Wednesday, June 22, 2011

To Martin...With Love (LLJL)



Those who know me well, I hope, will acknowledge, that among those traits that I possess...
Both admirable and not so admirable... is that the one thing, that defines me to the greatest degree,
is that I am passionate about the things that I believe are important.

The greatest of my passions throughout my life, has been my passion (and search) for peace...
both inner and for the world and beyond...

And along this path of mine, which has been affectionately dubbed, my "Ministry of Peace",
I have encountered many beautiful like-minded souls,
who needed to be reminded that they were not alone in their vision.

I have also, been patted on the head, with looks of pathetic sympathy at my "simple and unrealistic view of the world".
I have been called a "fanatic", 'delusional", a "fighter of windmills" and just plain downright "insane".

And then I am reminded of what Marianne Williamson said, that
"No serious social change has ever happened in our country or in our world because it seemed possible at the time. It did not happen because the majority woke up one day and said, 'this is a good idea'. Such social change in the direction of sanity, real sanity, deep sanity, deep wisdom is always counter to the status quo...Tis now and twas thus always so."

There have been many on this path, both during this current incarnation,
and others that are no longer in physical form who have...
and continue to...
inspire me, guide me, motivate me, buoy me with strength, and calm my impatience and fears.

Their presence in my life has been pivotal and joyous...
This list is by no means a complete list,
but the names listed here,
bear mentioning for the honor and sacred gifts of awareness,
insight, inspiration, guidance and Truth
they have brought to my life and to the Vision that I hold for a Permanent and Inevitable Peace.

HH the Dalai Lama
Thich Nhat Hanh
Marianne Williamson
Wayne Dyer
James Twyman
Maya Angelou
Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith
President Jimmy Carter
Princess of Wales, Diana Frances Spencer
The woman known as, "Peace Pilgrim"
John Lennon
President John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
St. Michael the Archangel (my most beloved protector and guide)
St. Francis of Assisi
Ascended Master Jesus the Christ
Ascended Master Mother Theresa
Ascended Master Mohandas K Ghandi




And to the One who this writing is dedicated this day...
Ascended Master Martin Luther King, Jr..
Who continues to fill me with his visions & promises of; a true and permanent peace,
a perpetual love and freedom for all ...

To my Beloved Master and Mentor,
I feel your guiding presence in and around me...
this day...and everyday,
until the promise of peace is fulfilled...

For in picking up the torch for Peace,
your Dream has become my Dream...
and the Hope and Promise for all Humankind.

May you continue to teach me the ways of peace...
that I may be a worthy vessel to carry on this work...
to speak this Truth...
and to dwell there,
in that place of perfect peace, with you, forever...

With much love to you on, this your day,
My Most Beloved Muse, Master,Teacher, Friend...
My Beautiful, Passionate Peacefilled Brother

May these, your words, live on in the minds and hearts of all who read them....

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

"A lie cannot live."

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

"A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan."

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better."

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

"I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

"I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law."

"If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive."

"If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control."

"It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it."

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

"Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

"Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man."

"Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control."

"Seeing is not always believing."

"That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing."

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

"The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows."

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now."

"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."

"We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace."

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

"We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."

"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr,




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