Oh, wow, life’s little serendipities! Yesterday a friend introduced me to something that has really caught my attention: a group of people who want to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music, and the approach they have used brings the concept of “a connected world” alive in a really remarkable way.
What this group does is to have various musicians from around the world play the same song without actually coming together physically. So, for instance there are musicians in California, New Orleans, Paris, Italy, Senegal, Mali, South Africa, India, the Netherlands or wherever else being recorded singing or playing this one song, and then their parts, either vocal or instrumental, are woven together on a soundtrack and video. First you see one singer, then you see another and then another, but all the while the music that all of them are playing together is going on. As the scene shifts from country to country, one is always hearing this unified sound, so beautifully mixed together with all their contributions, totally connecting with the listener/viewer all the way through.
The blazing metaphor is unavoidable: people all contributing their talents, coming together to produce something that thrills millions of people. There are women, men, blacks, whites, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Rastafarians, long-hairs, short-hairs, old and young—and none of those categories matter in the least bit. It is the coming together that matters. Music is so totally a universal language, and it extremely powerful in the way that it can unite us regardless of our political, ethnic, geographical or ideological diversity.
It so happens that the most popular song from this group, with over two million hits on YouTube, is “Stand By Me,” a song that I have known since I was very young and which I have enjoyed over and over throughout my life. The basic lyrics go like this:
“When the night has come, And the land is dark, And the moon is the only light we’ll see, No, I won’t be afraid, no, I won't be afraid.
Just as long as you stand, stand by me.
If the sky that we look upon, Should tumble and fall, And the mountains should crumble to the sea, I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear. Just as long as you stand, stand by me.”
So many of us want to come together and find a way to dwell with one another in unity—to stand by one another. This song project is just one example of this longing, and there are so many others. I do know one thing though: the peace we are seeking will not come from nations or leaders or peace conferences or even from beautiful songs; it will come from us, the people of the world, discovering our own inherent peace. True world peace is not going to come about in any other way. How could there be world peace with a world full of unpeaceful people?
First we find peace within ourselves, and then we live a life that responds to the world from that place of peace. As more and more people discover that place of peace, automatically a grassroots movement of peace-recognizers will form without anyone really trying to do so. People will be choosing peace for themselves, one moment at a time, and others will be inspired by this example. They will recognize the benefits, want those benefits for themselves, and the candle flame will continue to pass from one peace pilgrim to another.
What is beginning in small ways amongst scattered groups of people will build relentlessly in momentum, and at some point it will be unstoppable. “Stand By Me” indeed! Slowing but surely, more and more peaceful people will stand together and will choose peace for themselves. It begins with each of us, one moment at a time.
Showing posts with label diversity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diversity. Show all posts
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Our Cats Doris and Björn
So, okay, on the surface, quite a boring title, right? Yeah, we have cats, they have cute names, a huge cuddle factor and a very large family-—Doris Cat has 342 friends on Facebook at last count, and a picture of Björn perched on the shoulder of a friend got over 50 “likes” and comments in just a few days.
But this musing of mine is not about Doris and Björn, no matter how much I love them. And, no, it is not about cats either, because to be honest, until I met these two, I had no great love for cats and would have taken a dog over a cat any day. So, if the title has nothing to do with Doris and Björn, and nothing to do with cats, then what is it about?
It is about “our.” This very common word appears to be quite simple on the surface: a possessive pronoun indicating shared ownership or participation. But there is quite a profound implication hidden in that little, mundane word.
We don’t say, “I-you-you-you-you-you has cats,” as if each one were only a separate part and nothing more. We have a word, “our,” that binds those separate parts into a whole and gives them something in common. But what is the glue that holds the parts together?
Well, now we have hit on to something quite intriguing. So I will take as example the “our” that applies to Doris and Björn. We are a diverse lot, this particular gang of cat possessors: many different countries, backgrounds, sensibilities and levels of education; ages from 16 up to 70; funny people/serious people, quiet ones/loud ones, folks who had quite easy lives and folks who emerged somehow from personal hell realms. It might have been possible that we would have all met at a party some years ago and had absolutely no inclination to form an “our” together, but now we find ourselves in a masterfully joyous cheek-by-jowl existence with one another.
This “our,” hmm, I think I’ve grown to know what it is. It is the shared good fortune to be introduced to a simple way of life that chooses easeful and restful alertness over being lost in stories about oneself and others. It is the shared commitment to that simple way of life and the willingness to keep coming back to it over and over again, regardless of the convulsions of the thoughts and emotions. That commitment has led to an assurance and confidence in a relationship to life that naturally creates love of self and love of others.
As people begin to experience the true depth of who they really are and lose interest in the old myths that seemed to determine who they were, they can abide more and more in the natural being that is common to all of life. Then wonders surely happen. The barriers, obstacles and aversions that had filled one’s existence for so long begin to fall away, and a true “our” begins to emerge in which no thing and no one is excluded.
And that is the secret of “our.” It is not about any particular group of people or any thing that is owned. It is about that which holds all things together, lacking nothing and rejecting nothing. Whatever it is that is the origin of all and which holds all, that is the basis of all “ours.”
So, dear Doris and Björn, without doing anything, you are doing just fine!
But this musing of mine is not about Doris and Björn, no matter how much I love them. And, no, it is not about cats either, because to be honest, until I met these two, I had no great love for cats and would have taken a dog over a cat any day. So, if the title has nothing to do with Doris and Björn, and nothing to do with cats, then what is it about?
It is about “our.” This very common word appears to be quite simple on the surface: a possessive pronoun indicating shared ownership or participation. But there is quite a profound implication hidden in that little, mundane word.
We don’t say, “I-you-you-you-you-you has cats,” as if each one were only a separate part and nothing more. We have a word, “our,” that binds those separate parts into a whole and gives them something in common. But what is the glue that holds the parts together?
Well, now we have hit on to something quite intriguing. So I will take as example the “our” that applies to Doris and Björn. We are a diverse lot, this particular gang of cat possessors: many different countries, backgrounds, sensibilities and levels of education; ages from 16 up to 70; funny people/serious people, quiet ones/loud ones, folks who had quite easy lives and folks who emerged somehow from personal hell realms. It might have been possible that we would have all met at a party some years ago and had absolutely no inclination to form an “our” together, but now we find ourselves in a masterfully joyous cheek-by-jowl existence with one another.
This “our,” hmm, I think I’ve grown to know what it is. It is the shared good fortune to be introduced to a simple way of life that chooses easeful and restful alertness over being lost in stories about oneself and others. It is the shared commitment to that simple way of life and the willingness to keep coming back to it over and over again, regardless of the convulsions of the thoughts and emotions. That commitment has led to an assurance and confidence in a relationship to life that naturally creates love of self and love of others.
As people begin to experience the true depth of who they really are and lose interest in the old myths that seemed to determine who they were, they can abide more and more in the natural being that is common to all of life. Then wonders surely happen. The barriers, obstacles and aversions that had filled one’s existence for so long begin to fall away, and a true “our” begins to emerge in which no thing and no one is excluded.
And that is the secret of “our.” It is not about any particular group of people or any thing that is owned. It is about that which holds all things together, lacking nothing and rejecting nothing. Whatever it is that is the origin of all and which holds all, that is the basis of all “ours.”
So, dear Doris and Björn, without doing anything, you are doing just fine!
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