Saturday, December 06, 2003
Peace on Earth
We have a big Lights Fantastic parade tonight in Carbondale to celebrate the holiday season. I usually walk with the Southern Illinois Pagan Alliance and their float. Last year, we carried a giant paper mache Yule log. The year before, I think that we had light-up pentacle wreaths. This year, they're going to have a Viking long boat.
Yes, I usually march with SIPA, and would have liked to this year too. However, I had to choose between TWO invitations this year. Since I can't be in two places at once, I've decided to walk with the new float in the parade - the peace float.
I've been involved in peace activities here in Carbondale off and on for years. I've always supported such efforts even when I didn't attend. Individually and in groups, I've taken a variety of actions to oppose the insanity of war. More recently, my studies in healing have given me pause to consider inner peace and how it can serve as a foundation for outward peace.
Inner peace is often misunderstood. First of all, it can't be achieved by avoiding all conflict and strife in the world. Such avoidance is a sign of deep fear, not deep peace. Second, it doesn't mean passive resignation to violence, injustice, and domination. Such resignation is also a sign of fear - fear to act from a place of love.
Inner peace in an activity. It's a deeply spiritual practice that works automatically to create outward peace. When you're at peace inside, you have both the clarity and the love to act in the service of all life. One day, this may mean meditating alone in your room or planting a permacultural forest garden. The next day, this may mean shutting down the World Trade Organization or democratizing the media. Either way, holding the energy of peace in your own consciousness is your one and only path to creating peace in the world around you.
You are what you create, and you create what you are. By finding inner peace, you also become a force for creating peace in the world around you.
Inner peace is a virtue of Warrior and Healer alike. The Warrior is steadfast in their love of their community and cause, regardless of whether they face no opponent at all or an entire Empire hellbent on their destruction. The Healer is steadfast in their love of self and other, regardless of how deeply wounded and wounding we all may be. The peace of their hearts and minds is a gift that draws their work together into a single journey of transformation.
How do we find inner peace? Good question! I for one am finding it in my life through attending to my health [exercise, live foods], through spending quality time with friends and loved ones, and through pursuing work that I find life-affirming [my writing, Rosetta Stone Bookstore].
As the Sun spends fewer moments in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere each day, now is as good a time as any to look inside of yourself and discover what's holding you back from finding inner peace. Whatever it is inside of you that's bringing you suffering, let it fall away like dead leaves tumbling from a tree. Your release will nourish the soil at your feet. By the time that spring returns, everything that you've shed this winter will be transformed into a new year of life and growth.
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Yes, I usually march with SIPA, and would have liked to this year too. However, I had to choose between TWO invitations this year. Since I can't be in two places at once, I've decided to walk with the new float in the parade - the peace float.
I've been involved in peace activities here in Carbondale off and on for years. I've always supported such efforts even when I didn't attend. Individually and in groups, I've taken a variety of actions to oppose the insanity of war. More recently, my studies in healing have given me pause to consider inner peace and how it can serve as a foundation for outward peace.
Inner peace is often misunderstood. First of all, it can't be achieved by avoiding all conflict and strife in the world. Such avoidance is a sign of deep fear, not deep peace. Second, it doesn't mean passive resignation to violence, injustice, and domination. Such resignation is also a sign of fear - fear to act from a place of love.
Inner peace in an activity. It's a deeply spiritual practice that works automatically to create outward peace. When you're at peace inside, you have both the clarity and the love to act in the service of all life. One day, this may mean meditating alone in your room or planting a permacultural forest garden. The next day, this may mean shutting down the World Trade Organization or democratizing the media. Either way, holding the energy of peace in your own consciousness is your one and only path to creating peace in the world around you.
You are what you create, and you create what you are. By finding inner peace, you also become a force for creating peace in the world around you.
Inner peace is a virtue of Warrior and Healer alike. The Warrior is steadfast in their love of their community and cause, regardless of whether they face no opponent at all or an entire Empire hellbent on their destruction. The Healer is steadfast in their love of self and other, regardless of how deeply wounded and wounding we all may be. The peace of their hearts and minds is a gift that draws their work together into a single journey of transformation.
How do we find inner peace? Good question! I for one am finding it in my life through attending to my health [exercise, live foods], through spending quality time with friends and loved ones, and through pursuing work that I find life-affirming [my writing, Rosetta Stone Bookstore].
As the Sun spends fewer moments in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere each day, now is as good a time as any to look inside of yourself and discover what's holding you back from finding inner peace. Whatever it is inside of you that's bringing you suffering, let it fall away like dead leaves tumbling from a tree. Your release will nourish the soil at your feet. By the time that spring returns, everything that you've shed this winter will be transformed into a new year of life and growth.
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