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CPNN Administrator
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Posted: July 18 2003,15:57 |
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Hatred Bounces. Continued from main report.
Such vehemence. Like it is a terrible thing to feel that a mother has the right to put her child to sleep each night without any risk of that child being shot, trapped in the midst of some hostile crossfire - be it in Iraq or the South Bronx. Like any one really wants to live and work in a war zone - in Palestine or Bosnia, Zimbabwe, the World Trade Center or East L.A. Ask anyone. "Do you want bombs and missiles to blow up your house?" Like there are two opposing sides to the necessity for peace.
The fact is, there is no such thing as opposing sides. There is only one side. Just us folks, here, all being born and all just trying to live life as best we can. We are all the same, allied, much more alike than different. There is no us and them. There is only us. We - all of us who occupy this planet: humans and other animals, vegetables and minerals; organic and inorganic; living and not; past, present and future - are the world.
We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of Indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
-Maya Angelou
We all come from the earth and return to her belly, as ash, as mulch. We are all made of the same substance, same as the sea, the soil, the stars. There are, and ever have been, only so many molecules in existence and no more ever, and all the rest - birth, growth, death, development, change, adaptation, transformation, evolution - is really just about recycling.
We breathe the same air as our cave-dwelling ancestors; inhaling and exhaling, exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen with our plant relatives untold billions of times over the millennia. And the same holds true for water. We drink the tears of crocodiles and elephants. It rains, it pools, it evaporates, it rains. We drink, we pee. Again and again and again in a grand scale cosmic round robin.
All borders and boundaries and separations are pure illusion. Each time we touch someone, we leave some particles of our skin atoms behind and pick up a parcel of new ones. Thus we merge, literally becoming part of each other I am you and you are me and we are we.
We are all in this together, inextricably bound on our beautiful blue planet spinning through space. Remember that extraordinary photograph of Earth taken from the moon? We are one family, one community, one world, one living, breathing entity. And the sooner we realize it, the happier, safer and saner we will be.
These are terrible times of artificial division, manipulated resentment and real fear. The real dynamic being played out right now is not about warring religious, economic or nationalistic factions. Not even about war. The struggle is actually between those who believe that the world is defined in terms of opposition - war or peace, right or wrong, rich or poor, with us or against us - and those who are able to see things in a more holistic, congruent manner.
If only there were evil people somewhere
insidiously committing evil deeds, and it
were necessary only to separate them from
the rest of us and destroy them. But the line
dividing good and evil cuts through the
heart of every human being. And who is
willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn
These are deciding times. It is imperative for those of us who see the big picture to decide, to commit, to make a concerted effort to reach out in ever-expanding circles of affinity and embrace. Now is the time to create healthy, functioning networks in recognition and in honor of our mutual state of being and our common fate. Let us set our intentions on unity and use our energy to begin to convene.
Convene. Convent. Coven. Co=together.
Yes, let us please convene. Let us come out of the cocoon closets of our isolated, separate selves and come together. To make connections. To make friends. To make whoopy. To make magic. To make sense. To make art. To make amends. To make time. To make love. To make change. To make peace in our hearts and on the planet.
Let us put ourselves forth as co=operative partners; as inter=dependent members of our families, communities and species; as consciously co=existent inhabitants of our planet and as conscientious co=creators of our combined future.
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
-WH Auden
c) Permission is granted to copy, reproduce, re-print or promulgate in any manner this copyrighted material so long as correct attribution and contact information is included.
Donna Henes, Urban Shaman, is a contemporary ceremonialist specializing in multi-cultural ritual celebration of the cycles of the seasons and the seasons of our lives.
She the editor and publisher of the highly acclaimed quarterly, Always In Season: Living In Sync with the Cycles. She is also the author of Moon Watcher's Companion, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations and Dressing Our Wounds In Warm Clothes, as well as the CD, Reverence To Her: Mythology, The Matriarchy & Me.
In 1982, she composed the first (and to this date, the only) satellite peace message in space: "chants for peace * chance for peace."
Mama Donna, as she is affectionately known, has offered lectures, workshops, circles, and celebrations worldwide for 30 years. She is the director of Mama Donna’s Tea Garden & Healing Haven, a ceremonial center, ritual consultancy and spirit shop in Exotic Brooklyn, New York.
For further information, a list of services and publications, a calendar
of upcoming events and a complimentary issue of Always in Season:
Living in Sync with the Cycles. contact:
MAMA DONNA'S TEA GARDEN AND HEALING HAVEN
PO Box 380403
Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403
Phone/Fax 718-857-2247
Email: CityShaman@aol.com
www.DonnaHenes.net
Edited by CPNN Administrator on July 18 2003,16:12
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