for our world

We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment.
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment.
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment.
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice.
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment.
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

-- Mattie Stepanek

the difference between the desire to be enlightened or desire to get a new BMW

“For some people striving towards enlightenment is the last thing they need to let go of. You see, even if you faithfully meditate every day to achieve enlightenment, you’re still in the same mind frame as someone who really wants a new BMW. It’s the same conditioning: ‘In the future…’. But there is no future. Surrender means the realisation that there is no state to be achieved. You give up your pursuit of a particular state and absorb yourself in what there already is. And that’s more than enough. You are already completely yourself. There is nothing in the future that can make you more yourself.”

-- Eckhart Tolle