20) A Prayerful Vigil for Peace

Together for Humanity is a coalition of Faith and Inter-Faith Groups, charities and community organisations which 'share a vision of hope that people of different backgrounds and faiths can live in peace alongside each other....'
I have used a photograph of the 'Inter-Faith Shrine' which I have at my workshops. After an initial welcome and an introduction to Mindfulness, we appreciate that human beings are a 'Tribal Species' and we are not designed to cope with everything on our own. I suggest that when facing any difficulty, we are never alone - even if there is absolutely nobody we can contact or speak to - and ask, 'where do you turn to for strength when you need it? Where do you find inner peace and happiness when facing difficult situations?'
Then I invite participants to place the flower they have drawn beside something on the shrine which holds significance for them. If they don't see something already there that they love, that lifts their spirits, then they can draw it and put their flower beside that. Since many participants are Ukrainian refugees, the Ukrainian flag, their nation and their Family, are prominent in these images. Where would you choose to place your flower?

Sunday 3rd December.
After the Workshop last Sunday, I was very happy, but the 'Take Down' is quite tiring after the drama of the workshop itself. My son and I were both happy and close to exhausted by the time we went home with all the 'Take Down' done.
I rarely catch colds but a few days later I had a slight sore throat. Perhaps, with the intense activity at the weekend, I had undermined my immune system. There are a lot of 'bugs' going around at this time of year and I had caught one. I was as careful as possible to look after myself, keeping warm in what proved to be the coldest weather we've had since last winter, drinking lots of hot lemon and honey with ginger sliced into it, even taking 'Night Nurse' when I felt a bit feverish (which is the strongest medication I would consider.) I was doing all the 'right things' but the 'cold' did not go away and by Sunday, while not feeling as ill as I had been a day or two earlier, I had almost no voice at all.
 
I had arranged for a friend to come over on Sunday morning to help me with some of the 'processing' of workshop materials. It takes a few weeks before everything is washed and dried, aprons and table cloths ironed, dishes and cutlery stowed away, ready for the next workshop, silk-dye droppers and the little dye-cups washed, silk-painting mats and wooden blocks scrubbed and dried... there are many hours of work involved.

As long as I am in a good consciousness, I can work on all this for hours, day after day, in a mindful way. It becomes an extension of my meditation, but this week, feeling 'under the weather' It has been more of a struggle, so my good friend, ANgel the great cellist,  offered to come and help. I cancelled his visit and spent the whole morning in bed, hoping to convince the 'bug' that I was taking it seriously, so it would feel 'honour was satisfied' and would 'take its leave and go.' I was hoping that if I had a good rest on Sunday Morning I would then feel up to taking part in the Building Bridges Vigil. I was so good at taking the rest, I fell asleep and woke later than I had planned - getting to the Event a bit late, but at least I was in time to be there for most of the event.

Together for Humanity - Building Bridges Vigil
It was a chilly, damp afternoon rather than the sunny but bitterly cold weather that we'd had all week. By the time I reached Richmond Terrace, opposite Downing Street where our Prime Minister has his official residence, it was raining and the grey sky was morphing into darkness. There was a big crowd of people gathered there. The speeches had already started and I joined the crowd, standing close together in the rain and feeling embraced, as if we were wrapped together in a shared sense of sadness and grief at all the horror which is being experienced by Israelis and Palestinians alike. It was a moving experience of welcome and real love and oneness.

I arrived during the speech given by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are three speeches on the 'Together Website' which I will share here. I am not sure if these are speeches from today's vigil or the first one which was held on 15th November. They are all deeply moving, as the conflict is acutely personal for each one of them.
 
I hope that all today's speeches will be shared. I made a sound-recording which includes the closing song from Mira Awad Palestinian-Israeli Singer, Actress and Activist. She sang in English, Arabic and Hebrew - a beautiful and meaningful song calling on us all to become a light in the darkness.

 We had been asked to bring a light or lantern an it was a moving moment at the end of the event when we were asked to shine our lights, some people with little electric candles and some using their mobile phone lights. Afterwards many of us stayed behind, despite the rain, to talk together and share our contact details.
 
I was invited to join an Interfaith Group and possibly give a presentation there about my workshops. I am so happy that I was able to go, despite having almost no voice and not feeling my usual dynamic self. I was very happy to get home into the warm and dry again afterwards.

Here are the three videos from the website.

https://youtu.be/ivJ2bsmYw7E   Alex Sobel is the only MP with Israeli parentage. 
He is the Labour MP for Leeds Northwest.
https://youtu.be/469lpGnk5SI    Magen Inon, London-based Israeli Teacher and son of Yakovi and Bilha Inon, both murdered in Israel on 7th October

What is Together for Humanity (from the website - https://togetherforhumanity.co.uk/)

On 15th November 2023, a coalition of political, faith and civil society leaders came together to remember those we have lost in the terrible conflict Palestinians and Israelis, Muslims and Jews; everyone suffering from this war. We put out an appeal to the public to join us for a sombre moment of reflection and togetherness — without flags or placards. Hundreds of people answered the call at short notice, gathering in Westminster to offer thoughts, love and prayers are with all those civilians suffering in Israel and in Palestine. Many more sent messages of support.

Our vigil was just the start. We hope people will take inspiration from it and organise their own moments of togetherness at a local level to bring people together to focus on our shared humanity and our rejection of hatreds. Now, we’re working to turn a moment into a movement – one that holds hope for peace, stands against prejudice, and reminds us all of the importance of placing our common humanity above all else.

Together for Humanity is supported by the Together Coalition – a coalition of hundreds of organisations from the NHS to the Scouts, the Football Association to the Women’s Institute.

The organisations and individuals who have helped steer Together for Humanity include:

Julie Siddiqi the Interfaith Advisor for Together,  Imam Qari Asim, HOPE Not Hate, 38 Degrees, Belong, Citizens UK, British Future, Yachad, HIAS+JCORE, Solutions Not Sides, The Church of England, The Local Government Association, New Horizons in British Islam, Nisa-Nashim, The Faith and Belief Forum, The Oxford Foundation, Christian Muslim Forum, The Council of Christians and Jews and Faiths Forum for London. A number of other individuals and organisations across faith and civil society have advised and supported the initiative.

It was a very moving and significant afternoon which left me in a reflective, introspective mood. I feel that some of the people I met will be significant in the coming year and I hope that I may be able to offer them support and a practical way to stay strong, positive and hopeful at this difficult time.

Mindfulness Reflections - 
Firstly, in relation to catching the 'cold' or whatever it is, I found myself thinking how blessed and fortunate I am to be here in England, in a house were I can switch on an electric radiator and warm the room when I feel ill, where I can boil a kettle and get lemons and root ginger from the local supermarket to make a soothing drink. 
IN COMPLETE CONTRAST TO SO MANY PEOPLE - especially for those sheltering from the winter rain and cold amid the ruins of Gaza in Palestine, where food of any kind is scarce, where water, when you can find it, is often dangerously contaminated, and as a result serious illnesses are spreading and adding to the  misery and death, even as the bombs are falling from the sky, killing ever more helpless and innocent Palestinians ever minute - even as I am writing this.
The entire world is calling for a Cease Fire, only the politicians in America and the UK failed to vote for the Cease Fire at the United Nations. It seems that in Israel, there is no plan for Gaza - only anger and revenge.
My heart goes out to everyone who has lost loved ones - in Israel and in Palestine - and to the hostages and the families of the hostages. But bombing more civilians is not the answer. 

The aim must be to see the divine in everyone, to love and serve the divine in everyone. That is my aim, but there are some people who are too difficult for me to extend my genuine love to at the moment. I am not 'God-Realised' yet and I don't have the capacity to love the war-mongers. I respond to this dilemma by imagining a 'parking lot' just outside my heart of love. I can admit most people straight away and embrace them but those who I am not able to love, because of the pain and suffering they are causing, I visualise as 'sitting in the Parking Lot. For now I can simply pray about them and 'place them at God's Feet.' People may be divine in the depth of their heart and soul but all too often they are not listening to their 'Divine Reality' but hooked up with the ego or desire, which motivate them to become a real force for evil. 

Heaven’s tears are falling.
Yet the world’s
Staggering problems
Remain unsolved.

Sri Chinmoy
Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, no 2380, part 24, 1984

O peace-dreamers of the world,
O peace-lovers of the world,
Do not hesitate.
Unite and unite and unite!

Sri Chinmoy,
Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 261, no 26041, 1998