"Waging Peace" #5

Featuring Laura Grace Weldon and Carrie Newcomer

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.

Note: Dona Nobis Pacem translates as “Give Us Peace.”

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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.

ANYTHING, EVERYTHING
Laura Grace Weldon

“Find everything you’re looking for?” a clerk asks
and I say, “I’m still looking for world peace.”
“Can I get you anything else?” a nurse asks
and I say, “Yes, a safe haven for refugees.”
For a millisecond, their faces soften
as they take a deep breath of imagining
then laugh or shake their heads
or commiserate. For a few minutes
we might even discuss
our planet’s highest possibilities.
Maybe that deep breath,
that imagining,
is a starting place.


(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!

• In an upcoming encounter with a stranger (perhaps a clerk or nurse or other functionary), step beyond your comfort zone to say something beyond the expected for the sake of peace and justice, as the narrator did in this poem. Afterwards, reflect/write/create on the basis of what happened or how you felt, doing it.

• Why do you think the poet links “deep breath” to “imagining”? How together might they provide “a starting place”?

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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.