Moving Beyond Hatred and Fear

Family Coffee Pot and a Fossil (Thinking of Gaza). 9 1/2" x 8 3/4" . Acrylic on paper, July 14, 2014.

Richard Rohr's meditation this morning contained a lot of wisdom. Being a Franciscan, he was talking about how Jesus embodied this way of "being peace," but I've taken the liberty of removing the Christian language, hoping everyone can find the truth in these words without being turned off. What he says is certainly true for me, and my experience. And I appreciate that he states that this is work -- a lifetime of work and practice for most of us.

"Negativity unites most people far more quickly than love. The ego moves forward by contraction, self-protection, and refusal, by saying no. The soul, however, does not proceed by contraction but by expansion. It moves forward not by exclusion, but by inclusion and by saying yes...There is really no other way to save us from ourselves, and from each other, until we are saved from our need to fear and hate.

Conscious love is the totally enlightened, and often entirely nonsensical way out of this universal pattern. Love has to be worked toward, received, and enjoyed, first of all, by facing our preference for fear and hate. But remember, we gather around the negative space quickly, while we “fall into” love rather slowly, and only with lots of practice at falling.

This is exactly what contemplative practice helps us to do. Meditation is refusing to project our anxieties elsewhere, and learning to hold and face them within ourselves and within God."

For once, I used the best hours of my morning to paint today instead of getting lost in my computer and work responsibilities. J.'s parents brought this coffee pot with them when they immigrated to the United States in the mid-1940s. The fossil shell reminded me of the Sea of Galilee, and the "living stones" - a phrase used by Palestinian Christians to describe themselves; a diminishing remnant of two thousand years of Christian presence in Palestine.

Comments

[Rachel Barenblat]

Beautiful painting; beautiful prayer. Thank you for sharing both, and for modeling for me the truth that the best hours of my morning might be used for art and love rather than for agonizing over the misery I'm reading on Twitter.

[Martine Paquet]

Thank you for this beautiful text and for the symbolic painting.
Sadly, it seems that our world is more and more about hate than love....

[Priya Sebastian]

That is a stunning painting, powerful.

[Hattie]

One of your masterpieces!

[Pica]

Beautiful painting, Beth, and beautiful post.

Words and images... hard but necessary in this pain. Thank you for yours.

[Duchesse]

This is so beautiful and provides a deep endorsement for contemplative practice.

I've found Compassionate Nonviolent Communication, the work of Marshall Rosenberg, to be invaluable in putting hands and feet to any spiritual practice, and guiding the everyday communication between persons. Anyone interested might check the Center for Nonviolent Communication's web site, www.cnvc.org for the process and resources.

[Ellena]

Thank you for this, Beth.

[Natalie]

What they all said. Beautiful in every way.