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Blue Above Blue Below
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In the Center, there is no for or against, which is to say, "In the Center, there is only love." Love is the Harmony. The Center is before all fragmentation into opposing ideas, behaviors, and thoughts. Consequently, meditation is a return to the Center. To be at peace and share peace, we return all things that arise in our lives back to the Center. Hence, life becomes meditation, not just a time set aside to sit and practice something we call meditation.
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A disciple spoke to the Sage of his interest in race relations. The Sage could see the man's upsetness increase as he spoke. The Sage interrupted him, "So, what position do you take?" The man replied, "Well, of course! I'm anti-racist." To this, the Sage replied, "Then, get rid of the anti, or you will be hampered in your efforts to nourish the seeds of peace among others."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Why do we humans think we must be against something to be for something? We tend to believe the two go together. They do not. We may even become proud in our stance against, as though that somehow sets us apart as superior.
The against mentality becomes part of us, and, so, we become part of what we see as the problem, even while we try to lessen the problem. See, the against, the anti attitude, diminishes you.
Seek to lessen suffering by acting to increase what suffering is not. Which communicates peace, "I'm anti-racist" or "I'm for racial equality"? I say the latter.
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The Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, shares the following, in his The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching -
At a peace rally in Philadelphia in 1966, a reporter asked me, "Are you from North or South Vietnam?" If I had said I was from the north, he would have thought I was pro-communist, and if I had said I was from the south, he would have thought I was pro-American. So I told him, "I am from the Center."
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Returning to the Center, the heart, for and against melt in the Fire of Love. Then, we can see more clearly. Rather than thinking from what we are for or against, we can listen and look deeply. Out of this can arise compassion for persons taking both sides. We can embody the peace - the reconciliation - emerging from our heart - which is the heart of everyone and everything.
Living with the Unity, we project unity outwardly - spontaneously, effortlessly. We become a wordless sign of Love. We discover being peaceful is more important than working for peace. We see working for peace needs to flower from inner peace. Yet, outside this Unity, we will never live in peace regardless of working for peace.
From the Unity can emerge varied ways we each, based on our graces, can nourish the seeds of peace. Even our silent presence can nurture peace, even among those who are not for peace.
Hence, in all matters of peace and justice, a prior consideration faces us. This consideration is, "Am I being the peace I wish to see in the world?"
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*© Brian K. Wilcox, 2021
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse. The book consists of poems based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
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