As I read and reread the following quote, the more it brings me to acceptance. This morning I woke with the knowing that peace already exists, and it is eternal. Does that mean that we humans are living peacefully? Alas, no. As much as we need the healing of peace, we often go in the opposite direction- creating more chaos, more strife, more separation, more grief.
Yesterday, I stopped at a small Japanese restaurant that sits in a narrow strip mall. I had never been there, but despite the noise both inside and outside the restaurant, I found peace. I found a place to rest and be nourished. I also found a place where I could listen to two very young children talking to each other and the adults who were with them. No, I could not understand them, but they seemed to understand one another. They were speaking the language of discovery. The parents were encouraging the children to speak familiar words because that is what generally well intentioned parents do. Yet, I loved listening to those children delight one another. I felt no need to hear words I already knew.
As I was leaving, I told the parents that I so enjoyed hearing the children, and I gave them a blessing for a happy family. Yes, that blessing surprised the adults, but I think these fortunate children probably understand the joy of blessings very well.
"If two or more people love one another deeply, they may come to that profound level of awareness and mind-expansion in which no words are necessary because their intimacy is not built on words. And the stronger the love, the more profound will be the silence and the deeper will be the enlightenment. Furthermore, if this love goes to the core of their being, it brings a realization of something more than the people involved -- it brings a consciousness of the all; it contains an element of universality."
~ from SILENT MUSIC by William Johnston
image: "Beyond the Fence" San Leandro
