I saw a very moving video recently about a program that brings together Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in a setting where they find that without borders and guards, they are all just teenagers with the same feelings, hopes and dreams. I wanted to share this with you.
This is a wonderful program and I am so glad people are inspired to create such things. It is very easy in our external world of duality to find something that is different and make it wrong. You see it even in spiritual communities. “Us and them” seems endemic in human thinking. Programs like this are a wonderful contribution to challenging this dualistic thinking and moving toward external peace in the world.
It is easy to see “us and them” at play externally. But the external is really just a reflection of the internal. We all have wars going on within ourselves. Parts of ourselves we have made wrong and perhaps, banished to the dark recesses of our psyche. Where do you find it in your own mind? What parts of yourself do you see as the enemy? The external hatred we see played out in the world in places like the Mid East, lives inside of every human.
There is so much talk of Oneness in the current spiritual dialog. And all is One, all arises in this One, there is truth here. But there is a difference in an idea and a living realization. In my experience, when we face and welcome the war in our own mind, when we allow the self hatred that we usually keep hidden to be seen and welcomed, only then can we truly find the Oneness, the Peace that we are, that all is. Here is a video that speaks of this internal war, of self hatred and how it’s possible to open to it, welcome it, liberate it.
This is the challenge we all face. To find lasting peace in the world we must face where we are not at peace internally. So in this Holiday Season where the word Peace is used so frequently, take some time to welcome all internally which is not at peace. Find out for yourself what happens when that which has been hidden is brought into the light, when that which has been hated is welcomed into your heart.
May all beings know themselves as the Peace and Love that they are.
Last post, Mandalas from the Heart of Peace, Part 1, we looked at the first 6 mandalas that will make up this year’s mandala calendar. Today we will see the second set of 6. So let’s let the mandalas do the talking!
It’s fall and for me that means time to put together a calendar of mandalas. In this and a subsequent post I’ll be giving you a sneak peak and the mandalas I’m using this year. This series is called the Mandalas from the Heart of Peace. I’ve created these over the course of the year whenever I heard the “call” to sit down and let one come into form. So this will be a post of eye candy rather than words. Let the mandalas do the talking. Enjoy!
