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Issue # 1325, Monday, January 20, 2003, Editor: Jerry
San Francisco Anti War Rally 1/18/03
Reflections on what rallies
by Christiana Duranczyk (NDS)
Yesterday, while at work, I stood at a window on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Main Library watching what may have been 200,000 people pouring like lava-flow into the Civic Center. Marchers having walked several miles - for peace; against this war; and for racial and political civility in our land and government - slowly poured into the several block wide plaza spilling as well into the 'ordinary' space of all the surrounding blocks.
Perched from above we watched a blank canvas slowly paint itself with multi-hues as Beings of intention. The day was clear and pleasant to the senses and so it seemed was the ambiance of the participators. As I walked amidst the crowd, listening to celebrities (Martin Sheen) speak and two peace divas (Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt) sing, I was an anonymous traveler amidst the diversity of our species. And it was good.. both the anonymity and the inclusivity.
Here amidst the vibrant presentation of the
spectrum
of individuality was also a more vibrant pulsation of
That which does not divide. The singularity of Love for
country, family, world beings, planetary environment,
and diversity was the touchstone grounding
awareness perceived. I wondered, what might it be
like if someone took the podium asking for a few
silent minutes beyond rhetoric, positions, intentions,
and emotions to notice the core pulsation of what
was unnamable yet palpably perceivable in that
moment as grace.
It seems many who are attending such movements
are on the precipice of realizing that what is arising in
them is more than ideas and feelings. What would it
take to nudge a large collective over the perspective
edge of duality into the aperspectival empty-full
heart? That might be nondual activism.
From "A Letter From The Birmingham
Jail"
Daily Dharma
"But though I was initially disappointed
at being categorized as an
extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually
gained a
measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus and
extremist for
love: 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you.' Was not Amos an extremist for justice: 'Let
justice roll
down like waters and righteousness like am ever-flowing stream.'
Was not
Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: 'I bear in my body
the marks
of the Lord Jesus.' Was not Martin Luther an extremist: 'Here I
stand; I
cannot do otherwise, so help me God.' And John Bunyan: 'I will
stay in
jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my
conscience.'
And Abraham Lincoln: 'This nation cannot survive half slave and
half
free.' And Thomas Jefferson: 'We hold these truths to be
self-evident,
that all men are created equal . . . .'
So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what
kind of
extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for
love? Will
we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the
extension
of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvery's hill three men
were
crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for
the
same crime -- the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for
immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other,
Jesus
Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and
thereby rose
above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation, and the
world are
in dire need of creative extremists."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fireceremony
Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/fireceremony/
Peace?
this was going to be a long post about peace, of
the personal and collective variety
but as usual every time I think about these things
I become
convinced
that when the self knows it Self fully
and there is no sense of lack
no hurt from the past
no feeling of boredom or incompleteness
no need to seek and grasp
just wholeness and oneness
and gratitude and acceptance
and knowing
peace of the lasting kind
follows automatically
violence only breeds violence, that's easy to see
what you most want to avoid comes back at you despite your
countless countermeasures and carefully planned strategies
there is no safety to be found
when safety is the intention
but if you seek the source of the fear, the wants, the boredom,
the need for protection, you'll see that there is indeed little
to fear, little to seek, little to protect and everything to gain
Kalemachka
Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/kalemachka
"Let us abandon reason like a horrible mine. Let us throw
ourselves into the pit of the unknown, not because we are
desperate; but to simply enrich the bottomless reservoirs
of the absurd."
Fillippo Tommaso Marinetti...A Futurist
Manifesto, circa 1910
Petros
Petros-Truth http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Petros-Truth
"The 'me' cannot give itself up. All that it can do is be
quiet; and it
cannot be quiet without understanding the whole structure and the
meaning of
the 'me.' Either that structure and the meaning can be understood
totally,
immediately, or not at all; and that's the only way; there is no
other way.
If you say, 'I will practice, I will gradually work at it till
the me dies,'
then you have fallen into a different kind of trap, which is the
same 'me.'"
-- J. Krishnamurti
Kalemachka
Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/kalemachka
Yes! That's it! Story of my life in a nutshell:
"You were not really a monkey unless you were raised in an
interactive monkey environment."
-- Neuroscientist Mary Harlow
Metaline
Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/metaline
You are in my head
Even though you shouldn't be
I want you to stay
Photo by Al Larus