“How wonderful! a garden in the fire.
My heart transmutes itself to all forms;
A meadow for wild gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks,
a temple for Pagan gods,
the kabba for Muslim pilgrims
Tablets for the Jewish Law,
and pages for the Quran.
I proclaim the religion of Love,
and wherever it carries me,
this is my creed and faith”.
- by Ibn Arabi, (Sufi poet: 1165-1240)
"This is our last best hope for peace" - Babylon 5
The first ‘Spirit of Peace’ conference took place at the Autumn
Equinox 2000. The theme for this conference was “Light, Life, Love,
Liberty”. The second conference took place at Samhain 2001, with theme
of “Sacred Music & Art”. The third conference is planed at
Autumn Equinox 2003, with the theme and intent of marking United Nation Global
Cease-fire Day. Spirit of Peace is devoted to the study of mysticism in all
its aspects; literature, history, philosophy and practice, irrespective of
religious denomination. Spirit of Peace is a non-profit making organisation,
which was founded as a turn of the century project to create a space for the
contemplation of inner and outer peace. We explore the rich tapestry of our
diverse traditions, and the spirituality behind our beliefs.
We chose Amnesty International as the beneficiary of 2002
conference, and all profits were donated to them. This year we have chosen
the (‘Landmine Trust’) as the beneficiary of this years event.
These one-day annual charity event consists of talks and
workshops on mystical and esoteric traditions from around the world, brining
together mystics and esoteric practitioners from variety of spiritual backgrounds.
This is an space where Christian Gnostics, Muslim Sufis, Jewish Kabbalists,
Zen Buddhists, Hindu Shivaites & Tantrics, Pagans, Druids, Shamans and
all others who walk between the worlds can meet as one body. We aim to create
a space where ideas can be shared, inspirations may occur and bring us insights
into ways of making this, a single blue tear in space we call ‘our planet’
a more peaceful place.
Spirit of Peace - background and history
‘to seek, to know, to understand, to keep silent’ - A.C.
I had the privilege of studying and sitting with a number
of people over the years who walk the walk, of a spiritual way of life. I’ve
learned wisdom from fools and stupidity from the learned. What does it really
means ‘to seek, to know, to understand, to keep silent’? Should
I remain hidden, with my spark of light never to be seen? But if one should
stand in middle of a circle and read out a poem has one written as a bard?
Should one tell the tale? Or would that be the ego speaking?
All journeys start with a desire ‘to seek’,
and if you are reading this, you’ve probably done that already! You
are on the path of ‘change’, knowing there must be more to life
than whatever your experience of it was before. So you sought and began to
step out of your social conditioning, the norm. This is the unseen path that
only you can thread. But beware, don’t spend all you life ‘wondering’,
all quests have an ending, which may lead to many more beginnings. Find what
you seek or at least find what you don’t.
‘To know’, is what follows,
the first fruits of the journey you place in your backpack. We all know much,
and some are full of useful knowledge, almost a walking library. Some can
tell you the names of all the religious pantheons, every occult book reference
given, formulas of forgotten arts. Knowledge is the axe that you may take
to break door of the house of ignorance. But beware not to become a stamp
collector, filling your head with knowledge, thousands or millions of books.
When is it enough? How much can you place in your backpack before its shear
weight stops you from walking any further? What’s the difference between
a library and a person?
‘To understand’ seeking is to
‘feel’ the meaning, for the inspiration to grab you by the metaphorical
balls, to feel fire in your heart, being aware of every hair on your body,
your dreams are reality , a tango of sunlight and moonshine. Stars are falling
all around you, and yourself too a shooting star, across the sky of time,
and the moment of eternity.
‘To keep silent’, many enlightened
people have been killed for being a ‘heretic’, while on smaller
scale anyone who sticks their head above the parapets gets eggs on their face.
Which is no surprise that secrecy has always had a strong element in mysticism.
Its much easier to remain the secret garden, enjoying its fruits and scents
of its flowers, without the hassle of putting yourself in the firing line
other peoples anger, criticism or endless other things that can be projected
upon anyone who chooses not to keep silent. But then something moves you,
and the words of your teachers ring in your ear, ‘Service, Service’
there is nothing more important than act of service to all creatures great
or small on the earth, or one’s fellow humans or the Great Spirit or
ones god. So wear your flake jacket and step outside.
Many moons ago a Druid teacher of mine said: “you have
been spending lots of time in the cauldron being cooked, it's about time you
bring something out of it." I asked what sort of thing she meant, she
replied: "most people at this stage bring out a gift form the community,
a poem, song, story or something more universal like healing, planting trees.
It’s up to you, go and meditate, come back when you know what inspiration
from the cauldron you like to make manifest in the world."
Several weeks passed, one afternoon sitting at the centre
of my circle all I can hear is the sound of the sheep, a fly zooming around,
the occasional call of a crow, and the gentle twitter of a sparrow. Ancient
Oak and Ash, many varieties of pine, hawthorn, apple and sycamore populate
the green hills I face, clouds gently float by across the heavens, all is
at peace. The angry young man, the rebel without a cause, a destroyer of patriarchy,
the heavy metal head-banger, seems rather happy just sitting there! No strange
drugs, no loud night-club music, no scantly clad bodies, no brightly lit computer
games or mindlessly violent Hollywood movies, no shouts of football triumphs,
no dying screams or battle cries of the million war 'martyrs', no shouts of
hatred of other cultures, no blaming of others, no double Expressos to keep
the eyes open, no shares in the petroleum industry, Nike or Gap! Finally no
guilt for still being alive! Letting go of my anger towards those who destroy
and exploit life, for those who kill in name of religion or god, letting it
all go, and then listening to the silence.....Allowing the inner peace to
come through ...... Just sitting and being, action in inaction: the effortless
effort, being in the moment.
My gift from the cauldron, was inner peace and outer peace;
the spirit of peace that has always existed. To make this manifest in the
physical world I organised the first Mystics conference, an esoteric Multi-Faith
gathering of mystics from different traditions.
I am walking my talk; but does organising such events does
really make the world more peaceful? Does it make a difference to the sectarian
violence in Northern Ireland? Or the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict? Are there
fewer muggings and fewer fights in our streets? Who knows, maybe not! The
important thing is that I have broken out of 'my' circle of violence and ego!
I am now part of the solution and not part of the problem; this change in
outlook is about all anyone can do on an individual level. One could show
where the door is, but in the end it’s up to each individual to decide
whether to walk through it, we do have free will afterall!. Tomorrow there
will still be thousands of people killed by the action or inaction of other
humans. We all carry a light inside ourselves, we could let the light out,
and at the same time let go of our egotistical attachments such as our anger,
or ego and memes will rule us. As the Tantrics say, "don't worry about
changing the world, first make sure the world doesn't change you." Both
our inner and outer world are as we choose them to be; to a great extent;
we create our own reality. All our actions count, every wing beat of a butterfly
has an effect, every drop of rain adds up in creating the larger intent of
peace.
A Sufi teacher of mine once said that the some so called
religious people are like spiders, they try to catch people and feed on them,
eventually they create conflict. But the Divine Being doesn't want us to hurt
each other or any creatures, as everyone and everything is part of the divine.
The Divine Being doesn't cut off its nose to spite its face! So nor should
we. Ya Hu.
Payam Nabarz
Organizer of the Spirit of Peace Conferences
February 2003
nabarz [at] hotmail [dot] com
