Peace in Times of War

My dear friends,

 

I want to thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement.  We

appreciate them.  The family that I have in Lebanon lives in the north, and is thankfully far

from the shelling and overall conflict.

 

This entire situation has really forced me to think about peace, and what it means to me now. 

I reflected a great deal on our walk to Jerusalem, and the message of peace that we

embraced.  I had said then that peace is a choice, and that ultimately the power to create

peace in our world rests in our moment-by-moment choices for peace.  This belief has been

challenged and tested many times, and all I can tell you is that I am more convinced than ever

that this is the way.

 

To the Croatian girl who watched her friends being raped in a Bosnian prison, I spoke about

the choice to forgive.  To the Italian friends of a priest kidnapped and murdered in Peru, I

spoke about the choice to love.  To the Christians who demonized Muslims, the Israelis who demonized Palestinians, and many more, I spoke about the choice to be open and tolerant.  Every time I was turned away while seeking help, I reminded myself about the choice to trust and seek the light in every person I met. 

 

Those same choices remain before us.  It's easy to fall into the drama and emotion of the

situation in Lebanon and to allow the images to shape our views of right and wrong, good and

bad.  It's difficult to be in a place of non-judgment.  These blatant images are pulling me to

judge, and to feel angry and vengeful.  However, I have learned that by focusing on those feelings, I am feeding them.  By placing my energy and attention on the conflict, I'm feeding the conflict.  I'm attracting more of what  I don't want.  For this, I have stopped watching all television reports.  I no longer engage in political discussions, heresay or speculation.  I walk away or change the subject.  I am choosing to place my attention, and to use my energy, differently.

 

And although it's difficult to do, I'm trying to maintain an emotional distance and see the

situation from a higher perspective.  I believe that Lebanon, like the rest of the world, is going

through a process of tremendous change.  This change is for the good of all.  This change is

bringing about a heightened consciosuness for peace and moving all of us towards balance

and harmony.  It is bringing us all to a point of choice, asking us to choose who we are with

respect to conflict.  I choose to BE PEACE.  I choose to believe in the peoples' light, not

their darkness.  I choose to believe that all actions are motivated by ignorance and fear, not

by malice or so-called evil.   

 

The greatest lesson I learned from my pilgrimage was that when I change my perspective of

the world, the world around me changes.  It is a moment by moment, experience by

experience CHOICE.  That is the work of peace.  It is inner work.  And it is hard work.  It is

the work of changing our beliefs, of casting away thoughts of fear and judgment, so that our

true light can shine. 

 

That is my greatest wish in writing to you, that you allow this light to shine.  My contribution

to peace right now is to hold on to the light of peace and love, and radiate it powerfully into

the world, and especially into that region.  We can all do this.  Through meditation, prayer,

visualization, intention, and many more techniques.  By focusing our collective energy on

peace, I believe we can create it.

 

Thank you all for listening.  I hope this message resonates with you and compels you to new

thought and action.  If there's interest in doing a group meditation, where we all agree to focus

our energies at the same time from wherever we are, please let me know and I'll try to

coordinate something that works across continents!

 

With love and light,
Mony