Rev. Victoria’s Thoughts on the Israeli / Hamas War
Is your heart hurting as a result of the violent conflict in the Middle East? I know mine is. First, I understand Hamas to be a terrorist organization, which carried out a brutal terrorist attack on hundreds of innocent people. They do not represent mainstream Palestinians. And of course, there is history there. The response from Israel comes from the old consciousness of "an eye for an eye." This is the consciousness of the whole region, and the conflict won't change until consciousness changes. And our hearts go out to all the people caught up in this - many of whom, on both sides, want peace desperately.
Some are wondering if the affirmation we say together at the beginning of our service is still appropriate. The affirmation is: There is only one Presence and one Power active in the universe and in my life, God the good omnipotence. It might be hard to see God's omnipresent good at work in this situation, if not impossible. And on the human level it isn't true. But are we just human beings? No! We, in spiritual community, know we are Divine beings having a human experience, right? Unfortunately, too few others know this to be true.
Humanity, historically asleep to the truth of their being – and that of others – “create their own evils”, as Emerson would say. Most people live in fear of the "other" and judge others, judge other religions as wrong, other ways of living is wrong. From a human-only consciousness of separation, humanity can do some pretty horrible things, and has for eons. And that won't change until we realize who we really are. We are all emanations of the One Divine Light...every single one of us.
So, the affirmation...like all spiritual affirmations...is affirming the Spiritual Truth. Would we want to affirm the human truth? No, there's enough of that. We are affirming the Truth that God is all, we are that One expressing, and so is everyone else. There is omnipresent good, if we would but see it, and call it forth. And it is our work to do this! We don’t want to succumb to the collective consciousness of separation. We must align ourselves with Divine Light, and seek to live from a place of love...to share that with others. Let us together pray that energy of love is being felt by those we are praying for - people caught up in the conflict, and for political leaders. We pray hearts open, consciousness is evolving, and the Divine presence is allowed to manifest in all of us. We pray from a place of peace, for peaceful hearts, and peaceful actions.
I hope you will join Rev. Ana Quintana for her workshop Peace is a Daily Practice, this Sunday at 1:00 in the Sanctuary, to learn how to stay centered in the energy of love and peace.
Also, Kara Resseguie is offering a way to process your feelings about this in a group setting this Tuesday, Oct 17th at 5:30pm in the sanctuary.
