Recommitting to the Lunacy of Peace

We live in our isolated little bubbles. Stuff that happens outside our bubbles isn’t real. Stuff that happened a long time ago is hard to remember. There are wonderful things about our bubbles… I cherish my community of friends, colleagues and strangers…

But life isn’t like this for everyone. I spent the weekend immersed in a life outside. Friday night I listened to Peterson Toscano do a stand-up series of short skits on homosexuality and climate change. Saturday I saw Selma. Sunday I saw Dear White People. The whole was a strong wake-up call.

I know that life is not rosy for others, but I do like my cocoon… But if I live in my cocoon, I condemn others to a continued hell of invisibility. It’s an embracing of willful ignorance. It’s a rejection of a pretty large piece of the world.

And if I who knows better will do that, who is going to do the stepping up?

We’ve been told time and time again, Peace, Love and Understanding are lunacy. Dreaming? Lunacy. Possibilities? Lunacy.

But you know what hate, fear and greed are disgusting and hold us hostage in separated tribes. We’re more than that. We’re better than that.

And our world will not forever survive that worldview.

More is possible under the Sweet Sugar Moon. What would the Lunacy of Peace look like?

Peace of the Slurpee, Sabbath Sugar Moon

it has been so cold lately that the ocean has frozen. The ocean freezes more slowly than sweet water because apparently the salt displaces the ice that would like to form.

This isn’t the first time the ocean has frozen, but it is believed that it is the first time anyone has recorded the phenomenon of the ocean being gelatinous with ice so that the waves still rose and fell (albeit soundlessly) but slowly.

A surfer/photographer took it, and no other pictures or videos have emerged. Scientists say they’ve never seen such a thing or heard of it. One guy in the right place at the right time. And he never turned on his cell phone.

New and wonderful things.

It’s a good thing to remember when the world seems out of control. It’s a good thing to take some time on this cold winter day to reflect and consider what it means that things are still happening that have never before been seen. That’s not all bad.

They say the cold is breaking. That would be a lovely thing. But in the meantime, make Peace with what is… you never know when you might see something new and wonderful under the Moon. Happy Sabbath. Happy Peace.

Discombobbled in the Sugar Moon

It catches me off guard every year. February has only 28 days, who knew?

It’s not like I wind up with extra money at the end of the month. No this is always a catch up month so times are just as desperate on the last day of the month now as they are any end day.

It’s just I have more I want to get done, and poof! I’m out of month.

Yes, I know the poem. I know February only has 28 days. But it seems I don’t know it; not deep down in my bones.

And I wonder… Why did we change to a solar year? Oh, my gosh, google that madness. Science. Astronomy. Warfare. Easter. Because it’s correct (even though that’s not the thought in Ethiopia or Mt. Athos. Because I can. This Caesar and that. Because no one thought the keeping days to a regular length and adding a month every once in a while was a good idea.

Wait! What, are they kidding? People used to add in a 27 day month every x years? Do you know what we could do with an extra month? In my perfect world, it would be a month of Awareness and Appreciation. It would be a month of Culture and Creativity. It would be a month of Fasting and Feasting. It would be a month of Prayer and Peace. Let the whole world say… Yes! Let’s start saving for the Peace Celebration.

And until that happens, I’m grumpy about February. It’s gone, it’s March, and I was so taken off guard that I never got time to say goodbye. February. Peace be with you? Maybe this will be the year I have finally learned your lesson and your form. March. Welcome. and yes, Peace.

And oh, my goodness, did you see that Moon last night. and around here, as promised, it’s going to be warmer. Wednesday it’s supposed to rain. Shocking.

Upside Down Lives, Elusive Peace

Sometimes Peace gets put to the side… because peace with a little p is so disrupted in your life. It’s not that you find yourself looking for a fight; it’s rather that you’re looking for your balance.

Two of my friends took serious hits to their hearts this week. One a relationship hit and the other a health hit. Just like that, life is upside down. Good things may eventually come from these events, but that’s a long time in the future.

At the moment they’re trying to find their feet and whatever agency they can.

Life is really topsey turvey. It’s hard to admit, we who love our control, that that’s what it’s going to be. The ground we wind up standing on will look very different from the ground we’re on today. But that ground we’ll wind up on isn’t clear.

All that’s clear is the pain. And it’s important to honor that. And to remember hits like this have nothing to do with your strengths or your Peacemaking abilities. Give yourself a little strength and let your friends support you.

Calling on the Sugar Moon, to help us distill these new truths into our coming life. Calling on Peace for support. Reminding it we’ll get back to the work when we are able. Meanwhile the Moon smiles gently down.

Sugar Moon Peace Distillations

I’m full of new ideas. A new one comes any time you need one. But the distillation of thought into action is challenging.

And it’s painstaking.

Painstaking is not my best attribute.

But Peace is a painstaking kind of activity. One of the greatest strengths needed for Peace is probably the ability to keep in the slog.

And so you take all that wonder and you begin to boil it down. And somewhere in that boiling, you begin to see what actions are needed.

But you keep holding back, because moving too quickly, if what you’re doing is boiling down the sap will get you a mouthful of something not very interesting or even not very good.

And half cocked uncompleted movement toward Peace isn’t all that helpful…

So we can remember that sometimes, slow and steady… blah, blah, blah… but hey, Peace!

And it’s good to sit and watch it boil and bubble once in a while. And you can bundle up and sit around a campfire under the swelling Moon. sounds pretty marvelous!

Expansive, Forgiving Peace

I like tea. A lot. I spend a lot of time with it. Sometimes I’m alone. Sometimes I’m with friends. I like its taste. And I love the way the cup feels in my hand. If I’m at a meeting, it calms me and helps me be reflective. I can linger over a cup for hours.

And when their are friends, all the better.

Because of this, I don’t do well with precision teas. There are those teas that you can only steep for a few minutes. If you do more, it becomes hopelessly bitter. I like drinking those teas, but i like it when someone else prepares it. Occasionally.

And I know, that’s the way they make tea. That’ll be the way they make Peace.

But I come from messier stock. Put the kettle on, set the bread and cheese in the middle of the table and settle in. I won’t be negotiating Peace treaties. I will be having tea with all the unimportant folk who will find new ways to live in one another’s company.

And a cup of tea is a good start to that process.

I know, I know, this is the year of the Moons. I couldn’t get there with this musing. Unless we acknowledge what is true, which is that when it’s cold and snowy, a friend and a cup of tea make a lot of space for learning…

Peace, my friends. Cozy Peace. Peace as it is Peace. Peace in the time of the Sugar Moon, because what is sweeter than Peace?

Moon Paths to Peace, Lunacy!

All my life I have been captivated by stories of people following the path to the Moon. I’ve fantasized about the glow on icy fields and love to watch the moon rise from behind the horizon to cast a path across water.

People tell legends about the rainbows, but it’s always been the moon for me. I’ve been in the ocean at moonrise and in ponds at moonset… and always the siren calls me… come here…

I love the Moon’s mystical call… I love that in my life her call has always been to Peace rather than adventure. (I sometimes think I’m not a very adventurous person — or at least that my notion of adventure is different than many’s. I have no need to climb mountains, but I have a great need to stop and admire… I know that’s not true for everyone, but it’s always been so for me.)

But what kind of Peace am I pursuing? You? It’s different for all of us and probably different at different times in our lives.

Sometimes I’m not ready to follow the path; although I can acknowledge its Possibilities. Sometimes I am content to simply watch and wonder… Peace of the Sugar Moon be with you!

Snowy Peace in the Sugar Moon

As part of my work this year to become a Lunatic for Peace, I am trying to be present to every day. I work to consider the wonder and the blessings, not just of my life, but in every day life. I’m trying to watch the Moon change its shape and notice how it pulls on the Earth.

In winter, that means I pay attention to the weather and what’s happening in my neighborhood. It means I work to embrace rather than whine about the snow and the ice… I try to find its beauty. Because although this is no longer the Snow Moon, it is sometimes called the crust moon, when the sun melts the snow and the night freezes it to a blank sheet that can be razor sharp when broken.

But still… it’s not all that hard, because it is beautiful. Every day is a wonder. It is sweet and precious… All the hard stuff that happens is all the stuff that life is composed of. Wishing it away is wasting life. Having spent so much time at bedsides of people who are leaving life, you realize, there really aren’t any throwaway days. Which means the weather is part of what we have every day.

And the other day we had snow. Beautiful, beautiful snow. It fell steadily throughout the day and was light and fluffy and beautiful. It was easy to shovel and to dust off the car. And best of all it looked like diamonds falling. A day filled with diamonds falling into my life. Pretty fun.

Peace is such a complicated package of big vision and little immediate actions. I choose to welcome what is true at this moment in my life. Peace. When it’s snow, fluffy snow, it’s a pretty easy thing to be joyful about and to take delight in.

Sweet Sabbath for Sugar Moon Peace

An Anglo and a Palestinian woman walk into a doughnut shop: time to make the Peace.

Sometimes it’s that simple. Meeting up, in public places, so people get used to seeing women with and without headscarves sharing sweetness. Giggle for Peace. Share a pastry. Spend time with friends to build community.

It’s heartbreaking really, what’s going on in the world, all the places people were being killed. We named them, all the martyrs, all the ravaged lands, including our own.

Kindness, we need more kindness. Give up on your need to have others be wrong. Reflect on what you can do better. I’m not going to solve the problems in Africa or the Middle East. I can keep building community here. I can go out for a sweet slice of life in the name of friendship and wind up having it be Peacemaking.

If that’s not keeping a Sabbath holy, I don’t know what is. And every day is a holy day. This is the season for boiling our inclusive instincts down into kindness and compassion. Sugar Moon, indeed!

Interplanetary Sugar Moon Peace

Driving home last evening around sunset, I realized what I wanted to write about. The sky was so beautiful; it reminded me of a tale I’d once read, I had to talk about the joy of looking up…

When I got home, and opened the computer, my Facebook page was filling up with the same image that had so captivated me. Making sure that I had my planet right, and that that was indeed Venus hanging out by the Moon, a little research pointed out Mars was part of that cocktail party.

Out I went to check. sure enough, if you looked closely, there he was.

And then the people posting the pictures noticed Mars as well, (he’s such a quiet and shy man for a War God… a man of strength and action, I guess; not showy at all): Oh, look, I never saw him until I took the picture!

I remembered a tale that celebrated the New Moon and the friendship between the Sun and the Moon. The author suggested that once the Moon had gone off to do travel in her own orbit, she and the Moon had only one day a month to see one another.

I’ve learned a lot about the moon since then. Now I know that, with the exception of one day, she always has her eye on her beloved Sol…

But there we were last night: the God of War and the Goddess of Beauty hanging with Her Serenity in her sly beauty. A more Peaceful night is hard to imagine. If those celestial beings can be at Peace, whether hanging together on a cold Winter’s evening or sailing majestically through their own orbits, couldn’t we work harder to do the same, i wonder? And instead of griping about the cold, couldn’t we instead give thanks for the stunning Beauty of the Winter sky?

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