"Waging Peace" #15

Featuring Pat Schneider and Chor Leoni

Welcome to “Waging Peace”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

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Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

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Receive the music

Try to refrain from judging the music as “good” or “bad” or forming an “I like it” or “I don’t like it” opinion. For a few minutes, cultivate curiosity and openness. If resistance arises in you, be curious about that too.

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Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading of the poem, perhaps with your eyes closed.

YOUR BIRTHDAY
Pat Schneider

       for my son Paul, born 9/11/62

This day dawns as it has always dawned
from the beginning of time.
Oceans carry the song of whales
and tumble onto every shore
the shells of precious little lives.
We who wander here
in leaf-fall, acorn-fall September,
remember, but cannot understand
the singing, or the loss of lives.

You came bloody into this bloody world,
this singing world, this world
where war and peace forever
hold each other in a lovers’ knot.

Whatever we are, we are not made for war.
War is a wound that forces us to see
ourselves; hungry for peace, delicate
in our fragile shells, and beautiful.
So are you, born on this day, beautiful.
In the deep could you hear the singing?
Its meaning is beyond what can be spoken.
Perhaps, like peace, it is a mystery
that springs unbidden out of what is broken.


(from Poetry of Presence II)

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Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

• Reflect/write/create in response to the following: “Whatever we are, we are not made for war. We are made for _______”

• Do you believe that “war and peace forever / hold each other in a lovers’ knot”? What does your answer imply about the spirit with which you “wage peace”?

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Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

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These materials are for educational purposes only. Not for sale or reproduction.

Join me and a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST
for a closing Zoom on February 1!

6:00-7:00PM Central (7:00 ET, 5:00 MT, 4:00 PT)

Let’s close “Waging Peace” with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on this Deep Dive.

Registration is required for this celebration.

(Note: Minimum of five people must have registered for the Refuge by midnight, January 31, in order for this Zoom to take place. Thanks!)

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Questions? Never hesitate to contact me.

See you on Monday.