November 2023 Newsletter
Being Peace
“To feel the problems of our world is to know its suffering, but this requires compassionate “response-ability.”
If we fail to address the world’s collective trauma with clarity and compassion,
we imperil the survival of our children and our children’s children—and countless other species.”
Thomas Hübl
“To feel the problems of our world is to know its suffering, but this requires compassionate “response-ability.”
If we fail to address the world’s collective trauma with clarity and compassion,
we imperil the survival of our children and our children’s children—and countless other species.”
Thomas Hübl
Dear Ones,
I have spent many sleepless nights in the past few weeks. With 32 wars raging on our planet, I feel overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and anger. But I will not numb myself nor turn away. There’s something in me that knows the way I meet the chaos, terror, and destruction will not only shape my life but impact everyone I meet and touch. I don’t know what to do with these turbulent sensations and emotions that move through me or how to stop the madness. I do know if I don’t feel it, I can only react from what I know from the past, and what is needed right now is a deep presence and recognition that the wars and terror outside me are also happening inside me - inside all of us - and the only way we can come up with an alternative, a new future, is to feel it all. Because we are all deeply connected, and what happens to any of us happens to all of us.
I have spent many sleepless nights in the past few weeks. With 32 wars raging on our planet, I feel overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and anger. But I will not numb myself nor turn away. There’s something in me that knows the way I meet the chaos, terror, and destruction will not only shape my life but impact everyone I meet and touch. I don’t know what to do with these turbulent sensations and emotions that move through me or how to stop the madness. I do know if I don’t feel it, I can only react from what I know from the past, and what is needed right now is a deep presence and recognition that the wars and terror outside me are also happening inside me - inside all of us - and the only way we can come up with an alternative, a new future, is to feel it all. Because we are all deeply connected, and what happens to any of us happens to all of us.
Don't search for anything except peace. Try to calm the mind.
Everything else will come on its own.
Baba Hari Das
Everything else will come on its own.
Baba Hari Das
Anger, hatred, and revenge will only bring more of the same. The real challenge is to find the “inner peace which transcends all understanding.” How can we find the harmony and calmness of body, mind, and spirit, no matter the circumstances? When we try to kill the beast inside or outside, it will only grow. Like Homer and the poisonous water snake Hydra, every time he cut the snake's head off, two more grew back. Each time we kill our “enemy,” we will have to meet his children sometime in the foggy future of reciprocity. We live in a complex system where everything is connected, and every action creates a reaction. There is no separation in nature, only in the minds of men.
Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see.
Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity.
The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake,
alive in the present moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity.
The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We need only to be awake,
alive in the present moment.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Cultivating the inner peace that is our path to outer peace does not mean that we condone the violence, terror, and brutality of those who would do us harm. The challenge is to look beneath the surface at the history, conditions, and trauma that led to the unimaginable cruelty that is so pervasive in our world. When we point the finger of blame at those who would hurt us, four more point back to our ancestors and all the places where love was replaced by fear. Peace is love in action, and it starts with healing the ancient traumas, hurts, and neglect of ourselves and those who have come before. Hurt people, hurt people!
I hope you will join me in meditation, prayer, and deep contemplation on the nature of peace and that which is calling us to evolve personally and collectively to a new level of love, compassion, and vision of what could be…
with love and peace in my heart,
Michael
I hope you will join me in meditation, prayer, and deep contemplation on the nature of peace and that which is calling us to evolve personally and collectively to a new level of love, compassion, and vision of what could be…
with love and peace in my heart,
Michael
Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love.
This is an unalterable law.
The Buddha
This is an unalterable law.
The Buddha
