Synchronicity Foundation Master Charles Cannon recounted his experience in Mumbai on the day of the terrorist attacks at a press conference today in Faber. Cannon and other members of the spiritual community are grieving the death of Alan Sherr, 58, and his daughter, 13-year-old Naomi Sherr, who were killed. Additionally, four other members were shot and wounded and are still in the hospital.
Cannon told reporters that some members of the Synchronicity delegation, reported at about two dozen, who remained in their rooms were held captive but later released uninjured. The Sherrs, however, were sitting at a table in the Oberoi Hotel’s café with other members when terrorists opened fire.
Commandoes took the hostages down through the hotel. “You could not imagine the devastation, it was like a bombed-out war zone,” said Cannon, recounting glass and bodies everywhere.
“On the way out, we had to pass through that restaurant where we knew our friends were,” said Cannon. Asked by police, Cannon had to identify the bodies of the deceased. “We had to walk into the restaurant, stepped over bodies and walk through pools of blood, back to the table where they had been sitting, and they were there,” he said. “They were laying under the table, heads facing each other, with their arms out stretched towards each other overlapping. It’s one of the most challenging things I have ever had to do.”
The uninjured members were met by the officials from the American Consulate, the FBI and the State Department once outside, and were relocated to another hotel. “They created a safe space for us, which we really needed,” said Cannon, stressing that one of the things he is proud of is the calm and composure of other members of the delegation. “Nobody was hysterical,” he said. “The years of meditative practice and holistic lifestyle came through for them big time.”
Cannon said that the outpouring of love for the deceased and for the injured was and remains overwhelming. “My heart is broken, but at the same time, the love and the beauty of humanity—and its choice to choose love over fear and violence.”
