Talk to an Iraqi

I am blessed and honored to call Haider Hamza Abdulrazaq my friend.  Each of the past three years, he has taken time from his busy schedule as a PhD candidate, Rhodes Scholar, Program Officer at Open Society Foundations, and award-winning combat photo journalist to share a bit of his story with my Social Justice and Peacemaking students at NYU.  He shares photos he took as an embedded photo journalist with ABC News during the "Shock and Awe" war in Iraq. They are graphic. They are horrific. They are beautiful. They are powerful and profound.

They are challenging and  invite my students and me to examine the devastation and destruction that is war. They humanize the Iraqi people and remind us of the real cost of war and violence.

They remind us that the children and the people of Iraq, Babylon, are beautiful, that they have lived in the cradle of civilization for thousands of years and have given the world some of its most sacred and precious art and culture.

He invites us, in the spirit of great peacemakers like Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr.), to look and listen deeply to the voices of our "enemy," to the voices of the voiceless, to the voices of those who, on both sides, every side, are the victims of war and violence.

Haider leads by example.  After graduating from Baghdad University in 2006, Haider won a Fulbright Scholarship to study global security and conflict resolution in the United States.  

"New to America and wanting to understand what the American people felt about their country's involvement in Iraq, Haider decided to travel across the US to talk to people about the war. He drove through 35 states setting up a mobile booth with a sign that says 'Talk to an Iraqi.' 

Haider said, 'I always wondered, what do people in American know of what is happening and do they feel responsible...did this war change their lives at all, since it has for sure changed ours dramatically.' 

Part of Haider's journey was aired on NPR and Showtime's 'This American Life'. Haider's powerful and fascinating lecture includes poignant and touching film clips from his road trip in America, a slide of photos he took of post-war Iraq, thoughts on the conflict in his country, the presence of US troops there, his personal struggle to heal the wounds of oppression and commitment today to raise awareness among the young people and send messages of peace and reconciliation."(See: Haider Hamza, Telling the story of his country)

I invite you to 'Talk to an Iraqi', to listen to Haider's story and let it speak to you in the depths of your heart. Let it challenge and inspire you. Let it invite healing and sacred reconciliation in your soul.

May we see in the Iraqi people our sisters, our brothers, and know our well-being, our liberation and peace in our world, to depend on the well-being of our sisters and brothers.

Creating Your Constructive Program

Mahatma Gandhi launched a comprehensive, detailed program of social, political, economic and spiritual uplift for India and called it a constructive program. It was a program that called all to embrace practical steps to improve not only themselves but also their community, country and world.

Joanne Sheehan, in Gandhi's Three Elements of Nonviolent Social Transformation, shares, "We are quick to identify and protest the things we don't like in our society, but we are often asked 'so what are you for?' As revolutionaries we need to start building a new society in the shell of the old. Gandhi said we should not wait for one to crumble before starting the other. Constructive program brings people together to do the kind of community work that is empowering, bringing them to a point of self reliance and being ready to develop a new society. To outline a nonviolent campaign involving all these elements, we need to begin to identify where the change is needed. Gandhi identified 18 elements of constructive program in India that included removal of untouchability, developing village industries, sanitation, basic education, national language, spinning cloth as a symbol of economic freedom, labor unions, involving students, and caring for lepers. These are not a specific model for us, but ones that we can begin to get help from as we look at the changes needed in our society to begin to build a new one."

In this spirit, I invite my students in our Social Justice and Peacemaking course at NYU to create their own constructive program. I challenge them to consider the practical steps they need to take with respect to their lifestyle and personal choices and disciplines in order to connect to their deepest desires and truth, and to create the community and culture they want for themselves, their family and for future generations. I ask them to think about practices that can build and discipline their body and biology, i.e. diet, nutrition and exercise. I ask them to think about what will help them develop their intellectual, psychological and mental health and well-being, i.e. reading, writing, counseling and study. I ask them to consider actions that will better their social, relational being, i.e. joining community organizations and doing service work. I ask them to think about spiritual practices that will help them move toward deeper truth, compassion and deep peace, i.e. prayer, meditation and creative expression.  The purpose of this exercise is not merely to encourage personal growth, but also to challenge students to consider, as Sheehan says, "changes needed in our society to build a new one."

So, my invitation to you is to take the time to create your own constructive program, to join in the liberating labor of love that is our sacred duty, to develop and use the gifts we each have been given to build Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "beloved community." May you know yourself to be a beloved child of our Creator.  May you live your constructive program in the world.  In the process, you will not only become the person you want and were created to be but also you will help others, and all of us become who we were meant to be as well.  Peace and blessings to you.

Their Secret, Prayer

I have asked many great spiritual leaders, like Mairead Maguire, Kathy Kelly, Arun Gandhi and yes even Mother Teresa, with whom I had the privilege of working in Calcutta, India, "What is your secret? How do you remain faithful and continue to do what you do, love in the face of such pain, suffering and violence?  All replied with the same one-word answer, "Prayer."  Their secret it seems, from their perspective, was as simple and as profound as the word, the act of, prayer.

What is prayer? Indeed, there is something mysterious or secretive about it.  Prayer occurs in the sacred and secretive depths of one's being, in the silence of the soul.  Prayer can be a conversation. Prayer can be total silence.  Prayer can occur when one is still or when when one sings or walks or works meditatively.  Prayer requires presence, full awareness and listening. Prayer pays attention. Prayer requires truth and honesty.  Prayer is about relationship.  Prayer is done all alone. Prayer is about blessing and being blessed.  Prayer searches.  Prayer accepts. Prayer can be playful.  Prayer can be pained.  Prayer is melody.  Prayer seeks harmony.  Prayer is question. Prayer is answer. Prayer heals. Prayer reconciles.  Prayer restores right relationship. Prayer liberates. Prayer cries out. And if we believe spiritual mentors and leaders from all traditions, cultures, geographies, across the millennia, prayer is the secret to living life to its fullest, to living a liberated life that sees most deeply the truth that we are mysteriously connected, that we are all sisters and brothers, beloved community.

Yesterday the Catholic Cardinals selected a Pope.  What many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, seemed to be moved, if not captivated, by was Pope Francis' first relational act with the people, he bowed humbly and asked the people to pray for him.  Clearly, by this simple, sacred act, he was rooting himself in prayer, not merely his own prayer, but the power of prayer, and his own need not only to pray but also to be prayed for.  The secret of prayer is that it simultaneously gives and receives, simultaneously sets the self aside and allows one to touch the depths of one's truest self.  

Call it what you will, we are being invited by these spiritual leaders to take time to pray, to meditate, to enter into silence, to be fully present to both our sacred gifts and our sacred neediness. Let us continue to hold one another in prayer, to bow to the divine present in each of us, to enter into the mystery and secret power that prayer possess, that we possess in prayer.

Empathy and Hope

What does it mean to empathize? To have empathy? I suggest that it requires first that we see in the 'other' our sister, our brother.  That we strive to put ourselves in the place of the other, that we contemplate what it is that she or he is experiencing. That we attempt, as best we can, to walk in the shoes or sandals of the other.  Empathy, by definition, "is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being."  It is the precursor to compassion. For,  "one may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience compassion."

Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that it is not enough to say that we 'are.' We must come to know and see, with all of our senses and our entire being, that we 'inter-are.' We exist in relationship.  We are connected. Our well-being is dependent upon the well-being of others. Our very being, our life, is woven into the fabric of our inter-being, the life of our sisters and brothers, our human community, our ecological and environmental interdependence.  The very air we breathe, the life we live, depends upon the trees, the plants, the sky, the earth, the oceans, the parents, sisters, brothers, with whom we share this extraordinary time and place.

What if we saw the gang member as our brother? What if we saw the terrorist as our sister? What if we saw, empathized with, recognized and experienced the emotions of the downtrodden, the outsider, the homeless, the mentally ill, the neglected, the orphan, the widow, as our own?  What might be different? What might our life and family and community look like?

Can we see with the eyes of love, that we are all brothers and sisters of love? Can we experience profoundly what it means truly to stand in someone elses shoes? Can we absorb the delight of kinship?

If we can, how can we not then bow before the mystery and grace of life and smile, and maybe even sing an Ode to Joy?

Empathy invites us to see differently and deeply, to love tenderly, to live justice, and to walk humbly with our sisters and brothers, our ancestors, our fathers and mothers, our Creator.  Empathy compels compassion and compassion "is regarded as a fundamental part of human love, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism." Empathy calls us to compassion. Compassion invites love, connection and community.  Love, connection and community allow us to care for our children and hear a child sing of amazing grace.

As we listen to her song, how can we not then discover our own, native, indigenous grace and the song we are meant to sing with empathy, compassion, love, joy and hope in the world?

 

This is my hope for me, for you, for all of us - that in empathy you know compassion and love, and that this knowing leads you to joy, and song and hope. May you be full of hope. May you be hope-full.

I must...

When I was a child, I used to love the speed and thrill of sledding in the winter. I used to love the first warm spring day when we pulled out our baseball gloves for our own spring training. I used to love the long summer days that seemed to never end, playing Kick the Can and Capture the Flag late into the night. I used to love lying out in the soft summer grass, gazing up at the clouds, searching for shapes and stories in the summer sky. I used to love looking up at the night sky to see if I could find Orion's Belt. I used to love catching leaves, aflame with color, floating gently down on a fresh fall afternoon. 

Lately, I've been wondering what it was that made those childhood moments so magical. What made me feel so alive? What filled my soul with such joy and light? 

What about you? What fired you up and made you feel fully alive as a child? What brought a smile to your face, a tear to your eye, a shiver to your soul?  What made you want to sing or dance or play or share your deepest heart's longing? What helped you know yourself, your truth, most deeply?

Was it a particular place? Was it a person? Was it a song? Was it a still moment? Was it a story?  As you call to mind the source of your inspiration, the feelings, the place, the moment, ask yourself what made it sacred? What made you feel holy? What made you whole?

Only you can answer these questions.  Only you can find and know your truth.  As you do so, you will find life, liberation, love.  As you do, you will know the ache that erupts in the core of your being and cries out, "I must... for I can do nothing else."

I must write. I must sing. I must dance. I must draw. I must paint. I must help. I must learn. I must tell my story. I must pray. I must sit still. I must run. I must play. I must work. I must rest. I must feel.

I must moves us from fear to freedom.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison because he could do nothing else. Mother Teresa picked up the first person lying destitute in the streets of Calcutta because she could do nothing else. Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night because he could do nothing else. Joni Mitchell wrote and sang River because she could do nothing else. Bob Marley wrote and sang Redemption Song because he could do nothing else. Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams founded Peace People because they could do nothing else.

Lately, I've been wondering what it was that made those childhood moments so magical. What made me feel so alive? What filled my soul with such joy and light? 

 

Maybe the answer has something to do with the grace, energy and mystery of the must.  What must you do?

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”  ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

The Mirror

I always say to the kids with whom I work, "If you're gonna point a finger, you better be lookin' in the mirror first." Most pause & reflect. Once one decided to give me the finger; I had my pocket mirror ready.  

When confronted with injustice or a 'teachable moment,' Stop. Reflect. And if you're compelled to say something, to Act, try to do so in a way that invites the other to see that in criticizing or condemning another, they are condemning themselves. As Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, we 'inter-are' - we are all connected. We need each other find our deepest truth and real life and liberation.

You never know who may hear or read your mirror invitation or how they will respond. I think the hardest thing to do when challenging others to look in the mirror can be to let go of the need to 'win' or change the other person's heart or mind. Ultimately, that is out of our hands. We can only speak truth, live kindness and compassion, and invite others to see that we are all connected, we are all sisters and brothers. 

Maybe just as difficult is to look in the mirror and see ourselves as we truly are, broken? Yes.  But also beautiful, blessed, beloved daughters and sons of a loving Creator.  Any opportunity to see this truth most deeply in ourselves and invite others to see this truth in her or himself, is a moment of grace, a gift we can give ourselves and the world.

Embrace these 'mirror moments' with humility, courage, conviction and a smile. In so doing, I trust that you will help facilitate sacred transformation and release an energy in the world that is desperately needed. It may not be easy, but "if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."  And as you look in the mirror and see the potential for change in yourself, you will liberate yourself to see the potential for change in others.

Much peace to you!

Warrior Spirit, Suffering & Salvation

One of the most difficult lessons I teach in our Social Justice & Peacemaking class at NYU is one of Dr. King's 6 primary principles of nonviolence. The principle challenges us to: Accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve the goal.

According to King, "Self-chosen suffering is redemptive and helps the movement grow in a spiritual as well as a humanitarian dimension. The moral authority of voluntary suffering for a goal communicates the concern to one’s own friends and community as well as to the opponent." Dr. King's Redemptive Suffering.

Most ask, why would anyone freely choose suffering? Why would anyone fast, for example, or freely submit to verbal or even physical harm? The answer, for King, Gandhi and countless other spiritual warriors who challenge us to consider the way of love, compassion and active nonviolence, is as simple and as complex as the word truth.  According to these peace and spirit warriors, truth cannot be found alone, without the other, even our enemy. And our enemy, even perpetrators of violence, possess, somehow, a piece of the truth. As Thich Nhat Hanh (who Dr. King nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize) says, we "inter-are."  We are inextricably connected.  Thus, we cannot, as a people, as a society, make our way to the truth without one another.

Furthermore, these spirit warriors challenge us to consider that harm to another does harm to the self; and harm to the self results in harm to all.  We all are a part of the fabric, the web, of life, for better or worse.  Again, it's as simple and as complicated as the scriptural mandate to "love your enemy."

Spiritual traditions do not merely tell us that we must love one another; they add (though we don't often want to really consider what it truly means, myself included) that we must find a way to love, even our enemies.  As King shares, that does not mean that we have to like our enemies. It does mean, however, that we have to live lives, to the best of our ability, that invite our "enemies" to see differently, to turn from violence and war and hatred, to see that they, all of us, are members of the human family, a community. Subsequently, in the words of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, we, individually and together, either "get busy living or get busy dying."

The Buddhists remind us that life is suffering.  No one escapes suffering.  The question is will our suffering bring us together or divide us.  Will it help us work together for peace and deeper understanding or will it destroy us? King reminds us that we have a choice.  If we want to be spiritual warriors, if we want to be fully human, we must accept suffering without violent retaliation for the sake of our collective redemption and liberation.  This does not mean that we seek suffering for its own sake, or that we invite or accept abuse; rather, it means that when suffering comes, we refuse to inflict suffering in return.  Again, this is not easy. This is why it is the way of the spiritual warrior; it takes profound courage.  King and others tell us, however, that if we can do so, we invite transformation of heart and mind that brings the possibility for true and lasting peace and freedom.

Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Laureate from China, a spiritual warrior, in the face of violence, abuse and oppression, exclaims, “I have no enemies and no hatred."  In his trial, where he was sentenced to eleven years in prison for speaking out on behalf of democracy and freedom, he proclaims: "But I wish to make clear that I continue to stand behind my 'June 2nd Hunger-Strike Declaration' of twenty years ago: I have no enemies, and no hatred.… Hatred only eats away at a person’s intelligence and conscience, and an enemy mentality [as our country since the Mao era has seen] can poison the spirit of an entire people, lead to cruel and lethal conflict among our own people, destroy tolerance and human feeling within a society, and block the progress of a nation toward freedom and democracy. For these reasons I hope I can rise above my personal fate to contribute to progress for our country and to changes in our society. I hope that I can answer the regime’s enmity with utmost benevolence, and that I might use love to dissipate hate." [Link, Perry (2011-05-10). Liu Xiaobo's Empty Chair: Chronicling the Reform Movement Beijing Fears Most; Includes the full text of Charter 08 and other primary documents (Kindle Locations 768-770). Random House Inc Clients. Kindle Edition.] See also: I Have No Enemies.

I leave you with the words of Mahatma Gandhi. They capture the essence of the warrior spirit that has the power to lead us beyond suffering to sacred salvation:

"I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist. The religion of nonviolence is not meant merely for the rishis and saints. It is meant for the common people as well. Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law—to the strength of the spirit.

“I have therefore ventured to place before India the ancient law of self-sacrifice. For satyagraha and its offshoots, non-cooperation and civil resistance, are nothing but new names for the law of suffering. The rishis who discovered the law of nonviolence in the midst of violence were greater geniuses than Newton. They were themselves greater warriors than Wellington. Although knowledgeable in the use of arms, they realized their uselessness and taught a weary world that its salvation lay not through violence but through nonviolence." [Attenborough, Richard; Mahatma Gandhi (2001-10-19). The Words of Gandhi (Newmarket Words Of Series) (p. 41). Perseus Distribution-A. Kindle Edition.]