As I sit down to write this, the last standing girder is being removed from the remains of the Twin Towers and the site officially declared "cleaned up." Consensus is building around the idea of turning the area into a permanent memorial.

We chose "Crisis and Opportunity" as the theme for this issue well in advance of the events of September 11th and their aftermath. The idea actually came from a friend of the JFL staff who had recently emerged from a struggle with a potentially life-threatening form of cancer. David came to see his health crisis as a profoundly important opportunity and suggested that we do an entire issue around this paradoxical notion.

Only later would we discover that "crisis" and "opportunity" are etymologically linked. For example, the Chinese character for the two terms is one and the same, hence Sandra Winn's beautiful calligraphy on the cover. Similarly, the root of "crisis" is the Greek, krisis, meaning "decision." One of the definitions of "crisis" in Webster’s is "turning point," and the Hebrew for "crisis" is nisayon, or "test." David experienced all of these as he suddenly found himself staring mortality in the face. By the time he was declared cancer-free a year later, he had entirely transformed himself and his life.

And so in this issue we have attempted to explore the possible opportunities embedded in the international crisis spawned by the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, as well as the stories of various individuals who, like David, choose to view their personal trials as a chance to make radical shifts in how they perceive themselves, their lives and the world around them.

In the months following September 11, there was a spike in the number of people going to church. People were committing random acts of kindness in unprecedented numbers. But more recently church attendance has returned to pre-September 11th levels, and selfishness and cynicism have reestablished themselves in the American psyche. On that note we decided to consult iconoclast physician Bernie Siegel, known for his decades of miraculous work with terminally ill patients. At times like these it is best to consult the wisdom of our elders. Bernie offers deep insight  into our reactions to both individual crises, and collective ones like 9/11. In either case, he says, the function of crisis is to bring us in touch with what is real- most importantly, with love and with God.

Another elder, Michael Murphy, whom we interviewed for Real Healing issue #19, checks in with a beautiful, brief essay in which he suggests that 9/11 was indeed a distress call, a cosmic warning to the patriarchy run amok that if it wants to avoid future such disasters, then it must start reaching toward the healing balance of the soulful feminine side of the human psyche.

Also weighing in on the bigger picture is medical intuitive Caroline Myss. In her interview she declares that warm-ups are over, and that it is time for us to put our spiritual practices into full-time use if we are to avoid slipping back into the meaningless abyss of business as usual.

And then there is Yehudah Fine’s painfully vivid tale of a near-fatal car crash and his ensuing battle with physical suffering and the ever-present danger of emotional despair. The subject of an excellent interview in "Kids on the Edge" issue #21 of JFL, Yehudah found himself needing to call in every one of his spiritual markers in order to find the strength to get on with his life in spite of the permanent damage that had been done to his body.

Can you see a theme emerging here?

As is always the case, this issue of JFL is packed full with a broad spectrum of opinions and ideas, and graced with beautiful art and moving poetry. May these pages provide us all with the inner nourishment to transmute the crises yet to come -- no matter how large -- into opportunities for growth and renewal.

Chris Mercogliano