Prayer for Becoming Peace in 2011 (and always)

This was written by my beautiful momma, Tawni Waters. And I could not possibly dream of saying it better, so here it is!

I saw the world once through the eyes of All, and it was perfect, all things breathing in and out in an endless symphony of harmony and love.  I knew I was a piece of a great Whole, and that Whole, when seen in its entirety, went by the name of Love.  I felt myself to be the object of intense and unfathomable love, though in that precious moment, I fathomed it.  All things became beautiful and perfect, even the ugly things.  I knew that God had never been far away, that I was, in fact, engulfed in God, that I was, in fact, a part of God.  I knew that by touching the steering wheel, I was touching God’s face, that by breathing the air around me, I was breathing God.  The illusion of separation vanished.  All hatred, all guilt, all fear fell away, and I knew that we were all growing to become something that we already are.  When we strip away the pain and the fear and the guilt and the rage and the hate, we are already One.  Time is a gift, given to us, from the Whole to itself, to watch the beautiful and miraculous process of its coming to completion.  A completion that outside of time and space, already is.  So healing is not a process of change, but rather, a process of uncovering, a glorious process of peeling away the untruths that have been laid like black rags over the golden core of what we already are.  We are one.  We are love.  We are loved.  

I pray that this year, I will manifest more of the peace that already is within me.  That I will honor myself with all of the tenderness, compassion, and kindness that I would give a child.  Because within, we are all children, most of us scared and lost and desperately searching for a place of safety within a world that we perceive to be cold and dark and terrifying, suffering as we do under the illusion of separation. 

I pray that when I hate, I will have the presence to look within and ask myself what is scaring me so much that I feel I need to protect myself with hate, and then offer that broken place within me the gift of perfect, Divine love, so that place heals and becomes love, offers love to the thing that it once believed it hated. 

I pray that I will be given the gift of sight, so that I will see the Divinity within all things and honor every man, woman, child, dog, cat, tree, and cactus as I would honor God.

I pray that I would understand that in the reality that Is, this is all complete, that none of the lies and the pain and cruelties exist, that within even the most broken human there already exists a core of love, and while I may not be able to find it within myself to love the cruelty that their broken places are manifesting, I pray that I will find sight, to see beyond the cruelty to the golden core.  

I pray that for me, there would be no us and them, only us.  

I pray that the peace that is uncovered within my heart bleeds from me, creates a glorious and invisible sea of light around my being so all that walk into it, even those that do not understand it, even those that do not speak to me or look at me, even those that actively hate me, are touched and healed by the Divine love that is flowing through me.  

I pray that I will remember what matters.  Not money.  Not things.  Not achieving.  Not earning acclaim.  Just being love. 

I pray that when I die, whether this year or fifty years from now, I will have burned a hole in the illusion of separation, a glowing, glorious, explosion of "let there be light"  that expands and continues to burn and grow long after I, as I exist is this particular time and place, am gone. 

And I pray that on the days I forget to do all this, on the days I forget what I am and manifest cruelty, I will have compassion on myself and thereby continue the process of becoming the peace that lives within me. 

Blessings!

Serafina

A Love Poem

I wrote this poem over two years ago.  Tonight, I find myself enthralled by the truthful expression that it was and still is for me.  And so, beloved, here is a piece of my soul:

What is it in the eyes

More can be spoken in one moment

Yes, just one instant

When two eyes meet

Than could ever be expressed through words.

Your countenance is at rest

Yet your eyes

Oh, my friend!

Your eyes tell a story

Of depth and longing

Truth and passion

Reaching inside of me

And touching my soul with one glance.

We have relegated lovers to those who marry

Or those whose love fits within the confines

of our comfortable borders

But what of the others?

For the sake of jealousy and possession

For safety and fear

One love, we say.

One to whom you may give yourself.

But what of the others?

What of the lovers of my soul?

Yes, my soul does have lovers.

One whose eyes captivate me.

Another whose passion enthralls me.

And still one more whose very presence

delights the deepest part of me.

Only one lover, we say.

The heart has no such boundaries.

 Blessings,

Serafina

I AM... not my body.

Hello Beloved,

First, I MUST express my gratitude for having running water again! And what a blessing it certainly is. Thank you my dear husband for staying up late to dig up and tighten the leaking coupling. And for installing this wonderful new (used... but close enough to new!) sink and new non-leaking kitchen faucet! This is a very helpful Christmas present "from us to us" and I cherish it.

------------------------
On to my post now: :-)

I AM... not my body.

I mean surely, my body is an ever present expression in this world of who and what I Am. But it is not me. The real me goes much deeper than this, and is, I believe, eternal.  And the experience of this truth is something I am finding to be absolutely invaluable in my everyday life.

I read this last night:

"A friend can be a Divine mirror showing you areas of yourself that you had hoped to hide from the world. They encourage you to shine the light of Love on these areas and embrace them, to see that they really had no power at all. For in the light of Love all things are healed."

The thing about this that moved me so deeply was the concept (or rather even the experience I have had since then) that in the light of Love, all things are healed. And that this light is one that we, our Selves, can shine on the areas where we are struggling. Something about the imagery of this really resonates with me. If I can shine the "light of Love" onto something I am struggling with... whether physically, emotionally, or whatever... than it follows that the "I" that is doing the shining, or the directing, of that Love cannot actually BE the problem that I am seeking to heal. Are you following me?

To really get what I'm trying to say here, you will have to experience it. I don't think words will ever be enough.

In a moment that you find challenging, for whatever reason that may be, ask yourself or remind yourself to "shine the light of Love" on this area, as it says above, and embrace it. Visualize it however works for you. See yourself directing actual light and Love onto this area, onto yourself. Sit with this imagery for a bit (or if you can't actually sit, just let it sit internally) and be with it. Have compassion on the you that is being impatient or cranky. Or on the you (or me, ha ha) that is at that moment a tired mom with a cold that is being crabby with her dear one. Feel gentleness towards this, just as you seek to feel towards others. Because, in truth, how can you give to someone else what you have not given to yourself?

The experience that will ultimately come out of this is that you are not your body, and you are not this impatience or this anger or this frustration or whatever it may be. And somehow, when you look on these things that you see in yourself in this way, they just dissolve in the inherent healing of this Love.  Somehow, you find that this thing you have struggled so much with, really never had any power at all.  From within it, we cannot seem to heal anything in those moments. For all our trying, the thing just persists and persists and persists. Yet, if we can just make the slightest shift in our perspective... the shift that takes place when you begin to focus on shining the light of Love on these areas, the thing literally just falls away.  It feels like the classic example of "What you resist, persists." When you stop resisting it, when you move into the place of embracing it as the Beloved, of experiencing compassion towards the you that is struggling so, this slight shift makes all the difference.

And once you can do this for the "dark" areas in you life, once you know and have experienced how this transformation, this Divine transformation takes place, you can shine that same light of Love to others, extending the same compassion towards them instead of judgement.

Take it for what it is worth to you, but this current, this rhythm of peace was magic for me this morning. I cannot say that I will not struggle at all again today, but I know what it felt like for the weight of my struggle to begin to simply vanish under the Love that began to shine there, from the Me that I Am.

I AM... not my body.

Blessings and thank you for your presence here!

Serafina

Victory!

Hello Beloved,

What a magical season we are in, no? Today, I must admit, I find myself stressed. Both of my girls and I have a cold that seems never to go away. We have no water, as a toilet was running all night last night thus effectively draining our holding tank. Our propane tank is almost empty and when I called yesterday for a refill, they said they may not be able to get to us today. And in all honesty, I've just been something of an emotional wreck yesterday and today. I have been seeking victory over these stubborn emotions, you see.

It's been a very slow process of waking myself up again and reminding myself of the Truth. At least it always FEELS like it is slow. With every breath that I am mindful of, I find myself letting go. With every thing that I can be grateful for, I find I begin to remember. And with every moment that I choose to be fully present in, I am aware of the Perfection of All That Is. In the back of my mind through these past two days, this one sentence has been taking root:

"Know that we attain God when we Love, and only that victory endures... in consequence of which no one is defeated."

This is just such a breath of fresh air to me. Literally, it feels like my hungry soul finds nourishment here. It's difficult to explain otherwise, but if you've experienced this, then you know what I'm talking about.   :-)

THIS is the victory that I seek. Not the fleeting victory of getting the water fixed... again. Not the seemingly satisfying completion of having a clean house... (though this one could be a whole other blog). Not the ego's desire to be the perfect mother who can do it all and never speak a sharp word. But THIS. THIS victory in consequence of which no one is defeated. THIS victory that is the only one that endures. I will be satisfied with nothing less than "attaining God". And so, I find, I will be satisfied ONLY when I Love. And the only moment that I can ever Love is right now. This very present moment.

How many times do I find this to be the answer? Over and over again the answer? It's like Love Itself calls to me... underneath all of the crabbiness and overwhelm, it calls to me. "Come back," She says. "Return to Me now. Right now. For there is no other moment of Return except for now. And in this 'now', know that all that is asked of you and all that you are truly asking of yourself is to Love. Stop the rushing. Stop the complaining. Stop all of the desperate attempts at keeping up. And Love. Love this One standing before you now. This husband. This child. This friend. This stranger. Love this One. And in THIS you will find victory, the kind in consequence of which no one is defeated."

Blessings!

Serafina

P.S. The following book has been incredible as a tool for remembering "right now", for it is the only time and place that we will find the true rhythms of Peace.

Prayers for Peace

Hello Beloved!

I am entrenched in almost a foot of snow tonight, and as I look out my windows, it is such a beautiful sight. Everything that may have seemed beautiful or ugly, tidy or a mess before, is now covered with a magnificent blanket of white. It shows no partiality. It simply falls where it will, and all things seem transformed by its presence.

And isn't this how it is with Peace? No matter where you might find it, Peace is still Peace. And the pursuit of it, regardless of what name it goes by, is still just as Divinely inspired as it could ever be. It shows no partiality. It simply falls where it will, transforming everything in its presence.

So in honor of the snow tonight, I offer the following Prayers for Peace from many of the worlds major religions. Can we read these together, knowing that for all the apparent differences, if we are seeking Peace, if we are seeking the expression of the One, we are walking the very same path. Side by side. What would this mean to you if it were true? Does it threaten you? Your beliefs and doctrines and all the things you hold so dear? All those things that continue the illusion of separation, somehow making you different from "them"? (Whoever "them" may be.)

I find these beautiful and moving, and if you read through them with an open heart, I think you may as well. Every one of them. They embody the Rhythms of Peace I seek to embody with my every waking moment. And so without further adieu:

PEACE PRAYERS

---

Christian Prayer for World Peace

Blessed are the Peacemakers,
for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also,
and from those who take away your cloak,
do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Buddhist Prayer for World Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses—
the children, the aged, the unprotected---
be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Hindu Prayers for World Peace

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,
and may that peace come to me also.

Jainist Prayer for World Peace

Peace and Universal Love is the essence of the Gospel preached by all the Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma.
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
"Do not injure any living being."
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable way of spiritual life.

A weapon howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however, be superior to non-violence and love.

Jewish Prayer for World Peace

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares,
and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation—
neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall be afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Muslim Prayer for World Peace

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations, that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace, and trust in God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God, Most Gracious are those who walk on the Earth in humility, and when we address them, we say "PEACE."

Native African Prayer for World Peace

Almighty God, the Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints
of an antelope on a rockmass here on Earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.

Native American Prayer for World Peace

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect,
and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.

Shinto Prayer for World Peace

Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us,
I believe, are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away
all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Sikh Prayers for World Peace

God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,
and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.

Know that we attain God when we love,
and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.

Sufi Prayer for World Peace

O Almighty Sun, whose light clears away all clouds,
We take refuge in you. Guide of all people, God of all deities, Lord of all angels,
We pray you to dispel the mists of illusion from the hearts of the nations
And lift their lives by your all-sufficient power,
Your ever shining light, your everlasting life,
Your heavenly joy and your perfect peace.

Zoroastrian Prayer for World Peace

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt,
and that truth triumph over falsehood.

Baha'i Prayer for World Peace

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Blessings and Thank You!

Serafina

One

Hello Beloved!

What a beautiful morning it is when I choose to recognize it as such! :-) Did you know that EVERY day is a beautiful sunshiny day? It's true. Even when we perceive clouds and snow and rain and thunderstorms... all of which I absolutely love, by the way. What happens when you rise above all of those clouds? What happens when we look from a higher perspective? We find the sun. Every single time. Without fail. It is not denial to say that it is a sunny day, when in fact, we may perceive clouds and storms. It simply requires a higher perspective. Thank you for letting me share that analogy! I have loved it from the time it was told to me.

I wanted my "first" blog to be a bit of a foundational one. (As the technical first post was really just an introduction, I am considering this to be blog post number one. Lol.) And so I have been mulling over what I would consider the foundation to be. So, this is what I have come to.

If you were to ask me what I consider to be my foundational belief, my "doctrine" if I were to need one, it is very simply this:

We are One.

Yes, One.

At one point, I would have said Love. But if we could realize, and I mean really, truly, feel and experience that the boundaries and separations we think are between us are not real. If we could know that I am You, and You are Me, and that whatever I think, or feel, or do, or say to or about you, I am also thinking, feeling, doing, and saying to Me and any and every Other that we are perceiving. When we realize that there really is no "other", only the One, then Love must be our only true response. Because Love is what we are, of course. God IS Love. God is.... One. The All..... in All.

It would seem that every single problem of evil, and suffering, every act of hatred, bitterness, violence, and separation towards ourselves, towards each other, towards all living beings, and towards the earth herself, would be solved by the realization and experience of our Oneness. None would see themselves as higher or lower than, better or less than, or even in fact at all separate from any other. Each would give everything to everything as if it were the only thing that matters, knowing that it really is in giving that we receive. For if we are One, then what I give to "You" is never lost by "Me"... it is only given by the One to the One. We would love unconditionally knowing that each and every expression of the One is completely loved already because we ARE Love.

And there would be Peace. Ever-flowing, never-ending Peace. Because violence only occurs in our actions, words, thoughts, and hearts when we perceive that there is some difference between you and I.

As I was mulling this over, I received an email from a wonderful individual that I love dearly. And it provided a perfect example for this blog. It was a forwarded email, and this is what it said:

Apparently they think that putting hearts and butterflies on the new stamp will make most people not realize that the rest is Arabic and probably not something we want to support.

New Stamp - the second one!!!

USPS New 44-Cent Stamp Celebrates a Muslim holiday.
If there is only ONE thing you forward today... let it be this!

President Obama has directed the United States Postal Service to REMEMBER and HONOR the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a new commemorative 44-Cent First Class Holiday Postage Stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly & vocally BOYCOTT this stamp, when you are purchasing your stamps at the post office.

All you have to say is "No thank you, I do not want that Muslim Stamp on my letters!"


Pass this along to every Patriotic American that you know and get the word out!

(First let me note, you may want to check the facts on this email. It was a specialty stamp, not one issued by the president. Lol.)

Now. What do we see here? We are seeing so very unclearly through the eyes of separation. Oneness says that you and I and every Muslim in the world are in fact One. The celebration of their holiday, is the celebration of ours. Just as the celebration of our holiday is the celebration of their. Differences in language, religion, and nation of no consequence to those who have experienced this Oneness. I can look at any "other" and see the same Beloved One as I feel within myself and I can know that whatever I think, or say, or feel, or do to one of these, I am doing to every other. I am doing to myself. I am doing to God.

"Whatsoever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."

Lets begin this moment and every other with the desire to know and experience this Oneness that we are. Lets open our eyes to see what is real, and focus on what we know to be true. For once again, whatever we focus on expands. Whatever we focus on, we create more of. So when we read or feel something like the email sent above, lets look from a higher perspective. Lets go up a little higher and look at what things really look like above the clouds of misperception and deception. And once we see this inside of ourselves, THEN we can begin to act out of Love and Peace and Compassion and Joy. Because these are what we ARE above all of those "clouds".

Also, in regards to the email above, the following book is an incredible book (especially for Christians) on cultivating a new perspective and relationship with the Muslim world. A WONDERFUL read. :-)

Blessings to you and Thank You!

Serafina

Welcome!

Hello Beloved,

Welcome to my new blog! (Or rather, my old blog started afresh. *grin*)

I am dedicating these words to every beautiful soul I have ever loved, or will love, or is loved by someone somewhere. Because there is not a being alive in this world that is NOT loved, only ones that don't realize it! And because it is within Love, true, deep, ever-giving Love that peace is found in all of it's magnificent ways. Not that a blog needs a dedication, but it somehow felt appropriate. In other words, I wanted to. :-)

Thank you for joining me here and perhaps you will find something that resonates within you, something that sparks the truth of the Love that you are at your very core... or perhaps not. Regardless, this is where I will pour my heart out. I have called it Rhythms of Peace because it is those rhythms I am most interested in, day in and day out. And because what we focus on grows, expands and is magnified by the very presence of our focus. And Peace is what I wish to expand with every single moment of my focus. The Peace that is found only deep within the Love that we all are. True Peace. For its rhythms and only its rhythms are enough to satisfy my soul now.

Thank you for your presence! (And perhaps your interaction?)

Blessings to you,

Serafina