What is commonly called “coming together” is a momentary flicker, a media event that viewers peer at briefly before returning to normal. In that regard, the coming together in Tucson looked to be more of the same. But it’s possible to feel a hint of something different. The intensity of emotion surrounding the shootings, the unusual openness of President Obama’s speech, and a vague sense of turning the corner, all these things may indicate that decades of rancor may be shifting. Even the Sarah Palin “blood libel” scuffle seemed not so much to rile tempers as to occasion a shrug of “go away, already” from the country. (more…)

The debate about charged political rhetoric preceded the tragedy in Tucson — and then was revived by it. TIME posed the question above to leaders and thinkers on the right and left.  Here is Deepak’s response:

America prides itself on its uncivil liberties as well as its civil ones. The fabled melting pot was always a boiling cauldron of differences. We’ve learned to live at the boil as no other society has. But the dark side of our uncivil liberty is violence. Inflammatory and vitriolic words are a form of violence. In many wisdom traditions, speech that is imbued with compassion and love is used as a form of healing. It’s time for us to pause and reflect. Our society today has the unmistakable symptoms of inflammatory disease with violence and hostility at home and war abroad. How long can we live with this sickness? Do we want our children to grow up in an environment that nurtures their joy and creativity or one that suffocates their soul? Can we start our healing process with civil speech while maintaining our civil liberties?  Read other reponses: Time Magazine