"Waging Peace" #23
Our final day of the Dive, featuring Rumi and Westminster Choir
Welcome to the last day of this Deep Dive!
Join me and a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST
tomorrow evening (2/1) for a closing Zoom!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
UNTITLED ["FLOWERS OPEN EVERY NIGHT"] Rumi Translated from the Persian by Coleman Barks Flowers open every night across the sky as the peace of keeping a vigil kindles the emptiness. (from The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems)
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!
For what or whom do you keep vigil as you wage peace?
Write four heartfelt lines of prose or poetry to express the constancy of your commitment as one who loves and wages peace.
Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?
Leave a comment on this post using the button. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment.)
These materials are for educational purposes only. Not for sale or reproduction.
Can’t go wrong with Rumi!
Vigils are neither passive nor idle.
There is beauty in their
active waiting and watching.
They stay awake day and night
speaking truth to power through songs, pictures, and poems;
doing love, peace, and justice;
showing empathy and compassion; and
reaching for connection.
Also, “kindle” is a great verb!
While the whole world sleeps,
some stay watchful
illuminating the darkness,
lighting the way
to bring something new into being,
and hoping to arouse others
to join their wakefulness.
A constant theme throughout Waging Peace: Stay awake! Keep vigil!
******
Just an aside, Phyllis…
I just stumbled on this and thought
Back Porch Productions may want to meet The Porch:
https://www.theporchcommunity.net/?kuid=c0b6940d-8802-4141-89cd-a0b81274c7a4&kref=r03QFZ25T9rK
“…we seek to discover and tell stories of connection, creativity, and courage toward the common good.”
I have yet to explore it more thoroughly, but I am intrigued.
I waited then as I wait now.
Believing in the universe of love
and holding fast to a faith
that prays for open hearts to prevail.