“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies but even more so to stand up to our friends.”—Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter
If we are ever going to have peace again, we will have to hate war for some better reason than that we fear to lose our houses, or our refrigerators, or our cars, or our legs, or our lives. If we are ever to get peace, we have got to desire something more than reefers and anesthetics—but that is all we seem to want: anything to avoid pain. It is terrifying that the world doesn’t wake up to this irony: that at a time when all our desire is nothing but to have pleasant sensations and avoid painful sensations, there should be almost more pain and suffering and brutality and horror, and more helplessness to do anything about it, than there ever was before! June 25, 1940 A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals ( pp. 220-221)
Just leaving this hear as food for thought…
“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love. This is an unalterable law.”—Buddha
Verse of the day
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
– Psalm 139:6
Voice of the day
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
– Attributed to Rainer Maria Rilke
Prayer of the day
Lord, teach us to be content with mystery. May we live peaceably with our questions.
“I think the biggest problem is the materialism that has overtaken the world. Today in the modern world people have become more and more materialistic. Human values are seen as secondary to the materialistic values.”—Ela Gandhi
“Our work as spiritual seekers and contemplatives is to see all of creation as woven together in holiness and to live this truth.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
How do your contemplative practices help you see all of creation as woven together in holiness?
To register for the self-study companion retreat to the book with extra resources and guidance click here>>
Solitude is the place where God-with-us can be unpacked and where we connect with God-who-is-our-origin, our loving and benevolent Father and Mother, our Savior, our unconditional Lover. And solitude is the place where our own hearts uncover our deep yearning to be loved unconditionally, and to love with our whole beings. Solitude is indeed the place of the great encounter, from which all other encounters derive their meaning. In solitude we meet the One-who-calls-us-beloved. In solitude, we leave behind our many activities, concerns, plans and projects, opinions and convictions to enter into the presence of Love, naked, vulnerable, open, and receptive. Here we encounter a Father/Mother God who is all love, all care, all forgiveness. In solitude we are led to a personal and intimate relationship with Love itself.
“I realized that justice is this step when we decide to give up being the victim of the victimizers and not to be in this prison of hatred and victimhood.”—Ali Abu Awwad, The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature (film)
“To enter liminality means dwelling on the threshold in a state of unknowing, openness, ambiguity, and indeterminacy. Our identity and state of being is less defined. It is a time of transition where we let go of old understandings and welcome in new ones.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
How do you enter liminal space and open to new ways of being?
To register for the self-study companion retreat to the book with extra resources and guidance click here>>
“Every proposed solution or political action must be judged on the basis of morality, in terms of justice, fairness, human rights, and respect for human dignity—not just on the basis of realpolitik. It must seek to reduce suffering, avoiding violence as well as oppressive measures.”—Jonathan Kuttab
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