It's been a while since I last posted anything. It is not for lack of desire, however, and becoming busy has its own certain bittersweetness; doesn't it? I have enjoyed great abundance in my professional line of work (not blogging) and I have equally endured the perceived lack of "enough time." It is in the spirit of ending conflict that I write of my thoughts today. This is an effort to spark conversation about forgiveness and how it alone can end all suffering.
Conflict and war in the world reflect conflict and war in the mind, and both this inner an outer turmoil are born of thoughts of anger and attack. The relinquishment of anger and attack and the practice of forgiveness are, therefore, essential to the realization of peace in the world and in ourselves. -- Gifts From a Course on Miracles
I have come to see that there are times that, in my own anger lies the perception of righteousness and justification at the expense of the true feelings of the one I am projecting my interpretation onto. In other words, I have interpreted something about someone and allowed negative emotions to rise up in me because of what appear to be the facts. In that moment I am denying my knowing that forgiveness heals, and choosing to allow anger to take its place without clearly perceiving where the problem lies. When I choose to accept the idea that all conflict stems from misunderstanding, I am taking a first step towards peace and away from conflict.
When I allow myself to receive only loving thoughts from someone and recognize their attack as a cry for help, then I can begin to accept them and work towards healing that hurt. We are all humans with the potential for greater good than we have known, and by choosing to think before we speak, and letting love forge a position of forgiveness deep within us, we allow peace a chance to bloom in any situation... no matter how dire that situation may appear.
Anyone I perceive as my enemy is part of my peace, which I give up when I choose to attack.
I am in my weakest state when I attack, and I am at my strongest when I recognize that I do not need to attack. I always regret conflict afterwards, so my prayer today is that we each remember, before we go into attack mode, how much nicer it is when we all get along in the way we are designed to. We are all better served when we do not choose to be offended, and instead choose to offer healing through the conscious choice to forgive. Every time I write those words, I remember Christ forgiving his murderers while they were in the act of killing him. I think that embodies for me (by design) the totality of love personified. That act alone is the simplest way for me to see that my petty issues are small enough to, at least, justify the idea of forgiving instead of fighting.
Give peace a chance today, let love be its reason, and think thoughts of how to end conflict with those we know we should right now. -- jb
If we strive to live in the Holy minute, in the breath that our Creator gives us, it is easier to forgive. In that instant of life there is no past nor future, we just have each other.
ReplyDeleteWell said, I always feel disgusting after getting into a conflict of some sort. You carry that negativity with you all day.
ReplyDeleteI am in my weakest state when I attack, and I am at my strongest when I recognize that I do not need to attack.
ReplyDeleteThis is also my truth. The lesson that life keeps presenting me over and over again as I have yet to learn is is that when one has done no intentional harm then they do not need a defense. My cycle commences when I mount a defense when none is needed. If my awareness is not keen I don't apprehend my error and can easily take the attack position.
Aye but learning how to become a compassionate and loving person, who has laid down all the weapons of war and will enter no conflicts is a lifelong course. Sadly, I seem to be nowhere near approaching graduation because I frequently find myself in the kindergarten class clanging like a cymbal.
By the mid-1990s peace studies curricula had shifted "...from research and teaching about negative peace, the cessation of violence, to positive peace, the conditions that eliminate the causes of violence." As a result the topics had broadened enormously. By 1994, a review of course offerings in peace studies included topics such as: "north-south relations"; "development, debt, and global poverty"; "the environment, population growth, and resource scarcity"; and "feminist perspectives on peace, militarism, and political violence." At the same time, peace studies faculty began to offer courses on more mundane forms of violence, such as conflict resolution and anger management.
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