Practicing Peace in Troubled Times
We certainly are living in troubled times. As the song says sometimes windows of the world seems to be covered with rain - pain. We just turn on the TV or look at the newspaper and we see or read about all the pain and violence of our times.
.
I had a really peaceful childhood. There was no violence in our little mid-western town. Then when I was 11 I sat by an upright radio console and listened to America being told that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, I planted a Victory Garden when my uncles fought in the Second World War. The war did not touch me very much. I remember not being able to make fudge which I loved because our sugar was rationed. (Small sacrifice) I only saw a little about the war on the black and white newsreels at the local theater when I went each Saturday morning to to watch the cowboy movies. I lived through the Korean War, the advent of the atomic bomb and the violence it created, I was scared when Kennedy announced the Missile crisis, cried for 3 days in front of the TV when Kennedy was shot. It was then that my worldview was shattered. Until then I could not believe that a President in our country could be shot.
.
Of course I knew that others had, but it wasn’t in the world I knew at that time. Then Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy. Then the Ohio students being shot, the riots at the Democratic convention, the civil rights demonstrations and the demonstrations against the Vietnam war and we were participating in them. It was a frightening time, and there was so much violence. Life was not peaceful.
.
Then came the violence that would change our way of life in the country - probably forever. 9/11. It was shortly after that Journeys held our first service. After 9/11 I think we were all stunned, and we sought one another out to be together to grieve and find a sense security. Many, many changes have followed including the tightening of security at airports and buildings, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the many loses of privacy, the color coded heightened security announcements, shootings in schools, abortion clinics, and even churches and in Columbia neighborhoods. Indeed we are living in a very troubled world. And sometimes, I think that times are worse now as we are so connected around the world and there is much global unrest. The history of the world is full of wars and rumors of wars as the Bible says.
There have been only a few years in the history of the world that have been without a war going on someplace. But the war is also right here in our relationships, in our communities in our hearts that prevent us from feeling peaceful. And I think until we feel peaceful, peace cannot come to the world. So how DO we find peace, how CAN we be peaceful, how CAN we help the world be a more peaceful place? That is our challenge.
I believe that one of the best ways to bring peace to the world is to find peace within myself. Whenever I can presence a sense of peace that influences others. Some of you may know the Indian film which begins with a teenage boy yelling at his mother before he leaves for school. That upsets her and so she is mean to her maid. The maid then yells at the man at the market, and so on through 27 people in one day. Then the movie goes back to the beginning and shows how differently the day was when the first remark was a kind one. One day was full of turmoil and unhappiness and the other full of peace. A sense of peace can and does radiate out into the world to others.
Here are two examples of this on the national and international level. Last week our country mourned the loss of Ted Kennedy who was a great peace maker as he brought together people of differing views to produce new legislation. He created peace for many when he found ways to help them with their problems. He will be sorely missed for his peace making role in the Senate.
.
Another hero and peace maker is Greg Mortensen who after being injured in a mountain climb in Pakistan was cared for and nursed by the people in a small mountain village there. He saw that the children had no school building and promised to build them one. In fact in the years since 1993 he has built 90 schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. These schools are helping educate 34,000 children including 24,000 girls who normally would not be given any schooling. He has found a peaceful approach with the people, and in fact his book, Three Cups of Tea is required reading for military personnel at all ranks. I believe that these two people have brought peace to many in the world, and that if many people had inner peace, they would bring peace to the world.
But how to do that? How do we gain inner peace? There are different ways - being in nature, listening to music, being involved in a creative project and others you my use.
.
I decided about 30 years ago that one way for me was through meditation and so I took some training to learn how to meditate. When I first began, I could only sit for a minute or so, and my muscles would start to twitch, or I’d get an itch. I just couldn’t sit still, and my mind would race. Practice was the key. In the early days I set the timer for just a few minutes a day and then gradually lengthened the time until now I can sit for long periods without moving. I did a 10 day silent retreat of sitting and walking meditation 14 hours a day. That tamed my body and helped my busy mind begin to quiet. However, after all these years, it is still just always a practice to bring my mind to the breath or to centeredness that brings inner peace. Though I’ve taken TM and other forms of meditation, most of my study has been in Buddhist practices of mindfulness and through the teachings of the four Noble Truths, which the Buddha taught about life, two of which have been particularly important to me.
.
With mindfulness meditation we watch our thoughts and how we get hooked with a thought and lose the present moment. When I can stay in the present moment, I am more at peace. The Four Noble Truths that the Buddha taught are:
.
1. Life is Dukka or suffering - or that could be translated as challenging or difficult. When I was growing up I would not have understood that very much though many children in this world do know that all too well. All of us here know that I’m sure. Even when all is going well, there is always a little part of life that is not quite to our liking or perfect enough. Even if it is just that we worry our good feelings won’t last. Fundamentally it’s hard to be in a body and have relationships. Sometimes it is pleasant, sometimes it is unpleasant and the truth is that life is difficult. And it is helpful to know that that is just the way life is.
2. The second noble Truth that I have found helpful is that the cause of our suffering is our desire for things to be different from what they are. We want a different relationship or a better job or a new car or better weather or to be free of a disability or illness or to get more sleep.
There is more peace in life if we can accept things as they are. Life is what it is, and there are things we all must bear. I remember in the early 90’s I was experiencing extreme fatigue and a test found that I had elevated liver enzymes. That could mean hepatitis but my tests did not fit any of the known categories. Nevertheless, I was told to do nothing but rest for 6 weeks. I was very upset. I had important things to do, I was working as a teacher, counselor and healer - how could I possibly be sick myself? How could I not be involved in the frenzy of my life at that time?
.
Well, I learned that I could and the world kept going very well without me. Gradually, I came to accept the wisdom given me and I really began to rest. That became one of the most important learning times in my life. I began to quiet my body, mind and emotions and accepted what was right then. I experienced life as it was at that time and then great inner peace. I like the poem called The Guest House by Rumi that deals with accepting everything that comes. Life is what it is. Rumi says in the poem:
THE GUEST HOUSE
This being human is a guest house,
Every morning a new arrival.
Joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently seep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
.
I have been practicing this, and when a feeling or thought I don’t like or a pain or whatever arrives and I can stay present enough to observe, I can welcome it as a guest, and a learning opportunity. I can also remind myself too that a guest is only temporary! Things come and go and everything changes.
.
3. The third noble truth is that peace is possible. In spite of having to accept life just as it is, of having to bear what
we must, still peace is possible.
.
The fourth noble truth is that it is possible through Meditation and the 8 fold path which essentially when followed will create wisdom, ethical behavior and mental discipline. All of these take practice.
We all get hooked with feelings of reactivity, anger, resentment, blame, judgment, jealousy, or feelings of hurt. And the tendency then is to lash out - to be right, (I love to be right!) to close down, to tighten, to feel threatened. We don’t like those kind of feelings and we want to get rid of them or strike out with words or actions. And then we create more suffering for ourselves and others and less peace in ourselves and the world.
Lately, I have been influenced by some writings of the author and Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron.
She says that when this happens - the rising of a strong feeling and our wanting to react to it - we have a choice - to pause, take a breath, and in that second either to lash out, to blame, to make a judgment, to speak in an unkind way - a choice whether to open or close, whether to hold on or to let go, whether to harden or soften, whether to say anything or not. And that choice is presented over and over. She says that behind any kind of aggression or tension, there is always a soft spot that we’re trying to protect. Someone’s actions hurt our feelings or we don’t like someone or something and before we even notice what we’re doing, we put up our defenses and create a story about it and hold on and then there is more suffering. Then because we may feel hurt or betrayed by someone, we also need to practice forgiveness. If we don’t forgive the other person, we won’t have peace in our hearts. We can push down the feelings for a while, but they will come out whenever we think of the person or happening that we blame, and it will disturb our peace. It takes patience and time and a choice to forgive and it is essential I think for peace.
The opportunity to stay still or act out requires not only choice, but great patience to stick with the uncomfortable feeling and not escalate the suffering. I have been practicing this, and some time ago, I was listening to a dialogue between two speakers about religion. Though they both had very strong beliefs, one was presenting his views in a very peaceful, gentle manner, and the other was presenting with a loud voice, pointing a finger and had almost a threatening tone. I found myself judging him and wishing he would quit talking, and I wanted look away or just to turn him off. In that moment as I observed my reactions, I made a choice to stay present with my feelings and not react. I found that then I could continue to hear what he was saying and to see his genuine intentions behind his presentation. I gave myself more peace and hopefully created more for him too
Another way that I make myself less peaceful is always believing that what I think is true. I don’t believe everything I see on TV or that I read or see on the Internet, but it is easy to think that what I think is right and true. Marci Shimhoff in her book says “Don’t believe everything you think”. Don’t believe everything you think. Next time you are judging or disagreeing with someone just ask yourself if maybe what you are thinking is not what really is true. You may find it brings more peace. I do.
.
As I look at peace in this way, (and I need lots more practice) I can see lots of small ways that I create a lack of peace in my life because I forget to practice pausing and reflecting and choosing.
Again it is like meditation - a practice and a choice. So there is violence in our outer world, and there is violence in our inner world, and we always have a choice how we react.
.
If we would all choose peace as a priority - to strive for inner peace in whatever ways we find to do it - and to presence that peace, then there could be more peace in the world and it would begin with each one of us.. I’d like to close with the words of the poet Mary Oliver:
“Wage Peace”
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildingsand flocks of
redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothespins, clean rivers . Make soup.
Play music, learn the words for “thank you” in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries, imagine grief as the outbreath of
beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don’t wait another minute.
May 2, 2010 at 9:04 am
Wonderful report,I just now subscribed to your rss.