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Sitting here, after yesterday's frantic reading of and replying to all the Peace Globe participants, feels strangely quiet and surreal. The surreal strengthened by the fact that this Peace Day event is sandwiched between the elections in the USA on the 4th and Memorial day/Veteran's day on the 11th.
Later this weekend I'll be taking time to reply to the people who left such wonderful replies on my own Post for Peace, but today I just want to sit and think about the remarkable experience this has been. It was an amazing experience and I'm truly grateful to Graham for leading me to Mimi and her marvelous idea.
Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend. :-)
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Friday, 7 November 2008
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Dona nobis pacem 2008
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Now I’ve been thinking about the world lately…
When I first decided to participate in the Peace Globe Project my first thought was “What does the word Peace actually mean?” Peace… it’s a word we fling about a lot, same as ‘Love’. For many people Peace means no wars, but no fighting does not automatically mean no violence or hatred. It’s possible to force people to behave and not fight, but that’s not peace – that’s intimidation. A lack of violence and aggression can be attained through apathy and weariness too, but that doesn’t make it Peace.
Sitting thinking about the word the song “Peace Train”, by Cat Stevens, kept running through my head. I went looking for the song online… and something interesting happened. I found a small film documentary on why Cat Stevens had become Yusuf Islam. In it Yusuf/Cat spoke about how he had moved from singing about changing the world to being more involved in real change, but how first of all he’d had to change himself - change from within.
The truth is as much as we may talk of Peace, pray for Peace or Blog for Peace, we can never achieve anything unless we start from the simple truth that it has to begin from within. You cannot change the world to change people – people have to change themselves in order to change their world.
There’s a lot that has been written about what needs to change in order for us to live in Peace. Some talk of forgiveness, some of Love, charity, empathy, patience, tolerance… there are lots of words associated Peace. Today I’d like to add my own choice; I’d like to add ‘ENOUGH’.
It’s not an obvious word to pick, but the more I look at the world today the more I feel that this might turn out to be a very important word for Peace in our planet’s future. It seems to me that the concept of ‘Not enough’ causes most of our planet’s wars and violence, or at very least the belief in ‘Not enough’. Not enough food, not enough oil, not enough land, not enough power, not enough religious dominance, not enough religious tolerance… humans have found many reasons to justify aggressive actions through ‘Not enough’.
We fear it too. We fear ‘Not enough’ terribly and that fear makes us miserly and cruel. Believing in ‘Not enough’ we hate those who we think have more than us today and we refuse to share, in case we might be in need tomorrow. We use it to justify our greed as well. We use it to rationalize taking from others. We believe we have the right to have MORE than enough.
As far as I can see, for this world to have enough Peace we first need to let go of this phrase ‘Not enough’ and all the fears and angers that surround it - in other words we have to learn how to share. The thing I like best about the word ‘share’ is that it implies equality and mutual respect. You ‘give’ charity and donations to those you consider lesser than you, you ‘take’ from those you resent or hate, but you share with those beside you. Sharing happens between equals, family and friends. More importantly - you don’t take from people you share with. You don’t take their lands, their lives, or their freedoms and you don’t hate, murder or go to war with them either.
We need to relearn our concept of what is ‘enough’. Enough is being happy with what you have and who you are and then sharing that happiness with the world around you. Enough comes from filling that fear of ‘Not enough’ within yourself first; of finding your own inner peace, each in our own unique and individual way. What fills your soul with ‘enough’ might be anything from creating Art, writing a novel, saving a whale, mothering a child, or following a religion, as Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam did.
We need to remove that dreadful phrase ‘Not enough’ from our mindset, because it links us back to always grasping for more - more money, more power, more wars… more than enough.
Had more than enough?
I have.
How about you?
Now come and join the giving,
its not so hard to do.
Throw your bread upon the waters,
They will come back to you…
...
Dona nobis pacem ~ Grant us peace
Now I’ve been thinking about the world lately…
When I first decided to participate in the Peace Globe Project my first thought was “What does the word Peace actually mean?” Peace… it’s a word we fling about a lot, same as ‘Love’. For many people Peace means no wars, but no fighting does not automatically mean no violence or hatred. It’s possible to force people to behave and not fight, but that’s not peace – that’s intimidation. A lack of violence and aggression can be attained through apathy and weariness too, but that doesn’t make it Peace.
Sitting thinking about the word the song “Peace Train”, by Cat Stevens, kept running through my head. I went looking for the song online… and something interesting happened. I found a small film documentary on why Cat Stevens had become Yusuf Islam. In it Yusuf/Cat spoke about how he had moved from singing about changing the world to being more involved in real change, but how first of all he’d had to change himself - change from within.
The truth is as much as we may talk of Peace, pray for Peace or Blog for Peace, we can never achieve anything unless we start from the simple truth that it has to begin from within. You cannot change the world to change people – people have to change themselves in order to change their world.
There’s a lot that has been written about what needs to change in order for us to live in Peace. Some talk of forgiveness, some of Love, charity, empathy, patience, tolerance… there are lots of words associated Peace. Today I’d like to add my own choice; I’d like to add ‘ENOUGH’.
It’s not an obvious word to pick, but the more I look at the world today the more I feel that this might turn out to be a very important word for Peace in our planet’s future. It seems to me that the concept of ‘Not enough’ causes most of our planet’s wars and violence, or at very least the belief in ‘Not enough’. Not enough food, not enough oil, not enough land, not enough power, not enough religious dominance, not enough religious tolerance… humans have found many reasons to justify aggressive actions through ‘Not enough’.
We fear it too. We fear ‘Not enough’ terribly and that fear makes us miserly and cruel. Believing in ‘Not enough’ we hate those who we think have more than us today and we refuse to share, in case we might be in need tomorrow. We use it to justify our greed as well. We use it to rationalize taking from others. We believe we have the right to have MORE than enough.
As far as I can see, for this world to have enough Peace we first need to let go of this phrase ‘Not enough’ and all the fears and angers that surround it - in other words we have to learn how to share. The thing I like best about the word ‘share’ is that it implies equality and mutual respect. You ‘give’ charity and donations to those you consider lesser than you, you ‘take’ from those you resent or hate, but you share with those beside you. Sharing happens between equals, family and friends. More importantly - you don’t take from people you share with. You don’t take their lands, their lives, or their freedoms and you don’t hate, murder or go to war with them either.
We need to relearn our concept of what is ‘enough’. Enough is being happy with what you have and who you are and then sharing that happiness with the world around you. Enough comes from filling that fear of ‘Not enough’ within yourself first; of finding your own inner peace, each in our own unique and individual way. What fills your soul with ‘enough’ might be anything from creating Art, writing a novel, saving a whale, mothering a child, or following a religion, as Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam did.
We need to remove that dreadful phrase ‘Not enough’ from our mindset, because it links us back to always grasping for more - more money, more power, more wars… more than enough.
Had more than enough?
I have.
How about you?
Now come and join the giving,
its not so hard to do.
Throw your bread upon the waters,
They will come back to you…
...
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Cat Stevens - Peace Train
Now I’ve been happy lately,
Thinking about the good things to come,
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun
Oh I’ve been smiling lately,
dreaming about the world as one,
And I believe it could be,
some day its going to come
‘Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train,
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again
Now I’ve been smiling lately,
Thinking about the good things to come,
And I believe it could be,
something good has begun
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train
Get your bags together,
go bring your good friends too,
‘Cause its getting nearer,
it soon will be with you,
Now come and join the living,
its not so far from you
And its getting nearer,
soon it will all be true
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Now I’ve been crying lately,
thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating,
why can’t we live in bliss
‘Cause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on peace train
Monday, 3 November 2008
Autumn Weekend
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This weekend I took some photos of the trees on the way to the shops. There were even nicer trees, but no places to stop the car. These photos are taken at places along the forest road where we could stop. I like this first one because you get to see the contrast of shade and sunlight...
A smaller road through the forest...
A really nice big tree...
Leaves under the trees...
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Monday, 27 October 2008
Blogging for Peace
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I'm joining in. Will you?
Here's the story...
The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from one blog, Mimi Writes. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement.
It amazingly traveled from blog to blog to blog across the globe. Bloggers wrote passionate articles on what peace means to them, along with the promise of three Latin words scribbled on a globe - Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) - branded with the integrity of their names or blog names. It was positively inspiring to watch. And it began to happen all over the world - from Singapore to China to Afghanistan to Brooklyn.
It was simple. And powerful.
In less than three weeks bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace.
It was simple. And powerful.
In less than three weeks bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace.
We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.
Won't you join us?
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE TAGGED TO PLAY.
Please pass this meme through the blogosphere.
Please pass this meme through the blogosphere.
Creative Urges
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The next one is done with embroidery - embroidery cottons and a thicker black crochet thread I used for the rooster's feathers. It was a gift I made for my sister-in-law. She loves Roosters. :-) He's copied from a Japanese print. The chick's colours didn't come out right, but the rooster looks exactly like it does in this photo.
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Recently I've been feeling itchy to do something creative again. At this stage I'm not sure what... I used to enjoy working with coloured pen, pencils and watercolour, but I also love beadwork and embroidery.
Looking around at other people's blogs and websites I realised that I've never shown any of my stuff online. I figured it was time to change that. I'm posting two of my creative urges.
This one below was done with coloured pencils, just for fun. It's a flower arrangement with a "twist". ;-)
The next one is done with embroidery - embroidery cottons and a thicker black crochet thread I used for the rooster's feathers. It was a gift I made for my sister-in-law. She loves Roosters. :-) He's copied from a Japanese print. The chick's colours didn't come out right, but the rooster looks exactly like it does in this photo.
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