The Installation described on our web site peace be still, consists of 40 prayer wheels, 27 images representing 5,000 years of spirituality and human history spanning 7 continents. The exhibition contributes towards finding what is Spirituality? It encourages the viewer to contemplate the diverse traditions which suggest various paths to a more peaceful co-existence for all. Its aim is to align our thinking with that of great teachers and philosophers who have wrestled with the barrier separating humanity from the divine.
Living in the spirit means seeing our commonality, free from division. Thomas Merton said, “We are all one. But we imagine we are not. “Yogananda said” we are like gold in the mud: when the mud of ignorance is washed away, God’s glimmering soul within is finally seen clearly”
I remind people there are no answers only suggestions, especially where religion is concerned. I am 60 now and feel I have tried a great many forms of meditations and religious practices, mostly Christian but inclusive of Buddhist, Hindu Philosophy and practicing Tai chi. It is my finding, they are all work complete yet still the mind has more questions; What is Spirituality? The serious thinker lives with the constant questioning, unfolding and the ridiculousness of it all. Perhaps your search has been wonderful, illuminating, challenging and definitely worth it.
Commonality
I am constantly reminded there is someone within me, and around me, I am not alone and I believe none of you are either. Seek oneness within yourself and then with others.
WHO is Your own Spirituality? For me and others like yourselves God might be called the mysterious vast unknowable all. He, she, it, pops up when you least expect it, when you have no answer, when we are alone or perplexed, and often when we are still. Your own Spirituality is defined by your ability to be humble and know we belong to vast unknowing. The portraits in the dialogue suggest we are descendants of humanities need to feel connected, I believe their findings and conclusions are all correct and valid to someone at some point http://peacebestill.net/ethics.html
living and having fun
I need religion as a back drop to sound off and to use it as a source and anchor. I know parts are deficit or incorrect, unreasonable, sometimes I am disgusted with all of it. However it has been there in the form of ritual, literature, sacrament, art and music. Institutional religion represents a continual starting point and is never an end in itself. Religion is a set of sign posts, warnings signs there is a curve up ahead; it is a hospital where we go when we are weak or troubled. Religion is a map you may need while traveling.
…………. What abides in you is the same that abides outside of you and what abides outside you is the same that abides within you. Upanishads, 3,000 BC INDIA
The dialogue project took 2 years to create and only now am I finding commonalities between faiths and practices and realizing there is no one answer. Life changes like the wind, molecules move around all day, thoughts are happening to 7 billion people around the world. We are diverse and wonderful creatures. BUT We still have not learned is to stop the fighting over who is better best or right. Remember to be kind.
The plant and animal Kingdom evolve with relatively little greed, jealousy or waste around them, why not humans? There will be violence, as in nature, there will be scarcity and there will be ignorance. BUT humans have the potential to be conscious, to learn, to remember, to be still, to wait.
Science is offering us new ideas and perspectives every day. Ideas and hypotheses of today are in harmony with the idea of God. For instance, the big bang theory, String theory, black holes Quantum physics, they are theories, ideas we think we can prove or believe until they change. The ideas about space and time are limitless. Copernicus and Galileo said the world in not flat and not the center of the universe. There is always room to change your mind. There is increasingly less room for prejudice, condemnation, anger, fear because it is leading to pure violence and absolute destruction of what we have created.
So If you are an atheist or an agnostic live and explorer your own mind. And for the Christian, Hindu, believer, theorist, philosopher, law maker etc. explorer your own mind as well. If we can individually love the trip we are on and allow for a Cloud of Unknowing surround us, then we will be one step closer to peace. Maybe you know What is Spirituality, this peace adds to everyone’s peace.
Don’t be a hindrances to anyone, AND don’t insist on who is better, best or right. The dialogue installation displays a lot of minds all of them are valuable, just as each mind here today is valuable. Your mind is always available to you and it is limitless, use it to encourage goodness and kindness in the beginning and end of everything you do, think and say.
I think today Meditation and contemplation are essential tools for understanding our own mind,
our commonality and finding the underlying truths between us.
Leave a Reply