Dear friends, I thought I would share with you some thoughts from the meeting in Assisi. It was such a blessing to be able to take part - thanks to all who helped it happen. Here are my notes...
About the Assisi meeting of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, 9-11 August 2009
About a hundred women and men attended the Assisi gathering, which was titled ‘The Divine Feminine: Guiding Global Transformation’. Held in the magical medieval town of peace, called the town of the living stones, we had two and a half days of learning, sharing, praying, chanting, and sincerely hoping for, working for peace and healing.
We gathered to generate love so we can send it where it is needed; to speak about how to foster deep inner transformation, believing that a global spiritual force will help us make the transformation; to envision together a new paradigm for a world at peace and humanity and Earth in healthy, sustainable relationships.
We spoke of the need to go beyond duality (including the duality of masculine/feminine), and of the need to recognise our oneness (‘we have been taught that we are separate but we are not’). We talked about the divine feminine – where the fundamental principle of the feminine is non-division, inclusion, and its essence is interconnectedness and oneness.
We spoke about striving to be like a mother for all things (if we are mothers and one, we must act – a mother of 10 children would not allow 6 to starve); we spoke of developing a new relationship, giving birth to a more profound relational reality; we were asked to work within ourselves, in the smallest things not to separate ourselves – even in the simplest things – because all the universe is affected by our actions.
We talked about the need to help young people find hope, to explore the spiritual, the interior, there to find relief from the boredom they feel. ‘There is a fresh energy in young people that needs to be looked after, like something delicate to preserve.’ We were told about teaching children to ‘be careful, because this touches all of us’, and, ‘when the branches of a tree have an argument, their roots embrace each other in silence.’
The Mayor of Assisi spoke to us of a need for a new humanity. He urged us to develop a taste for the small, to slow down, to experience the little gesture that will catch the real essence, and to have more courage to experience the other, to put oneself in the other person’s shoes (as St Clare did).
He said that ‘small steps, like those you are taking now, are extremely important along this path of hope that we must follow.’
We were asked to listen to the land and to learn from it, to live in greater harmony with the seasons, taking note from their changes – when the leaves fall from the trees and begin their composting, what should we be dropping from ourselves and transforming for future nourishment?
We spoke of steps we could take –
to become instruments for peace,
to affirm: ‘the world is at peace’
to take individual responsibility
to find your ‘deep gladness’ that will meet the ‘deep needs of the world’
to find the place of heartbreak (Andrew Harvey)
to listen
to feel the feelings of a world at peace
to speak from the heart
to watch our language – and strike out any word that does not include
to avoid criticism, as it is soul destroying
to practice Oneness – we belong to a whole
to face reality and then change will occur
to acknowledge that ‘I am part of the problem’
to work together, young and old
to transform negative to positive, and to realise that it is deeper than negative v. positive
to have passion for a new, transforming way to get together
to go deeply into our contemplative being to listen for what is called for
We spoke of the mystical heart, coming to know that ‘the love of God is the universe, is embedded in every quark’ and that ‘God wants to be known – we are knee deep in the river begging for water.’ No cause is worth ‘fighting’ for, it was said, and we were asked that whenever we feel ourselves ‘insisting’ or ‘bracing’, to replace that with softening, softening the heart.
We were reminded that ‘at the confluence of two rivers, before they flow as one, there is often turbulence’ and that crisis is always fertile.
We spoke of guiding principles, as we go out to continue the flow of love. We were offered these as guidance from a Franciscan monk: to speak simply and in a clear manner; to open the heart and look at the world with a more positive and optimistic manner; to give appreciation and praise; to allow beauty to transform our lives; to ponder our smallness, our ‘minority’, as St Francis did. From a Benedictine Father: humility, respect for freedom, patience, and courage. From an educator: silence, interiority, awareness of breath, of oneness, of universal responsibility, acceptance of difference, interdependence, listening, transformation. From a Korean theologian: the principles of the feminine (diversity, reciprocity, sustainability); water (great wisdom Mother); beauty (balance and harmony); emptiness (of ego, acknowledgment of interconnectedness of everything); joy; the power of the erotic, the body; justice and love (right relationship backed by love); ‘the ant and the spider’ (to work by digging small holes under big structures and to weave connections); ‘7 generations’ (think of 7 generations ahead); and, ahimsa – harmlessness, non-hurting, non-violence, compassion.
A few other special moments from the gathering...
The ceremony of prayer for the healing of Afghanistan and Iraq – Sakeena from Afghanistan and Haider from Iraq sat in the centre of the circle holding the energy for their countries, while around them prayers and chants for healing, love and compassion were shared – from an Episcopalian priest, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a Catholic sister, a pilgrim, a follower of Paramahansa Yogananda, and from the hearts of all of us in the concentric circles around them
Sakeena Yacoobi, reminding us again of the needs of women and girls in her country of Afghanistan, and the great challenges ahead for them (pray for their elections this week), and modelling her great courage and passion, inspired by her deep faith. . . .the story of the hospital built by the Italian army in Afghanistan, then going unused by the Afghan government for months...Sakeena going to the Italian general and asking him to help; she ended up leasing the hospital and now runs successful health services there
Haider Al-Hashimi, a young architect from Iraq, telling us that Iraqis are a peaceful people and they deserve to live in safety and peace
Sister Giovanna, a pilgrim and follower of Charles de Foucault, telling us of interfaith gatherings by the Ganges: ‘the trees were all different, but the roots were in the same waters coming from the same source, flowing to the same sea. . . . the secret is to keep our feet there’
Michael Dunn, playing the harmonium and leading us in chanting, especially the song, ‘O Beautiful Mother’ and the Italian version, ‘O Bella Madonna’, stirring devotion, love and hope, invoking the presence of the Divine Mother
Concluding with the Prayer of St Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
