pain
As a nation…
January 14, 2021…perhaps truth is no longer a direct possibility. In the United States, two distinct and separate platforms of truth hold form. Beyond ‘truth’,
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C O M P A S S I O N
‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’
-Martin Luther King Jr.
King was a visionary, just as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela were visionaries. What each of them had in common was common sense, an understanding of history and a conviction of love and hope. This same spirit today is reflected in the leadership of Jacinda Ardern, Angela Merkel and Greta Thunberg. King left us a legacy that we must not ignore. There are many thousands who are carrying his mantle of resistance to oppression and path to justice. Most of us understand that love and compassion are the best antidotes to violence and hatred. May we all refocus and double down on being lights that drive out darkness, showing love that drowns out hatred, and spreading compassion that all make our world a better place for everyone. Let’s allow those common-sense chapters of On Tyranny be our points of reflection and action.
Why Martin Luther King Day is Celebrated in Hiroshima, Japan
We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. –Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hiroshima, Japan is one of the only cities that celebrates Martin Luther King Day outside of the United States. This connection may seem surprising but a closer examination reveals Hiroshima, known as the “City of Peace” is the living embodiment of many of Dr. King’s core beliefs including non-violence, peace, resilience, forgiveness and optimism. It would be expected that the people of Hiroshima were consumed by sorrow, hate and thoughts of revenge following the atomic bombing of their city. Instead, the survivors of the irradiated city consciously and deliberately rebuilt their city to ensure that every facet of their society – governmental policies, educational system, city landmarks, and holidays, including Martin Luther King Day – contributed to the promotion of world peace. As a result, a city that was described as a “burned scar” in 1945 is now known as the “City of Peace” that aggressively exports reconciliation, harmony and inspires millions around the world every year. Please join the conversation with Steve Leeper of Peace Culture Village and Ray Matsumiya of the Oleander Initiative as they discuss the devastating humanitarian impact of the atomic bombing AND the process of healing and rebuilding that resulted in Hiroshima’s extraordinary culture of peace.
[Please visit this link for the full article: https://charterforcompassion.org/component/acymailing/mailid-418?tmpl=component
Thank you to Dr. Andrea Montgomery Di Marco, CEO of the Flourishing Foundation/Global Women Seeking Change, for sharing this information, https://flourishingfoundation.org
Our first response, foundation, must be compassion for other, ahimsa, non-violence, and peace for all beings, regardless of your, or my, ‘truth.’
‘The reward for uncovering the truth is the experience of honest knowing. The reward for understanding is the peace of knowing. The reward for loving is being the carrier of love. It all becomes elusively simple. The river’s sole purpose is to carry water, and as the force of the water depends and widens the riverbed, the river fulfills its purpose more. Likewise, the river bed of the heart is worn open over time to carry what is living.
Even the deepest pain will pass.’
-Mark Nepo
Soften and embrace.
April 24, 2017
Only love, with no thought of return,
can soften the point of suffering.
‘Water in its clear softness fills the whatever hole it finds. It is not skeptical or distrusting. It does not say this gully is too deep or that field is too open.
Like water, the miracle of love is that it covers whatever it touches, making the touched thing grow while leaving no trace of its touch.
Most things break instead of transform because they resist. The quiet miracle of love is that without our interference, it, like water, accepts whatever is tossed or dropped or place into it, embracing it completely.
Of course.
Of course, we are human and are easily hurt if not loved back or if loved poorly. But we waste so much of life’s energy be deliberating who and what shall be worthy of our love when in the deepest elemental sense, these choices are not in our province, anymore that rain can choose what it shall fall upon.
And over a lifetime, the pain of withholding this great and quiet force is more damaging than the pain of being rejected or loved poorly.
For love, like water, can be dammed, but toward what end?’
-Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Tenderness for being awake…
October 29, 2016
‘Each of these separations – – teaching before learning, leaving before staying, anticipating rather than entering – – left me drained of my deepest resource, the energy of my life force. Removing myself, even from pain, only left me pale and unable to continue.
When needle or hand or rain or sun hits the skin, the only thing to do is meet its exact touch from the inside. For this moment of inner meeting outer releases an electricity of spirit that gifts us with a tenderness for being awake.’
-Mark Nepo
Grief becoming joy.
July 12, 2016
‘Breathing in and out of the grief point as it becomes the touch point of the heart. Experiencing joy where once grief was felt, there arises a new confidence and gratitude. And that sweet ache of connection becomes like Krishna’s flute calling, offering its pain to the Beloved.’
-Stephen & Ondrea Levine