Peace, Brother

Solitary Sunday.

Mist on muddy canal

Dances ever so slightly.

Crow caws,

A fish rises.

The splash widens in circularity,

Defining a serenity

To be absorbed and cherished.

Jonas Mather

“Silence is the dignity of a seeking soul”, said Marc Edmund Jones.

I wish to share with you this day my current reflections:

I am Present.  You are Present.  Here and Now.

Slowing down pace in living contributes to the process.

Time of quiet Meditation enhances staying present.

Peaceful listening to music inspires stillness.

Be still and know that PEACE is here!

Be still and KNOW…

Be STILL…

BE.

Wisdom comes from within.

From 1953 to 1981 Peace Pilgrim walked more than 25,000 miles on a personal pilgrimage for peace.  She vowed to “remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food.”  In the course of her 28-year pilgrimage she touched the hearts, minds, and lives of thousands of individuals all across North America.  Her message continues to inspire people all over the world: www.peacepilgrim.org

May you have an opportunity to do so, come to the home town where Peace Pilgrim was born, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey on the weekend of July 16-18 for our  annual Peace Pilgrim birthday celebration.  For more details please see: http://www.peacepilgrim100.org/index.htm

From Peace Pilgrim:

The power of thought. “Do you know that every moment of your life you’re creating through thought?”

Bringing our lives into harmony with the laws that govern the universe. As Peace said, to attain inner peace we need to align the way we live with our beliefs.

Finding our place in the life pattern. We are all cells in the body of humanity — all of us, all over the world.  Each one has a special contribution to make, and the guidance to find our mission in life comes from within.

• What can we do if we all work together for an expansion of consciousness?
• Genuine appreciation and gratitude for each other and our Planet can create a positive change for humanity.
• Science has shown positive emotions have a beneficial effect on all living organisms.

Now, here’s a suggestion: focus on the area around your heart and recall the feeling of appreciation and happiness as  you witness a spectacular sunset… the exhilaration of standing atop a mountain…  the love when watching the joy of living in children….   Hold that feeling of appreciation in the area of your heart…  Imagine you are radiating this feeling out to the Planet… We are all interconnected in this wonderful World.

These are my commitments to embrace abundance in living. This day I offer a prayer of thankfulness to God for life, for love, for all people in the world and for the ever-growing abundance manifested each moment. Choosing to perceive us all as one, I serve my fellow human beings while fulfilling my unique purpose through the expression of my personality and talents. Today, a complete rebirth from new realization in situations, circumstances and events brightens my path. I rejoice in deeper inner communion with God. In the presence of divine bounty, I communicate to everyone my appreciation for the abundant gifts in our hands.

Would you like to share your own commitments with me?

• Find a quiet place, close your eyes, relax, and take three deep breaths.
• Now you may ask yourself: is there something I can do to affirm greater health and wholeness in my world?
• What can I do to promote greater unity?
• How can I promote greater cooperation and understanding? Can I communicate more clearly?
• When you come up with your opportunity for positive action, see yourself doing what you choose to do. See the action completed. Feel the healing energies and experience a greater vision of the one.
• Now open your eyes and commit yourself to this personal action.

“May I be in peace.

May my heart remain open.

May I awaken to the light which is my true nature.

May I be healed.

May I be a source of healing for all beings.”

I understand my correspondent’s feelings of compassion and emotions in her desire to be of help to her dear friend who seems to be struggling in her search for inner peace as she approaches death. Preparing for our transition to a freer life is a life-long process, very individual by nature as it is based on the complexity of all our life experiences and doors opened throughout time to grasp spiritual realities as we strive toward wholeness and a sense of unity with the all. Sometimes people have a profound experience of faith just before making their transition and this seems to be a meaningful event to facilitate their passing into a freer life with a sense of completeness.

We do our best in our efforts to facilitate other people’s processes. The decision ultimately lay in their hands.

Challenges are great opportunities to expand understanding and serve others.

I would love to share with you some of my comments and would love to hear yours.

Peace Pilgrim, who walked more than 25,000 miles for peace, sharing her core values for an expansion of consciousness, said, “Love is the greatest force on earth. Love conquers all.” She was referring to the great potential each of us has to manage conflictive situations with love. Using the transformative power that love offers.

This is a good opportunity to comment in detail of an incident that happened to our traveling friend and its message of peace. She once was struck by an upset adolescent, with whom she had begun to walk. He had wanted to go on the trip, but was afraid of breaking a leg and being left behind. Everyone was afraid to be with him as he was an enormous boy, the size of a football player, and was well known for being violent occasionally. On one occasion he struck his mother so hard, she had to spend several weeks in hospital. All feared him; but Peace Pilgrim offered to walk with him.

As they reached the top of the first hill, everything was going well. But soon a storm appeared. The boy was terrified because the storm was so close by. He reacted, suddenly approached Peace Pilgrim and hit her. She didn’t run although perhaps she might have, as the young man carried a heavy backpack. Even though he was striking her, Peace Pilgrim could feel only the deepest compassion for this young man who was so ill psychologically as to strike a defenseless, and older, woman. Peace Pilgrim countered his rage with love even while he was beating her … and with this he stopped.

He said to her, “You didn’t hit me back! Mother always hits me back.” In spite of his upheaval, Peace Pilgrim’s reaction elicited kindness in the boy. He felt remorse and condemned his own actions.

In summary, the young man stopped being violent and today is a useful person in the world.

Plato described love as the union of two souls with the same divinity. Jesus Christ said: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ Taoist Chuang-Tzu taught that through love we experience the inherent connections between ourselves and others, seeing the creation as one. Marc Edmund Jones commented that the testimony of the world is towards unity. Buddha saw that understanding and love are one.

Be Still

Flexible space, twisting, turning

In on itself, convoluting,

Like the mind that conceives it.

Like time its reality is illusive,

Existence doubtful, except

As created by self.

What’s real?

I am.

Jack Mather