Shalom Salaam Hu Hu

There's a short spoken introduction to this practice on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tQ6V5hEug at the 4:00 minute mark.

On Getting to Know Each Other as a Spiritual Practice for Peace

When we first started talking about blogging this group, we wondered what to say. After all, are the monthly dinner conversations & spiritual practices of 8 or 9 people so very interesting, and can they be conveyed by the typewritten word? And why is meeting for supper, conversation & prayers a work for peace?

This blog is an experiment to answer the first question; this post is an attempt to answer the second.

J brought us news about an interfaith conference for peace in Jerusalem. Instead of the usual formal presentations on religious beliefs and practice, about 100 people of various faiths met and talked to each other, one-on-one, in small groups, and in large groups. At the end, there was a spontaneous prayer circle; people were so moved because of the bonds they had made. J said she thought this was the way peace work would grow in the Middle East. Shahabuddin has previously explained to us that the culture there is focused on interpersonal relationships as the way to get things done, on family and friendship and the guest as predominant archetypes of relationship.

Recently, I went to the Seeds of Compassion conference, and there Rev. Samuel B. McKinney spoke about the need to put a face on the Other. He pointed out that it's hard to vilify someone you know face-to-face. (Click here and scroll to Tuesday in the left window and move the video slider to about 85%, time point 3:35 to see the clip.)

Several times we've thought "Maybe we should DO something - raise funds or give educational talks." One of us goes to Israel & Palestine, has been at the Abrahamic Reunion meetings, devotes time to the Center for Religious Tolerance which supports the AR - shouldn't we be more like her? Instead, we come back to the importance of being: being ourselves, being together, the primacy of Being, knowing that true action flows effortlessly from Being.

At the meeting that F mentioned in the previous post, Shahabuddin told people the most important way they could help the world situation is to do their practices, to not get caught in the negativity of world events and their expression in the media. Murshid said "My smallest work in the inner plane is worth more than all I do in the outer world."

Spiritual life comprises all of life, not just things the mind can label as "spiritual," so we work to bridge the gap between our "unspiritual" selves and our "spiritual" selves. In discussing things like what it's like to grow up Jewish in America, we widen our horizons, put a face on the Other, and we offer that widening to the benefit of the One Being, and particularly to the members of the Abrahamic Reunion. As we spend time together, come to know each other better, and share our hearts, our love grows, and we offer this, too, to the Beloved. Any increase anywhere in the human field of awareness of love helps the cause of peace in the world, as the cause of peace is the Cause of All, and humans are His vice-regent on earth (Quran 2:30), His pipelines for manifesting His will.

May 13th Meeting

Our Spiritual Peacemakers group is just 6 of us tonight. We give thanks for our food and then M leaves to pick up his son from class - they will be back soon. K arrives last, he was sorting out a problem with a sick dog. We have all been fooled by the weather - it is supposed to be 80 degrees in 2 days time, but it is cold, rainy, and only 50 degrees. F has brought a cold chicken salad, U has made a dish of beans with avocado, olives and corn chips. There is also quinoa with vegetables, a lamb rice biryani, hot tea, and we follow it all with deliciously sweet strawberries.

We sit around the table talking. M has come back, and he reminds us that when we asked Shahabuddin at our last seminar what we could do to help the AR, he thought for a few moment and then said "blog". J doesn't like the idea too much. T, who is more computer savvy, asks what she is afraid of. J has learnt in her life to keep a low profile, to blend in, because standing out is asking for trouble. Her parents taught her that. T points out that Shahabuddin did not tell us to raise funds or give lectures, in fact his only suggestion was this one. "And what exactly would we write about? Our conversations wander around different topics, and it would be hard to pin them down", J asks. F says that before she came this evening, she was listening by phone to Shahabuddin's evening class in Sarasota. One of the class asks a question about what we can do to help the whole process of peace and saying how helpless she feels, and Shahabauddin says that not getting drawn down into the troubles of the world, but doing practices, offering love and light, will really help the world. "You don't have to listen to endless reports of misery", he says. At the end of his talk he tells about the Sheikh and his wife who are part of the AR in the Holy Land, and she was chosen to light a candle for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel. It was very controversial in the community, both to Jews and Arabs, but she did it - and it was televised on national TV. After a few days, his car was blown up by a bomb and their house had Molotov cocktails thrown at it. No-one is hurt, but it is frightening. Shahabuddin phoned them to extend love and energy from the community in Sarasota, and he replied, "This has only made my wife's and my resolve even stronger."

So here we are, coming together once a month, sharing food and saying prayers together, getting to know and trust each other a little better with each meeting. We finish by doing practices - Salaam, Shalom, Hu Hu.

We hug each other, put on our coats, T asks shall we get together for Pia Zia's videocast?, and there is a chatter of last minute ideas and reminders. We open the door to the rain. "Next meeting June 10th," calls out J. Until then, know you are held in our hearts, with love and prayers for peace.