From Tom Williams:
"How do I go about peacemaking in my daily life? Here are my 12 ingredients."
(The August 29 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace)
1.
Keep death close.
Death is part of life. St. Francis called her Sister Death. Keep her close. She will seem a witch at first, but will
become a loving sister who changes your priorities.
2.
Take appropriate
responsibility. Many of us are
under-responsible for our actions. Many
of us are over responsible for the actions of others. Our burdens are enough. We do no one any good by learning their
lessons. Take appropriate responsibility.
Your ability to go outward will depend upon your willingness to go
inward and look at your own darkness.
3.
Widen your
circle. No one is a stranger. We are all just branches of the same tree. When I help you, I am helping myself. This is true, but difficult to see unless we
are willing to look deeper and see our common roots. Genetically we are 99.5% the same. Let’s build on that circle.
4.
Keep a good
question in front of you. A good
question focuses our attention without closing off discovery. Here is one that I keep present in my life:
What does compassion want for Louisville?
Sit with that question for a lifetime.
5.
Look for what
co-arises. Synchronicities are a
sign that you may be on to something.
What you plan is limited. What God plans is not.
6.
Be wholehearted. As the poet says, what you can plan is too
small for you to live. What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough
for the vitality hidden in your dreams.
7.
Connect. Connecting the right people and getting out
of the way is the work of the spirit.
8.
Trust that the
Universe is friendly. Everything is
arcing toward justice and God is in every moment—even the dark ones.
9.
Look for a Third
Way. Avoid fight or flight. Look for a third way that comes from a
compassionate creativity that arises when we are not too quick to judge or too
quick to label. With the work of
restorative justice and compassion, I am practitioner of the third way seeking
to create spaces where compassionate creativity can thrive.
10.
Practice
contemplation. Take a long loving
look at the real. Lead with a yes. When you do this, you will be open to growth
and to insight.
11.
See beauty. There are a million creative ways to love. So
practice a beautiful morality that expresses your creativity and builds up those
around you with whom you are 99.5 % genetically bonded.
12.
Let Lady
Compassion be your Guide. For me,
compassion is a doorway to peace. Lady
Compassion speaks the languages of religion, science and secular ethics. She opens our hearts. Every spiritual gift is contained in each
spiritual gift. Compassion includes
truth telling, forgiveness, accountability, kindness and love. So, if you don’t follow Lady Compassion,
learn from her family members: Sister Truth, Father Forgiveness, Brother
Kindness and Mother Love. Even Aunts
like Accountability have something to offer.
Stay in the midst of this family, move to the places that scare you and
you will find peace within your darkness and the pain and suffering of this
world.
Tom
Williams, attorney and co-host of Compassionate Louisville.
*
Many of these thoughts are either quotes or inspired by St. Francis, Fr.
Richard Rohr, Pema Chodron and poet David Whyte.
