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Easter
Peace
While
they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and
said to them, "Peace be with you."
Luke24:36
"We
are in the time of Easter, Passover, and Equinox. The snows are
melting, the days are warming, and the trees are budding. It is
also the fourth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. What does
this season teach us about peace?
Easter is about transcendence. At the universal level it is
a celebration of the triumph of life over death; of love over fear.
Peace, too, is rooted in the boundless power of love, which dissolves
fear, hatred, and aggression.
Passover is about liberation. The Hebrews of old first freed
themselves from slavery and Pharaoh’s oppression and then endured a
purifying 40 years in the desert before reaching the promised land. We
are still slaves to our ‘false gods’ of separation, dominance, and
their handmaidens – violence and force. For peace to prevail, we
must literally change our minds, to understand that there is no ‘us’
and ‘them,’ there is only one family of life on this planet we
share, humanity’s home, and that we need each other.
Equinox is about balance. In the spring and in the fall, the
sun stands at the balancing point, at the center. To activate peace
in the current climate of escalating fear and violence in the world
around us, we must reclaim that balance in ourselves, between apathy and
reaction, between despair and righteous indignation. We must rediscover
our center, where peace is our natural state, and love flows endlessly
to all.
Springtime is about regeneration. What was hidden,
hibernating, or silently waiting bursts forth in glorious affirmation of
the beauty and bounty of life. The times call us urgently to
regenerate that seed of peace that lies encoded in our very being, our
spiritual DNA.
This season of holy days, spring, and sad anniversary is a great and
powerful opportunity for humanity. Now, this very moment, we may
choose the triumph of love over fear, liberate ourselves from the mind
of separation to realize our oneness, touch deeply into our center where
peace abides, and give birth again to the spirit of peace in action.
Now, this very moment, is when we can change the course of human
evolution. We are the early Christians, the ancient Hebrews, the
sun moving between one pole and another, the bud driving through ice and
snow to its inevitable blossoming. We are the fulfillment of the
journey, the ones, as the Hopis say, that we have been waiting for. As
A.J. Muste said, ‘There is no way to peace; peace is the way.’ As
we choose it, so it is and will be.
May peace prevail on earth!"
The Peace Company
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