even if they are disturbed.

When you are caught up in a tide of emotions, something inside you is misjudging. Misperceptions may be caused by wanting to protect one's position and pride. Or perhaps because you are preoccupied with a single concept. In order to reveal it, it is necessary to technically stop the emotions at once.