By Rev. Elizabeth Rowley,
Spiritual Director
February 15, 2019
Last week we had a group of Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery visit our Center on the Central Coast. In just under three days they created a live sand mandala which was a beautiful, detailed expression of sacred art. The mandala chosen was the World Peace mandala which displayed rings of intricate detail related to world peace. On the third day, there was a dissolution ceremony, demonstrating the Buddhist concept of impermanence as an undeniable and inescapable fact of our human existence.
The creation and dissolution of the mandala was also a great representation of our teaching symbol which defines the creative process. The symbol demonstrates the involution of pure Spirit into form, and the evolution out of form and back to pure Spirit.
We all use the creative process in our lives every day. You wake up daily and begin again. You choose what you’ll have for breakfast and which clothes you will wear. You choose what you will do for the day, whom you will talk to, and how your day will unfold.
You are always creating either consciously or unconsciously. There is a power for good within you that is greater than the conditions in your life. It’s up to you to choose your mindsets, your responses, and how you will move through the world. Will you be peaceful, joyful, compassionate and kind?
When you truly understand that yes, you are responsible for your way of being, you are no longer a victim of any circumstances or conditions. We are each blessed with unique gifts and talents which we are called to share with the world. Some bring the gift of joy; some bring the gift of peace. One person may be a musician and another a gifted speaker.
Whatever it is you’re called to be, the task at hand is to let go of the misinterpretations of yourself that have accumulated over the years. Eradicate fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, frustration, anger, and irritation by turning to the Truth to set yourself free.
The question was raised over the three days the monks were visiting whether I believed that world peace was possible. Yes, world peace is a real possibility. When we have found peace within our hearts and minds, are expressing it in as many moments as we can, and have let go of the idea that it’s something that needs to happen out there, somewhere else in the world as someone else’s responsibility, we’ll begin to see more of it. That’s my affirmation.
A critical mass will occur, and we’ll return to our natural state of being peaceful. We are born peaceful and remain so for several years until the layers of conditioning are painted on, and peace becomes a distant reality. It becomes something we long to return to, and we search for ways to expand the revelation of it in our busy lives.
World peace begins within you.
And so it is.
