In a message dated 11/24/01 7:52:09 AM, Mary writes:
Dear Rhio,
Basically this is a take off on St. Francis of Assisi's prayer. St. Francis, of course, was, is, the patron St.of the animals….one of my favorite guys. There's more to the prayer and when I get my hands on a copy which I have somewhere I'll send it to you.
An interesting true story…Last year during the Feast Day of St. Francis, the pastor of our church which is run by monks of the order of St. Francis, was giving a sermon about the Divine St. Francis and his love for animals and how they flocked around him….Right in the middle of our pastor's sermon a squirrel entered into the church through a window, ran up towards the altar and to everyone's amazement, climbed up the pole of the lecturn and sat looking at the pastor as he unflappably, continued with his sermon….The squirrel stayed put for the entire sermon and then at the end of it, as quickly as he came, he hurridly climbed back down and ran towards the window through which he entered, jumped through and left…….On his way no doubt to contine his morning rounds….yet he too could take the time to soo honor….the Divine, lovable, comedianne,,,,St. Francis.
However, in addition, I too have thought much about these times we have entered…and knowing, that there is nothing..but God…and her/his plan…..these times, frought with so much danger are filled with God as well…..So as the most Holy prayer of the Bagavigita says….as Arjuna is on the hilltop, a general despairing the war he is about to embark into and seeing his family members on the opposing side and not wanting to fight and kill…Krishma appears to him and says….We all have a destiny and your destiny is to be a general and generals make wars and they fight and kill….you too are a part of God…..first he says….your mistake is to think you can kill anyone because death is an illusion of this realm that in truth does not exist…..we never die…we simply change form (a fact of physics…as proved in the theory of relativity)….and he contined…the only sin you can make…is not fulfilling your destiny and performing your acts 100 percent He persuades Arjuna not to waddle and to move quickly and decisively.
The moral of the story I have come to understand…..I have met many many angry peace lovers……who's shadows loom so large in their lives that they constantly unconsciously hurt and abusive themselves and those around them while they are basking in their great "white light"…. The angry screaming peace niks carrying signs come to mind…..In contrast, I have also met professional "killers"….soldiers and otherwise….who have great reverence for human life and life in general…..and truly live in life with great
sacredness……so I pray for those who have chosen this difficult karma for us filled with such suffering….be they the Osama Bin Ladin's or the Colin Powells (a good case in point who has demonstrated his great respect for life) and know we are all truly "ONE" and they are playing out our own shadow nature which we have failed to bring into the light…because of our ignorance, hubris and lack of awarness…………..All of us who live here in New York City….in a lifestyle that supports a way of life this is destructive to nature…..are all guilty…we all help to sustain an unreal sick world that breeds the results. we have are now encountering…………..
Well I have gone on long enough in this ramble this morning…..I pray this war be quick,,,,deep and total……now that we are there…that is the only action that will work…I myself have chosen to get out of the range of fire…. I am not a general…..though I truly honor the great warrior spirit….For me I think, I won't be able to help humanity clean up their blood terrain if I am or become a potato chip!
Dear Mary,
Thank you for informing me of the source of that beautiful prayer. I got many replies almost immediately and some sent me the rest of the piece.
Your story on the squirrel attracted to the lecture about St. Francis is so beautiful – could I have permission to put it on my website? Soon I will be doing some reading about St. Francis because after all the emails I've gotten, I am truly intrigued.
For me the only solution to any war (or terrorism) is not to wage war in return, but to wage peace. We have never waged peace. We cannot say it won't work because we have never tried. We have a huge budget for the military but 0 budget for the Peace Bureau . . . that's because we don't have one. As a nation we can't expect to have any results in something we don't invest in. All the men of peace throughout history never fought back with weaponry but with words of love, logic, reason, and non violent, but creative actions. Fighting back with weapons of destruction only creates more destruction, as we are clearly seeing now. Aside from the obvious killings, millions of Afghan people, who had nothing to do with any terrorist actions, camping out on the borders of Pakistan are going to be dying of starvation this winter because food supplies have been prevented from going in. And here I agree with you, we are all guilty, for not speaking out against this mass genocide.
Since 1947, when the CIA was created, its covert actions in many parts of the world, for the most part hidden from the American people, have created bad feelings towards the U.S. Hatreds are not born out of a void.
I have a tape that I've been loaning to people who might be interested. It is called "What I've learned about US Foreign Policy". I can loan it to you if you would like. Let me know.
We don't have to agree on everything to be or become friends. We can build on our areas of mutual agreement with natural diets and lifestyles, and respectfully agree to disagree on other things.
In friendship,
Rhio