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In light of the seismic events of September 11, we invited a number of individuals from different parts of the world to provide a reflection about their experiences, feelings, thoughts and ideas. We left the brief open and wrote to them as follows (slightly paraphrased):
As you will probably have seen, the journal will feature a regular ‘Soundings’ section the purpose of which is to take a sounding of societal dynamics, either within a particular country or, in this case, globally. We wondered if you would be able to offer a contribution, of no more than 1,000 words, which provides a ‘take’ on the emotional dynamics (or ‘mass psychology’) which you have picked up in your own society in connection with the events of September 11th and its aftermath. We are still developing a methodology for this, but anything which enables you to contribute to your ‘sounding’ (your own experience, overheard conversations, news/media reports, discussions with friends/colleagues, your own societal counter-transference, etc.) could be useful material.
In addition, on Saturday, 6 October OPUS (An Organisation for Promoting Understanding of Society) sponsored a Conference titled The Day that Changed the World, which we appropriated for this Soundings section. We asked them to take the responsibility to write a short description of the event, both with regard to process and content. The contributions of the individuals from whom we invited a response and those members of OPUS who wrote the proceedings of their Conference follow.
The Editors