Tag Archives: peace

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Choose Peace


Life is thankfully full of choices for us all to make. I am sure we make hundreds each and every day. Each of us can choose peace or we can choose greed, a desire for money and power, or not to love or care for anyone else in life besides ourselves. This might well be said to be the most important choice we will ever make in our lives. Our choosing to reject war may even save lives. Yes, I realize I am idealistic. I confess, if you hadn’t already guessed. 🙂 There is much on the line, innocent lives, returning soldiers who will never be the same mentally and emotionally. There is also the physical cost of sending our young bright kids off to a war that could be avoided.

“Let us be united,

Let us speak in harmony,

Let our minds apprehend alike.

Common be our prayer,

Common be the end of our assembly,

Common be our resolution,

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings, 

Unified be our hearts,

Common be our intentions,

Perfect be our Unity.”

                         —–From the Rig Veda of the Hindu path

” Life and death,

a twisted vine sharing a single root.

A water bright green

stretching to top a twisted yellow

only to wither itself

as another green unfolds overhead.

One leaf atop another

yet under the next,

a vibrant tapestry of arcs and falls

all in the act of becoming.

Death is the passing of life.

And life

is the stringing together of so many little passings.

Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro

Use this time for recreation, to look within and see if you are everything you want to be. On this full moon, it is a good time for a little inner tweaking. Blessings to all.

Beaver Moon is a time of preparation for winter and reminder to recreate ourselves. Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Imagine Peace


Can you imagine a world without war?

May it be your will Eternal One our God and God of our ancestors that war and bloodshed will cease.
That a treat, wonderful peace will envelope the whole world,
And nation will not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more.
Only will all the inhabitants of the earth become acquainted with and know this tuth:
We do not come into this world for fighting or quarrels, and not for hatred, zealotry, destruction or spilling of blood.
Rather, we have only come into the world to know you God and to praise you forever.

 

So, please have mercy upon us, and fulfill the promise written Scriptures:

 

I will grant peace to the land. You shall lie down and none shall be afraid.

 

I will rid the land of vicious beasts and the sword shall not cross your lands.

 

Justice will swell up like water, righteousness like a mighty stream.

 

And all of the earth shall be filled with the knowing of the Eternal One as the water fills the sea.

 

—A Nineteenth Century Jewish Prayer for Peace

 

 

A Sufi Prayer for Peace

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting; that our souls may radiate peace.

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, and speak harmoniously.

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts.

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife we may enjoy Thy bliss.

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.

Send Thy Peace, O Lord, that our lives may become a divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish.

Send Thy, Peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we Thy children on earth may all unite in one brotherhood.

—Hazrat Inayat Khan

We all, no matter what our spiritual path or religion, we all will benefit from a lasting peace. I encourage all the people in the world who believe in peace to work for it. Stand up, speak out. If you live under a dictator leave the country and contact the United Nations. Remember there are people in every country who love peace and will help. I know that while we have to pray, we also have to work for peace, write about peace, call your government officials, write to your leaders and to your Pastors, Rabbis, Priests, and Sheiks. Ask for peace, tell them why you want peace. Meditate on peace. Begin with peace within yourself and then go on to peace within your community, and then within your country.

We, the extraordinary people who believe and will speak out for peace in our world can and will make a difference. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, or what you believe. Just embrace the concept of peace and we can change Our World.

This symbol is for peace. May everyone remember it still is the international symbol for the work of making peace.

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Another War is Taking Lives


Give us peace

We are now, once again dealing with another war on our planet. There is pain and death and blood and despair. Palestine and Israel are fighting. More accurately Hamas and Israel. Hamas has been shooting rockets into Israel. Now Israel is defending herself. This is of course, an over-simplification.

I am not writing to take sides. I am writing because Adonai’s children, Allah’s children, are killing each other again. Many women and children are being left homeless and injured or dead. Diplomacy and compromise is what will bring peace to our world. Not war. War teaches people to hate. It teaches people to hate who and what has hurt them.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization. They say Jews are the enemy yet they launch missiles from sites next to the homes of innocent Palestinian people. A returning missile could totally destroy this home, but Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields — a policy which is against both international law and all the laws of common decency.

Not that Israel is blameless.  There are those who believe that Hamas is defending itself, and all Palestinians, against what they see as an unjust occupation.  I am not going to argue that point, on either side.  That is not what needs to be done here; there are many who can argue either side more eloquently than I can.

What I am going to argue is peace.  We cannot continue to fight one another, to hurt one another, to kill one another.  We cannot continue to destroy each other, and this planet, with our hatred of the mythical “others”.  We must learn that we are children of this Earth. We are brothers and sisters, all children of Adonai, of Allah, of The Beloved, The One from which we all come. We are all the same, we are all One, like the One who created us, who watches over us, who gives us peace, and wants us to have peace.

Peace is in our power, but we have to want it and we have to work for it.  The most important work we can do is to just love each other, whatever our religion, appearance, language, or  national origin.

“Maybe it can change, only if you want…

Don’t blame yourself, don’t blame me

but we’re the ones

who can feed this ground

so this poison tree doesn’t grow again.”

—Point of No Return;  Duran Duran

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We Are Being Visited By Sandy


Peace to everyone and to Mother Earth

Hello everyone. I realize that all of my readers are not in harm’s way. Please evacuate if they tell you to. Take no chances with your lives. We are having 60 mile gusts. Be warm and safe. Please pray if you are not in harm’s way. Keep white light and protection around all those who are in danger. Don’t forget the earthquake in BC.

Be safe, you are children of the Universe; Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Love and Peace Instead of War


Mother Teresa stated, ” Works of love are always works of peace.”

When and where there is God, there is peace. He/she pours their love for us and peace flows over us and within us. Divine love always pours joy and peace into our hearts. My prayer is to be led from despair to hope, from fear to trust, from hate to love, and from war to peace. Our world, our universe is Peace, Peace, Peace.

It cannot exist with war, hate and violence. Every day, we make choices about the world we create around us.

We all have the right to be at peace and happy. We were created to have this life of peace. We can each have peace in our world without causing pain or suffering to others. We each have a responsibility to use what we have been given to create peace. There is no other higher pleasure than to create peace and have that peace in your life create a ripple effect and flow out to touch others in positive ways.

We need to love one another as The One loves each of us. Accepting that love and using it to bring peace into your life will bring peace to those around you. As they feel covered and immersed in peace, it will flow out of their lives and will touch an ever larger group of people. It is a beautiful thing to see and experience.

Peace Plea

Please, protect my child.
Please, protect other mothers’ children.
Please, give me peace.
Please, give other mothers peace.
Please, give the world peace and justice.
This is the peace only you can give.”

————Karen Lavin

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Days of Awe


We are at the time of the year called The Days of Awe. The Jewish nation celebrates their highest holy days. Rosh Hashanah Is the celebration of the new year. According to the Jewish calendar it is now the year 5773. These holy days continue for ten days and end with Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and ends the new year celebration. What is so amazing about the Day of Atonement is that sins are personal but also communal.

The Yom Kippur eve service begins with Kol Nidre prayer. It is known as a formula to release Jews from foolish vows. Historically, it has released Jews from vows to worship in another way than how they have worshiped G-d for millenia. The Spanish Inquisition is one of these times.

In Judiasm, sins are more than the Ten Commandments and encompass a lack of compassion, good works, community involvement.

“O G-d, forgive our rich nation where small babies die of cold quite legally,
O G-d, forgive our rich nation where small children suffer from hunger quite legally,
O G-d, forgive our rich nation where toddlers and school children die from guns sold quite legally,
O G-d, forgive our rich nation that lets children be the poorest group of citizens quite legally,
O G-d, forgive our rich nation that lets the rich continue to get more at the expense of the poor quite legally,
O G-d, forgive our rich nation which thinks security rests in missiles rather than in mothers, and in bombs rather than in babies,
O G-d,forgive our rich nation for not giving You sufficient thanks by giving to others their daily bread.
O G-d, help us never to confuse what is quite legal with what is just and right in your sight.
—-Marian Wright Edelman

Sim Shalom—A Prayer for Peace

Let us live in peace, G-d,
Let children live in peace, in homes free from brutality and abuse.
Let them go to school in peace, free from violence and fear.
Let them play in peace, G-d, in safe parks and safe neighborhoods; watch over them.
Let husbands and wives love in peace, in marriages free from cruelty.
Let men and women go to work in peace, with no fears of terror or bloodshed.
Let us travel in peace; protect us, G-d, in the air, on the seas, along whatever road we take.
Let nations dwell together in peace, without the threat of war hovering over them.
Help us, G-d. Teach all people of all races and faiths, in all the countries all over the world to believe that the peace that seems so far off is in fact within our reach.
Let us all live in peace, O G-d. And let us say, Amen

—–Rabbi Naomi Levy

As the day progresses, names are asked to be added to the Book of Life for another year. There is a feeling of the closing of the Gates of Heaven. The last blast of the Shofar is heard.

” The sun goes down, the shadows rise,
The day of G-d is near its close.
.Lord, crown our work before the night:
At eventide let there be light.”

May the New Year be sweet for all Jews everywhere in the world. Shalom to all people in the world.

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The Work to be Done


The language of the eyes is tears.

While I am celebrating Labor Day and it’s often forgotten beginnings, I am also looking at what is happening around the world and here to women. There are honor killings, little girls are being sold for their bodies, rape is on the rise in America as well as most other countries. Abuse is rising and I mean physical as well as emotional abuse. Women and children are dying due to Domestic Violence. Children are being molested every day. Sex offenders are being trusted to register. Not any help to the person they kidnap and molest. There are people who are kidnapping our young teens and selling them for their bodies and they are left to rot in brothels all around the world.

My point is that while we have to have positive thoughts, meditate, pray and work for peace in this world, we also have to fight to stop the treatment that women and children are experiencing here in America and around the world.

This is not a time to be silent. It is not a time to conform. This is a time to reach out a hand and help. It is time to volunteer for a shelter, a time to donate to a children’s after-school program. It is time to tell your friend that you can’t agree with her opinions. She is welcome to them but you don’t share them.

It is a time to remember the example of Martin Luther King Sr., Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy, Ghandi and Rosa Parks. It is time to speak up, stand tall with dignity and remember that passive resistance freed India from being a British colony to being a country in its own right.

Positive change takes energy, passion, love, and determination. We are all capable of change and we have changed things before, it is time to do it again.

Write to your Congress people and Senators, on the state as well as the national level. Look in your communities for shelters, Rape Crisis, Planned Parenthood or youth groups. Look at what they need and find what you can do to help and make a change. We all must work to make this a better world. There are millions of women and children who need our help and need us to care.

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Olympic Hopes


Last night, like many millions of people in the world, I watched the Opening Olympic ceremonies. They were beautiful and magical. Country after country marching represented by their best athletes. Their faces shining and happy smiles for all. The traditional clothes were so colorful and beautiful and each person walking in those ceremonies was lit with beauty from within. I also remembered past Olympic tragedies. I realized that we, the human beings on this planet have kept the spirit of the games alive since the Greek empire. Every 4 years, the torch is lit with pride and accomplishment. This is what human life should be, the colorful parade of shining faces and the millions who watch by television, now-a-days. The pride to be human in this world and the pride for country, and the pride and good wishes for the athletes who are competing from other countries. Life is meant to be this exilharating and peaceful experience.

Why can’t it last? What happens to us after the closing ceremonies? Do we lose our love for our fellow human beings? Why do we go into the rut of every one out for themselves?

During the Olympics, we put aside differences and while still competing against each other, it is all about being the best we can be. Why do we stop that? I believe that if the Olympics can continue to inspire the world and so many millions of people, then we are capable of carrying these experiences on into the lives of all people in every country. Little, big, rich, poor, we are capable of loving and helping each other We are capable of compassion and turning aside from what does not compliment these ideals. To me the Olympics demonstrate that we are capable of living together in peace, harmony, love and compassion. So I still have hope for us. I still believe that despite what we hear all the time on the news, we can be better people. In the news, “it leads if it bleeds.” Well, peace doesn’t bleed and we don’t hear enough about the wonderful people who live, struggle and love others more than they love themselves. So my heart and mind are with the athletes from every fantastic country on this fantastic planet. We can make peace work.

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Baby Steps for Peace


Photo by Barbara Mattio

So here we are. We realize that peace must begin within ourselves. Okay, now what? It is easier to be forgiving from a distance. It is easier to just look away and not see missed opportunities.

There are ways for us to begin. It starts with little things. Giving respect to those who deserve it. Picking up a fallen object for an elderly person. You can not scream at the kids when you have just had the worst day in your career. You can take cake to a new neighbor and say welcome.
You can be flexible with your friends and really care what is happening in their lives. When you can get through the day without a moment when you think, wow I shouldn’t have done that. You have begun to add peace to your journey. The person at the bank that made a mistake and you chose not to be short or mean to them will carry that kindness forward. They will hold the door for a young mother with a baby in arms and a toddler next to her. She will get home late from her errands with 2 crying children. She will sing them lullabies as they fall asleep.
The next day the toddler goes to a play date and is very kind to the other children. And so on and so on.

It is easy to say it begins with me, but assume that others should be the ones to start practicing peace. It is each of us, the 7 billion + people who need to throw the first stone into the ocean of hatred and violence.
Violence grows the same way as peace does. A neighbor fights with another neighbor. They are very angry and others take sides. This escalates the anger and fear enters as others begin to look at each other in distrust. Governments don’t keep promises. Politics become more important than agreements. Nations argue and then war becomes a topic of discussion.

We each need to make peace in our own lives. At times, it takes walking away. Sometimes it takes loving someone more than we love ourselves. We need to remember that we are not alone in our desire to live in a peaceful world. The Divinity that dwells within us wants that also. We make our own decisions and we must accept responsibility for the lack of peace in our own lives. We must hold elected officials to govern in a peaceful manner without ego and without a quest for power.

I encourage everyone to walk the path of peace as well as to talk it. It isn’t enough to just say we need World Peace. We have to live it in our lives each day. Others will respond to the peace within. For the times you lose your own peace, it is okay. Just start again with a fresh slate. Just don’t give up because The One has never given up on us.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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An Attitude of Peace


There are people from every religion who believe in peace. There are prayers that are part of every culture, every religion that are lifted up for the cause of peace.

Zorastrrian prayer for peace:
“We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world; that understanding triumph over ignorance, that generosity triumph over indifference, that trust triumph over contempt and that truth triumph over falsehood.”

A Jewish prayer for peace
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High, and we shall beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall we learn war anymore. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”

A Baha’l Prayer for Peace
“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home for a stranger. Be eyes unto the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.”

A Sikh Prayer for Peace
“God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear; that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living. Know that we attain God when we love and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.”

A Hindu Prayer for Peace

O God, lead us from the unreal into the real.

O God, lead us from darkness into light.

O God, lead us from death to immorality.

Peace, peace, peace unto all.”

A Buddhist Prayer for Peace
” May all being everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid. and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness- the children, the aged, the unprotected, be guarded by beneficent celestials. And may they swiftly attain Buddhahood..

A Sufi Prayer For Peace

“Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, and speak harmoniously.
Send They peace, O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful for They bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife we may enjoy Thy bliss.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace, O Lord,that our lives may become a divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, Our Father and Mother; that we Thy children on earth may all unite in our personhood.”

Each spiritual path leads us to the Divinity. A different facet of Divinity. Does it have to look like the people around us, is Divinity energy, is it all-powerful, does it love us and want to experience life through us? Wherever in this great big world we live in, let us understand that there is One World, One Life and One Love. Let us each do all we can to remember this each day; that we all want the same peaceful world. And may that peace come to all countries and religions and races. May we learn to love the way we are loved by Divinity. May we not see anything besides Divinity within each other and may we build a peaceful world where love is all.

Photo by Barbara Mattio