Sunday Dialogue, 12/13/20 - OM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KHoVBK2EVE Christmas Truce 1914
Yes this event happened. Yes, this is a commercial. And yes, I wanted to give at least a tiny glimpse towards something that happened during World War I in which a group of perceived enemies suspended their fears, beliefs and ideologies, and came together as one.
“Yet for many at the time, the story of the Christmas truce was not an example of chivalry in the depths of war, but rather a tale of subversion: when the men on the ground decided they were not fighting the same war as their superiors. With no man’s land sometimes spanning just 100 feet, enemy troops were so close that they could hear each other and even smell their cooking. The commander of the British Second Corps, General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, believed this proximity posed “the greatest danger” to the morale of soldiers and told Divisional Commanders to explicitly prohibit any “friendly intercourse with the enemy.” In a memo issued on Dec. 5, he warned that: “troops in trenches in close proximity to the enemy slide very easily, if permitted to do so, into a ‘live and let live’ theory of life…..Indeed, one British soldier, Murdoch M. Wood, speaking in 1930, said: “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired.” Adolf Hitler, then a Corporal of the 16th Bavarians, saw it differently: “Such a thing should not happen in wartime,” he is said to have remarked. “Have you no German sense of honor?”
- NAINA BAJEKAL
Why do we keep following authority - when authority itself is immoral and our voice, our hearts, is where wisdom lies - if we could just listen and have the courage to stand in defiance of authority’s ignorance.
12/13/20
By Garin Samuelsen…
We began this dialogue by telling the story of this event. What, in the midst of great conflict, great sorrow, can lead us to see each other, to see the beauty and wonder in all things and possibly change our trajectory of sorrow into one of wholeness? On the eve of December 24, 1914, a well known Christmas song led a pause in the between what seemed to be two sides. While both sides began to sing together, a different feeling swept over the soldiers, wiping away the illusion of an us vs them mentality. With this suspension of dualistic thought and fear based separation, there were just human beings left standing. Not Germans, or Belgians, French and British soldiers. Human beings. Instead of following their superiors even if it was for a brief moment, they followed their hearts.
What it that can take place that helps us awaken to what lies all around us? What can help us let go of ideologies and belief systems that create the illusion that we are separate?
A wonder came up in our group as we spoke about the power of music that focused in on the sacred Om symbolized in the Vedas, a collection of Hindu texts written around 1500 - 1000 BCE. OM symbolizes the sound or vibration of all that is. When our minds are quiet, and we are tapping into that energy, what happens? Could tapping into this OM, this wholeness, in the quiet of our minds lead us to live very differently?
If we were to surrender and stop running around, could we find this space, this peace within the tapestry of our own lives? Can we stop divisive thinking and just stop and surrender to listening - to seek understanding? All who were present in the dialogue spoke authentically and shared insights and wisdom. For now, I am going to release what this dialogue brought up for me. Within the lines of this poem, i tried to include everyone’s voice. Thank you for taking time to read. After you finish this post, please join in. What is it you think? Keep the dialogue going, keep it alive, breath yourself into it. Write your thoughts in the comment section. Let’s go for a ride…
Possibilities. How did that truce happen? What does this tell us about the nature of our humanity?
OM: It is a Sanskrit word that translates to 'source' or 'supreme. ' In Hinduism it is said to be the sound of the universe
In quiet, listen
In quiet, wonder
In quiet stop
stop running
stop fighting
surrender completely
to what lies here
right here…..
In quiet listen to the faithful OM
A sound resonating through the cosmos
one love
a silent night
a silent day
a peace within
a peace on earth
no superiors
no hierarchy
only wholeness
flowing with the energetic hum
of all energy
a sound that is not sound
a Koan that is a riddle that can’t be answered
historically
moments arose
in which music played a role
in waking people up
out of the slumber of
robotic numbness
waking people up
beyond the limitation and toxicity
of their warring ideologies
a music that flowed
from the sweet song
of the sacred OM
the surrender to what one is
near or far it doesn’t matter
OM contains it
robotic or awake
it resides without choice
try as you may
but you can’t escape it
here is the dance
here is the beauty
here is the questioning
here in that quiet domain
that has no borders
no duality
no measures
suffering floats away like
the morning dew
here one sees
that all are
oneself
all lies within OM’s breath
and the music of the heart
is the music of the soul
which is the music of OM
flowing
and in this place of understanding
joy and communion
can’t help but end
the psychological and collective war
of ignorance
Peace to you all… Please share your thoughts and ideas and lets keep this flow going! :)
