We can’t fight for peace.
Pure and simple, fighting isn’t peaceful.
We’re left with a quandary: how can we effect a peaceful change in our society when we face such violent opposition?
Be the change you wish to see in in the world. —Mahatma Gandhi
I saw a beautiful Tai Chi demonstration last Saturday morning. It was on a concrete platform at the edge of a field where I sell bread at a farmer’s market. The participants were not grand masters, just ordinary people sharing their practice.
It was breathtaking.
Their movements were simple, but the presence of peace was palpable. A wave, a storm surge, of profound tranquility flooded over me just by looking at them. I did nothing but receive the beautiful energy they created.
Our world is more complex than just the physical elements. There are energetic, spiritual planes that are just as real as the tangible plane in which we dwell. Within our society’s structure, we might seem insignificant as individuals. Our voices might not be heard by those in power, but on an energetic level each one of us has extraordinary power to create change, to literally create peace.
There is a town near Fairfield, Iowa, called Maharishi Vedic City where thousands of monks from India practice a vigorous schedule of meditation specifically to create world peace.
We can too.
Years ago my meditation teacher shared with me the Buddhist Loving Kindness Meditation. It’s a prayer and meditation all in one. Here is a simple version. If we practice this each day, it will help change our attitudes, calm and center us, and even make changes in the energy of our world.
Loving Kindness Meditation
Sit comfortably with your spine erect. Use cushions or blankets to support yourself if nessesary. Let your eyes rest to a half open state. Spend a few moments connecting with your breath.
This meditation is repeated four times, each with a different focus.
The first time, direct your mediation towards yourself. Visualize yourself as you are now or as you were as a young child. As you repeat these words, send loving kindness towards yourself.
May I be happy and have the causes of happiness.
May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May I never be separated from the freedom of joy.
May I remain at peace, without fear or hatred, in my heart.
The second time you do this, visualize your benefactor. Choose someone in your life who has helped you and shown you kindness. Send him or her this loving kindness.
May you be happy and have the causes of happiness….
Next, visualize someone you don’t like, don’t understand, or fear. Picture this person in your head and send loving kindness his or her way.
Finally, open your heart to the world at large and share compassion with everyone.
May all beings be happy and have the causes of happiness….
This practice effects change on several levels. First, it cultivates peace and compassion within us. Wanting peace and embodying peace are two different things. Meditation gives us the power not just to be at peace, but to actually be peace.
Equally important, this meditation is directed outwardly. Just like the men and women whose Tai Chi practice created an unmistakable shift in energy at the farmer’s market and the monks in a small town in Iowa, our meditation sends peace and compassion out to the world.
Often times we forget about the invisible. We think it’s nothing, or we don’t bother to think about it at all. But energy is just like the air we breathe: real, unseen, and life-sustaining.
We can’t fight for peace, but we can create it.
Now, let’s get to work.
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