May 2023
Friends,
Here is a recent Facebook post about an aspect of life here at Community of Peace. “Men who walk with cats. Every morning I walk with my two cats to morning prayer. We walk down the gravel road together. Not quite as cool as “women who run with wolves” but I like it. And I think they do too.” Poets like Mary Oliver, John O'Donohue and others reming us to pay close attention to the animals and natural things that appear in our everyday lives. Jesus had a few things to say along these lines. When asked about how we should live he often responded with something like: 'Watch birds… or watch flowers.' He wanted us to 'consider the lilies' more deeply and to pay closer attention to the 'sparrows of the sky.' Why? Turns out that they are our teachers. They are the 'rabbis' and 'reverends' we need to hear. Their 'sermons' are delicious, nourishing, life-giving messages. Simple. Clear. Deep. These 'preachers' live what they say. And so should we.
The cats who walk with me - JB and Gumby - are my teachers. We enjoy each other's company. We listen to each other. We speak without words. We walk the same path everyday. I know their voice. They know mine. Over time as we walk the path together, the path changes. And so do we.
Peace in the midst,
Br. Stefan
Clear Thinking to End Mass Shootings -
A significant part of our spiritual growth lies in developing clear thinking. Why? Because our human minds are full of pre-existing patterns of thought that are often unrecognized and may erupt in a reactive manner. Curiously, we may hold conflicting thought patterns. Clear thinking lets us see and resolve these pre-existing patterns of thought and allows them to transform into thought patterns aligned with the expression of love that the Christ within us desires.
Let’s use a particularly troubling pair of current issues as an example. These are gun control (the right to have guns) and, in conflict with it, our desire to see our schools and communities become safe again, particularly from mass shootings (happening now with alarming regularity). At a glance it may not seem that these are conflicting thoughts. Yet, an obvious situation contributing to mass shootings is – people who are mentally unstable are allowed to purchase and possess highly efficient lethal weapons. Yet, at the slightest hint of an attempt to change this i.e. prevent unstable people from gaining access to guns - there is often the immediate rising of a conflicting thought ‘I don’t want gun control.’
If we adopt a thought pattern as an absolute, we block the progression of new thinking in our mind hence blocking the possible transformation of society into a more peaceful and loving one. If we insist on thinking ‘I don’t want gun control’ then we must see and acknowledge that we are ok with allowing the possibility of mass shootings. (Pay close attention to how your mind tries to deny what otherwise may seem obvious to you.)
What effect would clear thinking have on this? First, it would look at the contradiction in the mind. Then it would begin to examine the components of each thought ‘I don’t want gun control’ and ‘I want society to be safe.’ We start with looking with an open mind and we allow the Holy Spirit to bring greater awareness; illuminating each of our conflicting thoughts.
Among gun owners many take the responsibility of owning firearms very seriously. They are often in favor of intelligent gun regulation. Others demand unquestioned ‘rights’ for anyone to own any gun and there are those who support banning all guns everywhere.
Our job is to become more aware of the thoughts in our own mind. Maybe we are holding conflicting thoughts like the ones mentioned above. Look over your thoughts carefully and honestly, while honoring your passion (if it applies) to preserve the right of gun ownership and your passionate desire to see a peaceful, loving and just society emerge. Look and watch. Allow the love of God to work in your mind to bring those thoughts to a peaceful resolution.
For me, it settled out – not as a compromise – but as an intelligent solution – that we can heartily preserve the right to own guns but also implement an intelligent screening process to identify those who are not mentally stable and aught not have access to firearms. This then allows me to evaluate legislation being proposed which I may have formerly rejected outright on the grounds ‘I don’t want gun control’. I can now look through the proposed legislation intelligently and without reacting emotionally. When I look in this way, I can see more clearly; does this legislation make sense and will it be helpful toward creating a peaceful society - or - is this legislation an attempt to ban (and possibly even confiscate) all guns. (Note that an attempt to ban all guns will not provide, nor work toward, creating a more peaceful society. It does the opposite. Such legislation will likely not get passed and it will fuel the fear some people feel that ‘they’ are trying to take away their guns – which may be a valid fear).
With clear thinking, I can support intelligent changes in legislation to make a more peaceful society, which aligns me with the love of Christ I feel in my heart, and I can rest peacefully in my belief that people have the right to own guns – for hunting, pest control, or self defense, which appears to apply to the vast majority of gun owners. And there is no conflict or feeling of disillusioned compromise in me when I support legislation that will screen out the few – who only want to get and use a gun in order to kill other humans.
Do not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us into more loving, and more intelligent expressions of Life. The Spirit is willing and able to help us at all times, everywhere, but we have to give Her permission to work in us, as us – by our willingness to be consciously and clearly aware of our thoughts (especially any conflicting thoughts), and by our willingness to accept the new intelligent thought that transformation brings. All the Holy Spirit needs from us is … that little willingness.
May God’s peace be with you and may Love blossom in your mind and heart.
Tim.
Anita, a recent guest wrote:
Not able to sleep so I’m going to send some writing and if it’s useful please consider for the community.
You Are the Firmament
"Man does not know he carries the stars hidden in himself and he is the microcosm and thus carries within him the whole firmament.” Paracelsus, the man who brought chemistry to medicine.
When did I stop believing what others told me about God and begin to experience firsthand? That’s an unanswerable question but I imagine the age of the guru/priest is coming to an end.
When did I become the woman who brought yoga to Christians? Lots of people are on a similar East meets West path but in my neck of the woods (Jersey,) my calling has always felt a bit lonely but I’ve come to be a proud unicorn of sorts.
When I met your monk in residence, Stefan, at the Wild Goose festival in Hot Springs, NC in 2015 it was kismet. With my 15 year old son asleep nearby in our tent, I wandered over to sit on the ground in the front row of an afternoon kirtan. Back at home I’d found kirtan to be one of my most powerful sound healings. During those years, my body still carried enormous unprocessed trauma charge and I was actively seeking relief from unhealthy patterns of thinking and behavior. Chant had become a place of yielding and of unity-one with God, sound, community and nature. On this day, a new ‘charge’ was expressing in my body as the chanter repeated Shakti, Shakti and my wildness began to unfurl.
I let Her.
I agreed, D’accord. And in Stefan’s own words, “I was now the leader of the band.” See me smiling. For there was no ‘I’, no self. There was only the invitational energy to be liberated from every social boundary, every cultural norm to behave, and any care for what others might be thinking. I imagine my feminine form morphed into one beautiful expression of shakti that day.
You see, if we get out of love’s way, we become the firmament. We can find ourselves being danced by reality’s rhythms. Most of the time we are torqued within by unprocessed life experiences. Most of the time our nervous system is in some measure of fight, flight or freeze thanks to powerlessness in our past. Times when reality was just too much and our own energy did not flow freely; no, it had to form a dissonance.
Enter yoga — the ideal method for untorquing energy and creating resonance. It is love who will invite all of our survival mechanisms to unfurl. Only love and grace and mercy have the power to unhinge these protective boxes we’ve stored within.
I arrived at Community of Peace in search of a weekend retreat without boxes. I desired to be surrounded by shalom, song, scripture and conversation. I found what I was looking for and much more.
Anita Grace Brown
Author of Kamikaze Yogi: Christ, Yoga + the Courage to Emerge
Mouse and MightyMouse
For a while I wondered, are any of the cows we have been caring for pregnant? One wonder-filled day I went to the barn to visit the cows and our one pushy steer. None were in the barn. So I looked around the field and saw my favorite cow, Mouse lying by the fence. There was a strange thing about her though.
Cows are rather large creatures. But this time, when I looked, she had a rather low to the ground appendage behind her. A slow hopeful smile came across my face as I got closer to Mouse, my favorite cow. And then I saw the sweetest little baby calf with the most lovingly beautiful head. I called it baby Mouse.
Mouse got her name because of her soft, gentle voice. A timid moo. She became my favorite because she gave me hugs. At first I was somewhat scared of this big creature coming up to me and so I decided to talk gently to her and cautiously stand my ground as she approached me in the field. I pet her head just as I did when feeding her in the barn. She let me rub her back. Then unexpectedly, she wrapped her neck around my body and licked my legs. Wow! What an amazing feeling to bond with a cow.
But one day a few weeks later, after many loving hugs, she started pushing me around. She head butted me to get me away from her. I was so sad and wondered why she did that.
After her baby was born it all made sense to me. She was getting ready to birth.
We had to keep momma and baby away from the other cattle to protect the baby from getting stepped on and to be sure that the baby attached to mom. We also thought baby was a male calf. That meant we needed to neuter him.
As we watched it though, we realized that it was actually a female. So now we are thrilled. She will some day be old enough to have a calf and we can milk her.
This discovery allowed us to let the mom and her little one out of the barn. What a treat it was to see. When I opened the gate, momma walked out of the stall into the field. She was still close to the barn and I heard her send a gentle moo to the calf, MightyMouse.
Little one poked her head out and then cowered back into the barn, then slowly walked out to her momma and excitedly ran around her, then back into the barn, then bolted out of the barn into the yard again.
What a joy to watch this lovely soul bouncing around discovering the new world of freedom and happiness. This little one ran over to the steer, Curly, and put her nose to his, ran around him and then back to her momma, Mouse, and then back into the barn. She stayed there for several minutes. I thought maybe she needed to be back in her comfort zone.
Clearly though, her heart wondered what was outside in this wide world of grass and cows and there she went bouncing and running back out to mom and down to the other cows running around them in circles. Then, like a shepherd, she herded them out to the bigger field and stayed there with them in this new wonderful world and ate grass and explored every inch.
Claire
Changyeon bakes for our community quite often. Below are sweet Korean pancakes that taste more like American doughnuts without a hole.
Several of us visited the goats last week at Christie’s farm down the street a couple miles.
Enjoy a quiet stroll through this serene forest - Breathe deeply
Feel refreshed - Body and Soul
EVENTS
Summer at Community of Peace promises to offer a variety of experiences. A Pilgrimage of Peace is scheduled beginning July 15, (see flyer below-right).
Also a wilderness experience is planed for this summer - details coming soon; and several other outdoor experiences are in the planning stages. We will let you know as they are scheduled.
Monthly drum circles continue on the third Saturday and you are always invited to share our daily sung prayer morning (8 weekdays, 9 weekends), midday (1) and evening (7).
Opportunities to visit us for a retreat or camp in or near our beautiful forest await you. Please call Br. Stefan to plan your unique experience. If you are unable to visit us or wish to share your experience with a group, call to schedule a time for Br. Stefan to visit you (flyer below-left).
We hope to see you soon.
