{"id":1563,"date":"2022-03-09T12:37:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T17:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1563"},"modified":"2022-03-09T12:37:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T17:37:16","slug":"presence-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2022\/03\/09\/presence-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Presence of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Lynchburg\u2019s recent peace vigil for Ukraine was a powerful event. Collectively, those in attendance either prayed or meditated with the goal of spreading peace. No matter our religious, spiritual, or secular traditions, we came together for the sake of nonviolence.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been thinking of the late Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s various responses to war and violence. I hold closely this quote by the famous zen master: \u201cEveryone knows that peace has to begin with oneself, but not many people know how to do it.\u201d As a Buddhist who serves as interfaith chaplain, I often see my purpose as assisting others in finding balance and peace within their lives. Of course, achieving balance and tranquility is an ongoing process. Each moment has the potential to bring us unsettling circumstances. Everything is constantly changing, and sadly, even peace comes and goes. We must, therefore, have a core that we can return to again and again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I find my peace disrupted during the day, I meditate in silence for two to three minutes. While this may not seem long enough, even a brief moment of stillness can be beneficial. Slowing down thoughts and focusing on breathing can be grounding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am a believer in spiritual self-care, what I call <\/span>spiritual resetting<\/span><\/i>. For me, this involves silent meditation and Buddhist chants each Friday night and Saturday morning. This spiritual reset rebuilds my core of peace, enabling me to be a presence of peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we can be a presence of peace in this realm, we have to be a being of peace. First, we must pledge to choose a life of peace. This can look differently for each person, but overall, a life of peace means doing the least amount of harm to yourself and others. Next, we must acknowledge disruptions and find effective ways to regain our core of tranquility. Remember that when one\u2019s life becomes about peace, one is less likely to give into the poisons of greed and\u00a0 ignorance\u2014the seeds of violence.\u00a0 So you must first be at peace within in order to express peace in the outside world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I challenge you, dear reader, to ruminate on practices that bring you peace. May you engage them with regularity. I also challenge you to be a presence of peace by advocating for compassion and nonviolence. May you stand up for others. May you take care of those in need. May you forgive more than you are accustomed to forgiving. May you see Oneness within all things. In the end, may we bring forth a realm without anger, greed, and oppression. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Lynchburg\u2019s recent peace vigil for Ukraine was a powerful event. Collectively, those in attendance either prayed or meditated with the goal of spreading peace. No matter our religious, spiritual, or secular traditions, we came together for the sake …<\/p>\n

Presence of Peace<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jeremy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-pd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}