If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
―Lao Tse
In honor of United Nations Day, what will you do today to make peace?
“The smallest indivisible human unit is two people, not one; one is a fiction. From such nets of souls societies, the social world, human life springs.”
―Tony Kushner
To what “ nets of souls” do you belong?
Wouldn’t it be great if a stopwatch would actually stop and restart time, rather than just stopping and starting a timer? I’m afraid the closest we’ll ever be able to come to that fantasy is to learn to be fully present and alive in the moments that we are given.
If you could pause time for some bit of your life, what moment would you choose?
“One of these things is not like the other,” they used to sing on Sesame Street, “one of these things just doesn’t belong.” The game was to guess what item didn’t fit as part of a set. But they sing the song differently now. The good folks of Sesame Street have figured out that being different from those around you doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t belong.
Is there anywhere in your life where you are obviously different from others in your “set,” yet you still feel that you belong?
Many times, what we experience in life is less a sense of belonging than a sense of “be-longing.” We long for that one person, that true home, that genuine community, where we will be completely known, completely accepted, completely at one with those around us. But once we leave the womb there is no way to escape the longing for perfect union, which we can experience only in fleeting moments before the reality of living as an individual amongst other individuals, each with our own needs and perspectives, takes over.
When have you experienced a sense of perfect communion?
