New Moon Peace Mandala
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me …Jill Jackson-Miller and Sy Miller
Waking this Wednesday morning, blog day, I wonder what can be written as a step toward peace today. What is mine to speak into a world where many are locked in fear as incomprehensible and lawless violence is perpetrated while others stand in witness, resistance, and service to those targeted? Into a world where the Venerable Monks continue their walk, each step, each smile, each word a demonstration of peace? A world of contrasts, choices.
I’m present to deep questioning. How does one stay informed without falling into the grip of fear or grief or into reactive anger that serves no purpose? For surely, we need to be aware of what is occurring in our world, alert to any need to respond to what life presents us. And we need to grieve not only the victims of terror, but what is dissolving and being dismantled before our weary, perhaps teary, eyes.
I write aware of the comfort and sense of safety being in this small rural place provides and, at the same time, with a knowing that what happens to one impacts us all.
Just as I viscerally experienced Sunday’s strong solar flare and the geomagnetic storm that followed, I feel some sense of the terror and trauma of the mother in Minnesota who feared going out to get needed medical attention for her very ill children, waiting until 4:30am when it felt ‘safe enough’ to take one child to the hospital. My heart aches for a friend who shared in a recent message that she both ‘trusts and trembles’ for what her diverse urban community may experience.
She reminds me that trust is key to peace. Trust that something greater and more beautiful than we can see is not only possible, it is unfolding as we witness the dissolution of the world we’ve known. It is unfolding one step at a time, co-created by those with deep care and vision for new ways forward.
As I pause the pen and watch several mule deer amble by in the woods out back, I call on the trust that I’ve developed over the years. I walk in spirit with the Venerable Monks and turn my awareness to each breath. I remember that our world will not be at peace unless each of us is and sing silently to myself Let peace be on the earth and let it begin with me. I remember that only nonviolent action can bring lasting peace and that any victory of ‘might makes right’ is transitory.
We are in a time of deep, transformative change. Historical cycles tell us this. Earth cycles tell us this. Planetary cycles and alignments affirm this truth. And, if we listen closely, our bodies tell us this as well.
This is our moment to stand strong, to set and guide this transformation in the direction of the world we want to create, a world of peace, loving kindness, compassion, and care for All Life.
Onward!
In the Woods