I recently learned that the monastic community at Plum Village, France sends nuns and monks to Israel and Palestine every year-- I knew they a little bit about the peace efforts but didn't know they do so every year.
Good soup.
>After two days in Neve Shalom we leave for Bethlehem, which will be the starting point of three week trip. We meet people from all walks of life from streets sellers to well-known NGO leaders, even the owners of our hotel, who are all strangers to our practice and our tradition. They are all willing to share with us, they are all warm, welcoming and want to know more about the practice of mindfulness and our way of life.
>I go and visit my friend Lora and her family, they are part of the 5% of Christians left in the city of Bethlehem. Buddhist, umm... what does that mean? I try to answer the question sharing about the practices of deep listening and taking care of strong emotions. Her father disappears, embraced in the arms of his sofa: this morning in Bethlehem a young medic has been shot while he was trying to rescue somebody. Obviously, these people already know about strong and overwhelming emotions, and I feel that listening to their fear and anger is the best I can do.
>The temptation to take sides is great. The only alternative we have, and the reason for our coming, is to offer our practice. We continue to listen, and hope that the appeasement of suffering through being heard, will create a space where the people we meet can put down what weighs heavily on them, because they know they will not be judged. Neutrality is essential to maintain the quality of our deep listening, and it’s a constant challenge.
>We also share other Plum Village practices. We teach many children in a school in East Jerusalem, and in one of the refugee camps of Bethlehem, how to listen to the bell. We teach breathing calmly to children who know the fear of tear gas being thrown in their streets several times a week. They play around us, they scuffle with each other, trying to steal the bell inviter from the lucky one who has it. It seems a bit chaotic, but from this chaos emerges so much vitality and joy... and if they can associate listening to the bell with joy, we have already reached them deeply, joy is much better than forced silence.
plumvillage.org/articles/touching-peace-in-palestine/
Good soup.
>After two days in Neve Shalom we leave for Bethlehem, which will be the starting point of three week trip. We meet people from all walks of life from streets sellers to well-known NGO leaders, even the owners of our hotel, who are all strangers to our practice and our tradition. They are all willing to share with us, they are all warm, welcoming and want to know more about the practice of mindfulness and our way of life.
>I go and visit my friend Lora and her family, they are part of the 5% of Christians left in the city of Bethlehem. Buddhist, umm... what does that mean? I try to answer the question sharing about the practices of deep listening and taking care of strong emotions. Her father disappears, embraced in the arms of his sofa: this morning in Bethlehem a young medic has been shot while he was trying to rescue somebody. Obviously, these people already know about strong and overwhelming emotions, and I feel that listening to their fear and anger is the best I can do.
>The temptation to take sides is great. The only alternative we have, and the reason for our coming, is to offer our practice. We continue to listen, and hope that the appeasement of suffering through being heard, will create a space where the people we meet can put down what weighs heavily on them, because they know they will not be judged. Neutrality is essential to maintain the quality of our deep listening, and it’s a constant challenge.
>We also share other Plum Village practices. We teach many children in a school in East Jerusalem, and in one of the refugee camps of Bethlehem, how to listen to the bell. We teach breathing calmly to children who know the fear of tear gas being thrown in their streets several times a week. They play around us, they scuffle with each other, trying to steal the bell inviter from the lucky one who has it. It seems a bit chaotic, but from this chaos emerges so much vitality and joy... and if they can associate listening to the bell with joy, we have already reached them deeply, joy is much better than forced silence.
plumvillage.org/articles/touching-peace-in-palestine/
