The Lunatic Peace of Oh, There You Are

A friend wrote that the moongazing felt oddly lonely — and I thought, huh, that’s not my experience… (and may be what tomorrow’s musing looks at!)

But I find at night, when looking at the grandeur, when the present is present or when it’s traveling and away, that I’m aware of the Moon or the Stars peeking in the windows of those I love and those I haven’t yet come to love — Making the connections with my Moon Peace community… a prayer for Peace…

I wonder who’s also looking at the Moon and sending Peace. Do we start a FB page to find out? Do we remind ourselves that the moon sends her very soft light on us? I read a lovely series by Sharon Shinn in which she talks about the Moon Goddess and says that the Moon can only reflect what is given Her… I loved the metaphor…

Do we give the Moon Love and Peace to reflect? Do we make conscious choices about that? (tomorrow’s musing’s reshaping under my fingers as I write to you…)

Hmmm. I think I should probably stop and ponder that. May the sweet Peace of the Moon be with you, my friends, until we meet again…

A New Generation of Peace Lunatics

It’s easy to become discouraged, even desperate, when we consider Peace. What will happen to our world, we wonder…

Antidote to despair: spend some time with some kids.

I had the most wonderful couple-hour conversation yesterday with a sophomore in college. She’s majoring in mechanical engineering because she wants to work on alternative energy. She’s a proud student athlete who loves sports and but maintains a solid gpa.

If the alternative energy angle wasn’t enough, she’s working on keeping tigers from going extinct. Apparently there’s a coalition of all the schools with tigers as mascots and they’re raising money for tigers (only 7 species left and 3,200 tigers, act now!) And then we talked about how else she and her friends might be active and how she might expand not just the numbers of friends she had, but the kinds of people she knows, people who weren’t student athletes in engineering.

I already adore this young woman so I knew it would be a pleasure to talk to her. But she was so passionate about things that matter. However she can continue to saving the world, she’s in.

She has great parents. I know them and like them a lot. She went to the best of the local schools — and it’s a good school. It’s a privileged life here, but her family is aware and helps their kids stretch. She grew up in the church where I work, so I’ve been watching her for years. They had a great youth group, liked each other, had fun. Parents matter. Good communities matter.

I’m very proud of the two communities I’m involved with, the UUCSV (and the parent organization the Unitarian Universalist Association) and thinkpeace workshop for girls. But I know there are lots of other great parents and great communities who are teaching great values and reminding us that Peace matters.

So let’s give our kids the tools they need to become lunatics for Peace and teach them to do good. There are so many children under this soft white Moon, let’s make them one another’s allies…

Little Pieces of Peace Lunacy

There is so much sadness in the world. Huge, sad reflections of violence and greed. There’s no question that we must address these as we can.

But at the same time, we must keep our spirits strong for the journey. One way to do that is to notice what’s working and to celebrate. Let’s encourage ourselves to then take the little pieces we can and set them to rights.

Is it crazy to believe we can make a difference?

I don’t believe so.

I do believe we often set our sights too high, too big and then when we fail, we walk away altogether. We’re better seeing what little steps can be taken and begin to make those advances toward our bigger goal of Peace.

But on the way, let’s tell one another the small joys that make a life rich. When the baby learns something new, when our kid succeeds after months of trying, when we have a wonderful date with our partner or our friends, when we have communion with our elderly parent or a giggle with a sibling. Life has so much sweetness in it, let us savor that.

And full of love, let us turn gentle eyes on the bigger problems and begin to consider where we might have impact.

Because although we might not have what’s needed to change the big picture, by changing the little pictures we begin to build up evidence that Peace is possible. It’s a sweet kind of lunacy this belief in a better world… but why not? Let us be as serene and joyful as the Moon, let us reflect Love on the world…

Sabbath Peace and Lunacy

Often my message for Sundays is to relax, to take a break. Sundays are good days in most people’s lives to step outside the mania. Odd but wonderful that for very different reasons my husband and I often do our best work on Sundays! Our Sunday morning conversations are filled with joy and encouragement. Have a great day, we exhort one another.

And today is no exception. We’ll celebrate our work and the relationships we’re privileged to be in.

However this is also a day that dawns after a very cold night. Although it will warm up today as cloud cover has finally moved in. It’s frigid outside. It’s wonderful to celebrate the beauty of winter and dark skies through which the Moon sails. Yet this is not all there is. Too many are without adequate shelter during the winter.

I’m not sure how I most effectively respond to this, but I know that there must be some response. Let us consider how all of creation might be warmly received. Because we’re the only answer we have… Peace is so much more complex than we know — may we see it, may we know it, may we embody it… May we embrace the Lunacy of Peace and stand for Creation and all who live upon the earth…

Diamenté Peace Lunacy

Out we go, into the cold and starry night! There, to be overwhelmed with the frigid beauty.

When the temperatures drop and the moisture disappears from the air, we have a much better view of the sky.

Wrap up and go out and look at the beauty.

I can’t imagine you won’t find it stirring. And consider, this black heaven filled with dancing light blankets the world (ok half of it at this point). People who think far different thoughts than you, people who live far different lives are looking at these heavens in awe and wonder.

May they look at Beauty in safety and Peace. All of them. Every last one. And then wait, here comes the Moon…

And in this frigid weather, may everyone have a place to go to be warm and cozy…

If Peace is Lunacy, Hear, Hear!

We read the newspapers and it’s enough to discourage one from trying. But I hope that we will read the newspapers and find ourselves renewed in purpose.

Things are not as they should be, could be. We have only a couple ways to go with that. And if it is ridiculous to keep moving toward wholeness, I say let’s move in the direction of both ridiculousness and wholeness… er… “walk this way!”

Whether you call the vision that leads you Hope or the Divine, right relationship is a goal worth working towards.

I don’t know who’s on your team, but I hope that you know. I don’t know what bit of insanity you feel best prepared to work on, but I hope that you know where your passion is.

And if that passion is inspired by ridiculous notions of what is right, I say dance by the light of the Moon and find yourself more inspiration and continued encouragement. Peace, a lunatic and so wise a goal. (And what the heck, laugh with your teammates as you go).

A Pearl of Peace Lunacy

It seems ludicrous to believe in Peace. But what choice to we have? If, touched by the majesty of the World and the serenity of the Moon, if, knowing that the Moon’s calm Beauty spills across the world on desert and mountain alike, I can believe the possibility of Peace, then I must work to make it so.

There is such grandeur in this world. To diminish it is to diminish ourselves. I wanted to say let us hope… but realized unless we take Hope as an active verb with power and purpose attached to it, we’re doing little to change the world.

Yesterday, three men killed twelve others because they found their cartoons demeaned their religion. Today, the world wants all of Islam to make restitution, even though they never ask that of their own religion when one of theirs goes bad. Today we should mourn with the whole world that such violence is what we’ve found as a useful response to a world not to our liking.

We can do better and indeed, we must. Let us put on pearls of Peace and not take them off. Let us look at the Moon and let her remind us to help the ebb and flow of Peace in this world. Let us stand with our neighbors in the moonlight and be of one heart, one world. A lunatic idea? Perhaps… it’s certainly the Moon that makes me consider such a thing.

Peace, it’s what we need. And Peace needs us, desperately.

Shrinking Moon Peace Lunacy

Following the Moon’s changes makes me realize how often I think the way the Moon works. It grows wild and expansive and I think, oh, we could do this and we could do that. and then the Moon is bright and full of hope, and it turns, and I realize, maybe we should get some foundation under us before moving forward.

And so I do a little research. Retrench a little. Figure out what I need to build a better idea or project. Using the waxing and the waning of the moon to help me move along. I don’t know why I don’t immediately check out the basis for myth… Logic certainly told me the wolves had their own reasons for singing at night. As they said in the video… the wolves have been howling at the moon for thousands of years, and it’s still there…

Peace. It’s not an easy process. But, if the Moon wants to help, I’ll take it!

Short today. I’m off to drive a friend to Philly to a doc’s appointment. We’ll get a couple hours in before the moon sets for the day. Stay warm out there… Think good thoughts and dream of Peace.

Moon-howling for Peace

Truth to tell, I’m not much of a howler. It’s one of those weird times I get all straight-laced and my family-ish. It certainly won’t surprise you that Steve is a howler!

But on nights like last one, when the moon rises huge and gorgeous over the trees, something primal stirs. What? OK, late to do her homework… Ann discovers… wolves don’t howl at the moon. They’re nocturnal. They just howl. Only we howl at the moon.

It seems even our fears are primal. We fear the wolf although she’s not all that interested in us. We build on her land and graze our animals and then are surprised when she’s happy to dine at the buffet — even though wolves only kill to eat and they don’t do it that frequently.

Who the wolves are in our lives is, I think, fairly indicative of how far we have come from really living on this land. Our world becomes more and more artificial. We cut down forests and move in. We immediately “forget” that animals once lived there and do not easily dismiss their habits. If you build in bear territory, the likelihood is they’ll be dining on your beans come summer — and being outraged about that is pretty silly… Because bears do all sorts of things in the woods and eat is one of them! We live on Mother Earth. It behooves us to consider living in tandem rather than in opposition to nature.

But oh, that big and beautiful moon and her deep, mysterious magic. all and all pretty wonderful. Last night’s moon drew many of us outside despite the cold. We want the Peace dance… we just have to do it.

Peace Lunacy

The full Moon is said to induce extreme folly. The Folly I’ve been caught by all these years is Peace. Or rather the process of living now as if Peace were perfectly possible.

The world needs us to be more daring than we’ve ever been — not about extreme sports and risks in the wild, but about exploring Peace and Justice. Those should be sacred words in our mouths and on our hearts.

Peace is a ridiculous idea — a ridiculous idea whose time has come.

The Full Moon shows us the way of serenity… Cold or not, she is present to us. Dangerous or not, she is also there. The wolves are outside our door… but they’re just wolves trying to survive too. Let’s find some balance… and the courage to be full Moon crazy about Peace.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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