December 27, 2015

On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of One who so clearly perceived His mission and so fully manifested faith, love, forgiveness and service that a couple billion people call Him the Christ, Son of God.  Today, I think that Jesus might say, “I welcome celebration of my birth, particularly the sharing of love and joy with family and friends.  But, more important, I could use a little help here.”

May Christmas be a time when we ask ourselves, “What is my mission?  How might I better fulfill it?  How well do I manifest faith, love, forgiveness, and service?"

Power

Much is said about empowerment of oneself and others. 
Today I realized that I prefer to have power when it is convenient; that is, when I find I am able, or can easily become able, to influence something in a way that is important to me. 
Then I realized that I'm not so keen on empowerment, even for profoundly important uses, when it is difficult or costly in time or comfort to achieve. The question becomes, "How willing am I to work, to experience discomfort, to develop and to use my talents, my power?"  
<I say I will work for joy.>  I choose to do so when the work is hard, the cost is high, the frustrations many, and the joy requires a sense of humor.

Imagining trouble and loss

Getting up, walking the dog, going to work, working, going home, an evening of NewsHour, some fun, some chores, going up and down stairs, going to bed, to sleep.  Same tomorrow.  It is easy - and tempting - to imagine more exciting things to do and places to be.  
It's not so easy - but much more important - to imagine being deprived of one's present degree of health and abilities, one's comforts - shelter, enough food, clean running water, a warm bed; one's freedoms, reputation, job and  opportunities; and the health and lives of friends and family members.  Such imagining is much more important than easy fantasies because from imagining trouble and loss naturally flow greater peace where one is, more gratitude for what one has and an increase in the desire to help others, from which we derive self-worth.

Reality check #5

In one of my favorite books, The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck wrote, "the only way to be assured of being loved is to be a person worthy of love."  To God, I suppose, everyone is worthy of love without effort.  I'd call that grace - whether love without effort comes from God or a person.  
But I think Dr. Peck is right as to sustained human love.  To be worthy of love requires the commitment to live as best we can see to live and the effort to ask whether we are doing that.
Today, how willing am I to live the best life I can see to live?  How willing am I to grow?  How willing am I to extend myself for the sake of this relationship?  For the sake of this family, organization, community or society?  And ultimately for my own health and peace of mind?

Writing one's life story

Each person is an author, writing his or her life story one sentence - one choice - at a time.

Reality check #4

Am I acting out of fidelity to my values, with all needed courage?
If not, why not?
Am I acting out of fear?  Fear of what?   
Fear, such as fear of embarrassment, can seem so slight it seems like something else.
Am I avoiding the discomfort of growth?

Thinking about responses

When I respond inwardly - positively or negatively - to someone or something, do I pay attention to my response?  Do I question it?  Do I learn from it?  
Who's responsible for my response?  Does my perception of responsibility for my response affect whether and how I show it or share it?  How might the way I show or share my response improve the situation or the relationship at hand? 

Something of God

I recently read Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee.  It is a story of twenty-something Jean Louise - "Scout" - Finch's return to her small Alabama hometown in the early 1950's and her confrontation with life there, particularly with her father, Atticus.  I liked the book very much.  For those who have not read the book yet, I'll just say this.
Many people - including Quakers like me - believe that there is something of God in every person.  Those of us who so believe ought to expect that the something-of-God in others is not always going to come to the same conclusion as we do, even given the same facts, let alone to express that conclusion as we would prefer.  We ought to be open to such differences.
When we dislike, distrust, are offended by, or do not understand what someone says or does, let us pause, appeal to that something-of-God in ourselves, and consider whether what the other has said or done came from an effort to honor that something-of-God in her or in him.  If it did, respect and love will be at hand, and it will be easier to be candid, to disagree, to debate, and to strengthen the relationship.

Reality check #3

Does my inward response to the person or situation at hand include fear, insecurity, judgment (of self or others), anger or impatience? Why?
Is my outward response to the person or situation at hand thoughtful and authentic?  If not, why not? 
What am I mainly trying to accomplish with this person or in this situation?  Is that goal consistent with my core values?

Forgiveness, permission and ethics.

"Forgiveness is easier to get than permission."  When I first heard that saying, I thought it was so witty!  Better still, it's often true, particularly in large organizations like the one for which the fellow from whom I first heard it worked.  It's a clever rationale for doing what seems practical, though unorthodox, if one's motives are good - especially if the outcome is good.  But the saying hasn't worn well for me because it could also be simply an excuse for doing what one wants despite being unable to get appropriate permission or consent.  It could even divert one from considering whether the desirability of permission or consent, and the need for forgiveness, are two big warnings that one is about to cross an ethical boundary.

November 1, 2015

In matters of personal finance, there is one simple, fundamental principle:

Keep expenses below income.

In matters of the spirit, there is a parallel principle:

Live within past graces.

By that I mean, use and share graces already received, seek and appreciate graces previously unnoticed, and be thankful for them all.

To live in the expectation of future grace, let alone to count on it – individually or as a society - to keep us from the consequences of ignorance, folly or self-righteousness, is to deny grace by changing its nature into payment of some divine debt.

By living within past graces, being content with them and joyful and grateful for them, we honor the miracle of grace and its Source. 

Better still, by sharing with others what we have received by grace we become agents of grace - and more sensitive to its presence.

On worship in thought and action.

What do I worship?
To what Power do I bow, submit and give thanks? 
What Spirit do I honor by my thoughts, thanks and actions?  
Is there a difference between what I worship consciously, intellectually, and my priorities revealed by my actions?

I naturally want to keep worshiping that which I have been worshiping.  I want to be, and to feel, right.  But unless what I worship is love, including love of growth from experience, error and independent thought, it is very difficult to see when what I worship - or how I worship - is not well serving me.

My best: what does that mean?

My best in matters of physical skill is the closest I get to my best: like a golf shot, it is done - well or poorly - in the moment. 
My best in physical matters involving sustained effort - like a race or a project - is the best I can see to do, because that effort depends on my conscious and unconscious decisions about my limits, including how much discomfort I will accept. 

My best in social and professional matters is usually the best I am willing to do.  When I promise to do my best, I am implicitly, and sometimes unconsciously, reserving the right to decide what that is.  If "my best" meant, literally, my actual best, I would promise it to others very rarely - and, when I did promise it, I would grow every time.

October 4, 2015

In our tradition, there are two supreme commandments. 

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" applies to all our relationships with others. 

"Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind and all thy strength" applies to our relationship with God. But that relationship is not with someone else's God. It is with "thy God". That relationship is with God as each of us, individually, conceives God to be.  It is our relationship with Love itself, with the Holy Spirit, with Intellect and Creativity, and with our Sources of power.  That commandment, that exhortation, that invitation, is to think and to grow.

Questions about believing in, and strengthening, spiritual resources.

I believe Jesus lived a human life.
I believe that the challenges and difficulties in my life are nothing compared to those than Jesus faced with love, courage, wisdom and grace.
Do I think I have fewer resources for dealing with my challenges than Jesus had? 
Do I think Jesus did not experience the full array of common human feelings, including anger, frustration, discouragement, fatigue, ennui, yearning, confusion and doubt?  I do not.  But I believe He had an extremely powerful resource for dealing with such feelings: his connection to God, the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of Love, particularly of his fellow human beings. 
Can we today not develop that resource, that spiritual connection? 
I believe the questions become, first, do I believe I can do that?  If so, what am I willing to do to honor and to strengthen my connection to God, the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of Love?

"Will work for joy."

You've seen the signs: "Will work for food."  Everyone should be allowed to work for food, dignity and security.  I am, and I'm grateful.

Here's my sign: "Will work for joy."*

Translation: "Will not expect joy without effort and contribution to others.  Will be uncomfortable for the sake of growth.  Will work to set aside my ego.  Will accept appearing uncool.  Will laugh at myself.  Will be patient, taking time to understand and accept others - and myself.  Will cultivate gratitude.  Will compromise (except integrity).  Will stand up to evil and dangerous folly.  Will take responsibility for my choices and their results.  Will do what's right over what's popular, what's necessary over what's comfortable.  Will take care of my soul rather than my image - all for joy."


*   I sent this idea to "The New Yorker".  I think it works as a cartoon no matter who's holding the sign.

Judging not

"'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' [Matthew 7:1] Being hard to do doesn't mean hard to understand."  God - Attrib.

Minding the gap between knowledge and perception

"The fruit of that proverbial 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' was really just the perception of good and evil.  Mind the gap."  God - Attrib.

August 30, 2015

This is our Meeting for Worship.  But what does worship mean?
Surely, worship is acknowledging, celebrating, praising and giving thanks to the Holy Spirit, but I think it is much more than that.  For those of us who believe there is that of God in every person, worship is also a time for celebrating, praising and giving thanks for that of God in each other.  Nor is worship in its fullest sense a one-way endeavor any more than we parents would want our children only to celebrate, praise and thank us – remaining dependent on us and neglecting their potential.  
Worship is finding, honoring and listening to that of God within ourselves – and within each other – and growing in love, courage and our capacities for service.

Thanking Life for this moment

I talked recently with a dear friend who is an atheist. She believes in grace, unexplained healing, the mystery of inspiration and creativity, the importance of gratitude, and the power of forgiveness and love.  And I don’t believe in a conscious, separate, Supreme Being who listens and responds to each human prayer, dispenses or withholds grace, cares about our gratitude, and rewards our forgiveness of others.  So my friend and I can share this enduring refrain: “Life, I thank you for this moment.”

Living up to others

So many friends, so little time.  I miss so many family members and friends – you, and you, and you - but duties, including self care, greatly limit opportunities to visit, or even to write or call.

Fortunately, relationships can be nurtured from afar, by the spirit; by cultivating gratitude for your contributions to society and each day doing my best to live up to you, to represent my friends and family well to the world.  With love as the foundation, I think that is how, when friends and family members get together after long times apart, gratitude for the relationship is abundant, pride in each other is great, and the bond remains strong.

An imagined assurance ...

Imagine God saying ...
"In case you ever wondered, I did love you.  
I have always loved you.  I will always do my best to help you, whether or not you ask.  (It is easier when you ask, and especially when you listen for the answer, which is often quiet and surprising.)  
"But the best I've done is to give you the power to think, to grow and to take care of yourself."

Answers, free and without limit

I often ask, "what of God can I bring to this moment?"  I trust the answers I get - including "let it go."
I see now that I have been thinking small:  I often stop listening after the first answer (or the first answer I perceive).  
Another way to phrase the question is, "what of God is available to me in this moment?"  To that question - and to all questions to God (or, if one prefers, to Life or Grace or Love) - there will always be at least one answer - whether or not one recognizes it or likes it.  The wisdom, guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit - including of course that Spirit within each person - are always and generously available.  They are not like gumballs - only one per coin and turn of the knob.  They are free and without limit, if we just keep asking.

Trusting and relaxing

If I really got, consistently, that God is in control, including by a well-founded entrustment to me, I could relax more than I do.

Wants and needs

When is “I need this” really “I want this – and I want to justify wanting this”?

For me – sigh - most of the time.

To sleep, perchance to dream

When I dream I hardly ever see my face, such as in a mirror, let alone my body.

“To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream ....”  What if Shakespeare's idea about what may happen after death is right?  What if each and every dream during life foretells the array of experiences – some ghastly, with emotional distress but no physical harm; many pleasant; some fabulously funny; some blissful; all interesting – the soul has after death of the body?

One perspective on dream interpretation, one theory, is that everything in a dream represents the dreamer.  What if each dream shows the dreamer his or her connection to – being a part of – all things?  And, if we are all connected, each of us a leaf on the tree of life, why should we expect all of whatever post-death experiences we have to be idyllic, any more than we expect all of our dreams to be so?

My definition of heaven is the experience, however fleeting, that everything is all right just the way it is.  If there is a life of the spirit after bodily death, perhaps the shedding of bodily limitations permits a view of Life, including all earthly lives and the earthly environment, that is of such a grand scale that acceptance of what we left behind will be easier than now seems possible.  However, I would rather experience a heaven of perfect compassion, including for lives left behind, than a heaven of perfect but ignorant and compassionless bliss.  So I expect, for me, there will be sadness in heaven, just as in this life.  But, as there is now, there will be love and grace to console me.

July 12, 2015

A key part of the foundation of Quakerism is the notion — the experience, once it sets — that there is that of God in every person.  How does that really hold up?  Though no human can control the laws of physics or the power of nature, today three ways God is in each person come to mind.
First, to God is attributed the power to create.  People create, too: relationships, works of art, physical things — and the whole of our lives and legacies.

Second, to God is left final judgment. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” [Matthew 7:1-2.*]  Yet we judge all the time, in ways large and small.  The best we can do seems to be to strive always to judge with love.   

Third is the power to give or withhold grace. 

Every day, we have many opportunities to choose whether or not to bring grace to the situations in which we find ourselves.  When we earnestly ask ourselves, “What of God can I bring to this moment?”, we usually get a useful answer.

* The above is amended because, I am embarrassed to admit, I misquoted the Bible.  What I actually said in Meeting this day was, “Judgment is mine, saith the Lord.”  That statement is not found in the Bible, as far as I have found.  The verse I mis-remembered is this: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”  [Romans 12-19; see also Hebrews 10-30 and Deuteronomy 32:35.]  Today, I only meant to talk about judgment, not vengeance.

Contribution and selfishness

I suppose taking care of oneself can be said to be unselfish: by doing so, one preserves and enhances one's ability to contribute to others.
But doesn't that come back around to self-interest?  Isn't contributing to others selfish?  Isn't it in contributing to others that we experience true self-worth?  Isn't it in contributing to others that love has its purest expression?

Aspiring to be ordinary

I aspire to be ordinary: to be no more - and no less - than those who do their best for its own sake, not to appear better than others.

Life, choices and responsibility

Of all the places I could be, of all the things I could be doing, and of all the people I could be with, Life - grace or, when I don't see grace, fate - and the choices I have made have brought me here. I am responsible. I will enjoy - or at least accept - what is, or I will change it.

Reality check #2

How much does it matter to me how the person with me - stranger on the street or on the telephone; acquaintance at work; reader of my writing; my colleague, friend, child or spouse - feels?  
How much does it matter to me how this person feels as a result of her or his interaction with me? 
How do I want this person to feel after this interaction?  Why?  Have I acted accordingly?  Why or why not?

Reality check #1

Have I done the best I could see to do today? This week? In this relationship? In this endeavor? In my life?
Have I consistently striven to see more clearly what my options are, in action and in attitude?
Have I consistently striven to see more clearly the effects of my choices - what has worked and what has not, and why?
What do my choices reveal about my thoughts? About my values?  Have I put my values ahead of my impulses?
What of my actions or behaviors are so automatic, so compulsive, that they seem not to be matters of choice? That I avoid analyzing them, or have given up analyzing them, their origins, and whether or not they serve me?

Queries about taking sides in conversation

Am I being asked to take sides between two people or between two or more groups of people? 
Why am I being asked to do that?  For my benefit or for the benefit of one of the disputants?  Or for the belittling or loss of another of the disputants?
Do I want to take one side in the dispute?
Why?  Why am I tempted to do that? 
Do I really want to do that?  Will peace be served, or will relationships be strengthened by my taking one side over the other?
On what basis should I decide whether or not to take one side over the other, or others?  Will I just be avoiding discomfort - or choosing one discomfort over another?
On what basis do I choose one side over another?
On what basis should I choose one side over another?
Might I learn a lot more by not taking sides and by just listening to the disputants' perspectives?
Might I gain more by restraining my self-righteousness - not taking sides - and by seeking reconciliation?

Can or will?

One of my favorite questions is, "What of God can I bring to this moment?"

Reconciling that question with my principle of basic selfishness, I am humbled to see that the real question is, "What of God am I willing to bring to this moment?"

May 31, 2015

The Holy Spirit – or, if you prefer, the Human Spirit – entrusts each of us with amazing powers.
That spirit entrusts us with judgment as to what is good and what is evil - despite the fact that wars are fought, and many, many people are killed, maimed or displaced, because of differing judgments as to what is good and what is evil.
That spirit entrust us with deciding what, if anything, to do now to foster good in the world.
That spirit entrusts us with the power to rationalize our decisions.
Today I am reminded that the best I can do seems to be to ask often, “What of God – or what of goodness – can I bring to this moment?”

Mothers' Day 2015

Every mother is a Higher Power - a Creator of Life and all its wonders.

Power, insight, discipline and restraint

Which is greater: the power to do something or that power plus the insight and discipline not to do that thing because to do it is inconsistent with, or simply distracts from, our more important values?

April 26, 2015

“Good and evil both earn compound interest.”  C. S. Lewis wrote that.

Let us refrain from no kindness, even if it seems small or pointless.  With all society’s travails and complexity, in each act of kindness we may be like first graders depositing pennies in an elementary savings account.  But each kindness is better than its absence.

Looking for miracles

Do I live as though miracles are less common than troubles?  
Am I looking at life through my WOW lens or my slog lens (also known as the self-pity lens)?
Is something only a miracle if I don't have to look for it?  If it is obvious and dramatic enough to demand my attention?  Is something a miracle only if enough people agree that it is - or if I think enough people would agree that it is?  How many votes does it take?  Are miracles so commonplace, or so devalued, that only the big ones count?
If something is only a miracle if I judge it to be one, is my definition of "miracle" reasonable?  Is it serving me?
What is the cost to me and to my community if I choose not to notice, be grateful for, and try appropriately to share the miracles of everyday life?

Everyday heaven

Do I look for heaven in this life, each day, in my interactions with people?
Gandhi wrote, "If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further."  To find and, at least to myself, acknowledge God in each person, I have to look at each person I meet with the expectation of finding God in her or him.  How often do I do that?  How quickly and how much do I appreciate the divine in each person I meet?

Judging toys - and other things

On my walk this morning, a pickup truck with a loud, throaty engine and big, loud tires passed.  I thought, “Ah. Guys’ toys.” 

Then I caught myself: that thought was self-righteous.  Apart from the chance that every attribute of that truck was necessary, part of me was critical of the driver’s truck not because there is anything wrong with having, or driving, such a truck, or with enjoying having or driving such a truck.  I was just judging the truck owner’s choice of “toy”.  I noticed my double standard.  I have things I think are fun: I, too, have toys.  And I would prefer not to be judged harshly for my selection.

“Judge not lest ye be judged.”*  How many are the ways I judge!  The good news is that, from each of those ways, made conscious, I can practice not judging, which is acceptance, which is doing unto others what I would have them do unto me.  Which is part of love.

So, to the fellow driving that big truck today, thanks and thumbs up!

* Matthew 7:1.

Selfishly understanding.

Our circumstances vary: genetic qualities, talents and challenges; the degree and manner of love and nurture, and abuse and loss, we have experienced; exposure to nutrition and fitness, illness and danger; educational opportunities and the level of support in taking those opportunities.

Luck, and its resulting benefits and travails - its often great travails - vary. 

Responses to travails vary. 

Responses to grace (or, if you prefer, good luck) vary. 

Personalities vary.

Beliefs and faiths vary. 

Perspectives, values and judgments vary.

Goals, strategies and styles vary.

Patience, focus, motivation and perseverance vary.

What others expect of us, and what we have come to expect of ourselves, vary. 

But there is one constant: we make choices which, in the moment, by our unique, mostly unconscious and instantaneous alchemy, are the best we can see to make.  We make the best selfish choices we can see, including whether, when, and how to serve.

We are unique and gifted, blessed and burdened.  But so is each other person.

Let us be patient with each other, while expecting responsibility and not rewarding its lack.

Let us set aside our judgments enough to accept, more and more, our differences and treat each other with love.

For ourselves and for others, let us strive to live up to our blessings; to find and show joy in the deliberate care of our health and cultivation and expression of our potential; to show by example that love works.

March 22, 2015

What do goodness, and even holiness, matter in the abstract?
Let us set goodness in motion.

Who knows where it will end up?

Yearning management

Maturity does not mean wishes, even yearnings, go away.  Maturity includes working toward the mastery and management of wishes and yearnings.  We have them, but they need not control us.  Yearnings which are constructive - including the yearning for wholesome fun - give us purpose, drive and energy.  Yearnings which are inconsistent with our values, let alone destructive, also need our attention for what they can tell us about ourselves, for the discernment of our choices, the costs of poor choices and the benefits of good choices - and for the cultivation of gratitude for the fact that we have choices.

Now, in eight syllables

Breathe in WOW and
Breathe out "Thank You!"

March 8, 2015

I sit down so serious.

I get up much lighter.

More Wows

Birds

Wow

Dogs

Wow

Spiders

Wow

Tardigrades

Wow

Moss

Wow

Lilies

Wow

Sugar maples

Wow

The night sky

Wow

Sunrise

Wow

Water

Wow

Tides

Wow

Tuna

Wow

Tuna sandwiches

Wow

People

Wow!

The body

Wow!

DNA

Wow

Stem cells

Wow

Five senses

Wow

Children

Wow!

The spirit within

Wow!

Beliefs

Wow

Imagination

Wow!

Für Elise

Wow

Amazing Grace

Wow

Wheels

Wow

Engines

Wow

Landing on a comet

Wow

Doctors and nurses

Wow

Volunteers

Wow

Love

Wow!

Here

Wow!

Choices

Wow!

You

Wow!

Now

Wow!

Meditations

Breathe in WOW and

Breathe out fear.

Breathe in WOW and

Breathe out stress.

Breathe in WOW and

Breathe out anger.

Breathe in WOW and

Breathe out [you say what].

WOW!

Life: 
WOW!

Cultivating gratitude

In cultivating gratitude, peace and happiness, one powerful fertilizer is imagining travails that would make me long to have only the stresses and concerns I have today.

Values and commitment

Developing, questioning and reassessing one's values, and one's commitment to those values, is necessary and fundamental to high functioning as a person and citizen.
Bewilderment and doubt as to how to express and fulfill one's commitment to one's values is normal.  Clarity comes and goes - and comes again.
Distraction from expressing and fulfilling one's commitment to one's values is also normal - and in my case frequent.
Surrendering to bewilderment, doubt or distraction - giving up the commitment to expressing and fulfilling one's values or, worse, the hope behind that commitment - is tragic.

Easier or better?

Is my goal in life to having it be easier, less risky and more comfortable?
Or is my goal to have life be better, accepting difficulty, risk and discomfort as the price of growth, contribution to family, friends and society, and the fulfillment that can only come from such contributions?

February 1, 2015

Dear God, please help us to bear the travails, illnesses, pain and loss that seem to be all around us, often so close.
Today, this is the answer that comes to me:
Of course I will help you – the better for your asking for help.  
Travail, illnesses, pain, loss and eventually death are your birthright.  But so are your health, rest within measure, healing, comfort, many abilities and other gifts including the capacity to find peace in hard times.
As has been said, I have prepared a table before you in the presence of your enemies - including your spiritual enemies: fatigue, discouragement, despair, envy, hatred and fear.  You have all you need to bear what must be borne: your many gifts and your courage and love.

Am I self-righteous or am I responsible?

To rationalize is human.
To self-justify is human.
To take responsibility is divine - or, if you prefer, just very mature.

Today's blessings, tomorrow's strength

What if my present blessings do not last?  What if today turns out to be the very zenith of my blessings; that life gets, and stays, harder starting tomorrow?  Would I enjoy today less if I knew that?  Would fear of the future make me less grateful for my present blessings?  Would I not strive to use my present blessings, and gratitude for them, to grow and to increase my capacity to bear travail?

January 11, 2015

“Send me.”

Those two words* sum up the Bible’s message of service.

Send me to places of confusion, loneliness and anxiety.

Send me to places afflicted by anger and hatred.

Send me to places of conflict and violence.

Send me – for a moment or a life’s commitment - guiding me and strengthening me with love, dear God.

Send me.

It is a request, an offer, an exhortation, a prayer.

How often will I say it?

* Isaiah 6:8.

Learning, not judging?

There are an infinite number of subjects to discuss or contemplate.
If we are talking, or just thinking, about something - whatever it may be - isn't it more interesting and valuable to ask what we can learn from doing so, including why we are talking or thinking about that subject, than to judge the importance of talking or thinking about it?

January 4, 2015

Attaining the Buddha self.

Allah’s gift of peace.

The peace of Yahweh which passes all understanding.

The peace of Jesus, the Son of God, which passeth all understanding.

The peace of God which passes all understanding.

The peace which passes all understanding.

The peace . . .

There is the human experience of transcendent peace – that everything is all right just the way it is – rare and brief as that experience may be.

Then there are the attempts to describe that peace, and how to find it, developing and diverging over millennia of religious and cultural history.  Then there is self-righteousness – the notion that our traditions and our paths are the right ones, not just the right ones for us.

Let us strive not to better describe that peace, but to better live and share it.