Infinite Peace!
Last Jan.22 at the Peacemakers’ Tuesday Inner Work Circle (TIWC) a group of 10 gathered for a session of reflections and sharing.
Starting with kamustahan or touching-base with each other, the participants shared their highlight experiences within the past week. Some extra time were given here as we listened to an old-time peacemaker friend who came to reconnect with the circle and to “re-energize” herself by re-joining.
After a short silencing of the mind and praying for the self and the world, the circle then proceeded to the sharing of reflections on the theme: “What am I being called to do? Where am I being led to?”
There were two main kinds of responses to the topic, each from the two main generations to which the participants belong. The first batch of sharing came from the “more mature” generation whose common response to the guide question is the act of “slowing down”. Finding themselves resonating with each other’s sharing, we heard the general theme of “taking a sabbatical”, “doing less with the body and more of the spirit”, “giving less and receiving more”, “do more by sitting down and letting others (the younger ones) do more of the standing/marching around”.
On the other hand, the younger generation had a different – yet equally insightful and rich –set of responses to the same question. Although not having already established in a particular field of work nor having fully forged paths along clearly envisioned life missions, the younger minds spoke of bright hopes and fiery passion waiting to unfold and to be unleashed. This was evident from the words of wisdom they quoted as they shared their reflections:
“A single tree falling makes more noise than a whole forest growing.”
“It is not enough to stare at the stairs and know where you are going—you must step up the stairs and get there!”
Truly, wisdom it is not in the number of years or in the range of experiences, but in our ability to reflect on/ “listen to” these experiences; be aware and learn the lessons from them; and walk the talk (or even just sit the talk, eventually!) and apply what is learned at any level of existence.
Next week (Jan.29) is the last Tuesday of the month which usually means that it is time for the TIWC Open Evening for the month.
Our first Open Evening (in-house) for the year will feature “Stillness in Movement” a sharing on T’ai Chi, Qi-Gong and other Oriental Healing Arts by Orlan de Guzman, Jr.
See you then!
Reorientation to the Inner Work Program 2008 (TIWC 01/15/08)
Infinite Peace!
Last Jan. 15, 2008, the second session of the Peacemakers’ Tuesday Inner Work Circle (TIWC) for this New Year took place with the participation of 16 old and new friends.
After returning to the regular format of starting with body-silencing (through relaxation exercises led by Orlan), the group was engaged by Ms. Marites Africa into touching-base with each other through individual sharing on the highlights of each one's experiences in the past week. This once again prepared each one to connect with the others by breaking the ice and engaging the participants in the exercise of expressing one's self and listening to others.
Following the guided silencing of the mind facilitated by Ms. Marites, the group proceeded to the evening’s program which was a continuation of the reorientation to the Inner Work program 2008 of The Peacemakers’ Circle.
Ms Shakun Vaswani gave a preview to the forthcoming themes and the guide questions for the Inner Work program for the year. She explained that in each month three Tuesdays will be assigned to a particular guiding theme for reflection (for a total of 34 weekly themes for the whole year), and one Tuesday in a month will be an Open Evening session. An Open Evening is when an assigned or invited speaker has the whole session to speak about his/her particular topic/theme or subject matter (usually a particular faith tradition). An Open Evening can either be in-house conducted at The Peacemakers’ Circle, or on-site – which is when the whole group goes on a “field trip” to visit a particular place of worship and experience first-hand the faith celebrations/ religious service/lecture.
The orientation was capped off by reading aloud the Preamble, Purpose, and Principles of the United Religions Initiative (URI-PPP) whereby each one around the circle read aloud a line from the Charter one after the other.
Ms Shakun then invited everyone to become members of the Peacemakers' Circle and read out the guidelines for membership and distributed application forms.
Next Tuesday (Jan.22), as we continue discussing/finalizi ng the Inner Work program 2008, we will be sharing our reflections and insights based on the following guide questions:
1) ”Where am I led to do? What do I find myself doing best? Where am I good at?"
2) “How can I contribute in my own way/capacity to the peacebuilding programs of The Peacemakers’ Circle?”
See you then!
Last Jan. 15, 2008, the second session of the Peacemakers’ Tuesday Inner Work Circle (TIWC) for this New Year took place with the participation of 16 old and new friends.
After returning to the regular format of starting with body-silencing (through relaxation exercises led by Orlan), the group was engaged by Ms. Marites Africa into touching-base with each other through individual sharing on the highlights of each one's experiences in the past week. This once again prepared each one to connect with the others by breaking the ice and engaging the participants in the exercise of expressing one's self and listening to others.
Following the guided silencing of the mind facilitated by Ms. Marites, the group proceeded to the evening’s program which was a continuation of the reorientation to the Inner Work program 2008 of The Peacemakers’ Circle.
Ms Shakun Vaswani gave a preview to the forthcoming themes and the guide questions for the Inner Work program for the year. She explained that in each month three Tuesdays will be assigned to a particular guiding theme for reflection (for a total of 34 weekly themes for the whole year), and one Tuesday in a month will be an Open Evening session. An Open Evening is when an assigned or invited speaker has the whole session to speak about his/her particular topic/theme or subject matter (usually a particular faith tradition). An Open Evening can either be in-house conducted at The Peacemakers’ Circle, or on-site – which is when the whole group goes on a “field trip” to visit a particular place of worship and experience first-hand the faith celebrations/ religious service/lecture.
The orientation was capped off by reading aloud the Preamble, Purpose, and Principles of the United Religions Initiative (URI-PPP) whereby each one around the circle read aloud a line from the Charter one after the other.
Ms Shakun then invited everyone to become members of the Peacemakers' Circle and read out the guidelines for membership and distributed application forms.
Next Tuesday (Jan.22), as we continue discussing/finalizi ng the Inner Work program 2008, we will be sharing our reflections and insights based on the following guide questions:
1) ”Where am I led to do? What do I find myself doing best? Where am I good at?"
2) “How can I contribute in my own way/capacity to the peacebuilding programs of The Peacemakers’ Circle?”
See you then!
Welcoming the New Year with (TIWC 01/08/08)
Infinite Peace!
Last Tuesday, January 8, 2008, The Peacemakers’ Circle had its first session of the Tuesday Inner Work Circle for the new year. The 14 of us gathered in the circle eagerly exchanged kamustahan – not having seen each other for weeks since the group took a break for the holidays.
Since it was the first session of the year, the group started its session with interfaith prayers, reflections, affirmations and/or words of inspiration from each one as we offered gratitude for the previous year and welcomed the new one. It was a simple yet very solemn and powerful ceremony that jumpstarted the program in the new year with renewed inspiration and energy.
The opening silence and prayers was followed by a few words from Shakun who leveled off the knowledge of the group on The Peacemakers’ Circle as a founding “member organization” or Cooperation Circle (CC) of the United Religions Initiative (URI).
This was followed by the viewing of some short video clips from the URI which gave more visual orientation, information and understanding about the global interfaith network which The Peacemakers’ Circle is actively a part of.
The participants were then invited to renew and reaffirm their involvement in the circle by formally registering their membership (a separate email will be circulated to open the invitation and announce the mechanics of this membership).
The group then exchanged reflections and insights on what they saw in the videos and this led to a lively discussion about interfaith dialogue and “religiously motivated” violence. This fueled more passion for the participants to continue engaging in dialogue– through the circle-- to foster understanding, respect and acceptance of the differences in each other’s beliefs and perspectives. Some topics for the open evening lectures for the year where suggested.
Next Tuesday (Jan.15) we will be discussing in more detail the new format, the themes and the mechanics for the Inner Work program 2008.
See you then!
Last Tuesday, January 8, 2008, The Peacemakers’ Circle had its first session of the Tuesday Inner Work Circle for the new year. The 14 of us gathered in the circle eagerly exchanged kamustahan – not having seen each other for weeks since the group took a break for the holidays.
Since it was the first session of the year, the group started its session with interfaith prayers, reflections, affirmations and/or words of inspiration from each one as we offered gratitude for the previous year and welcomed the new one. It was a simple yet very solemn and powerful ceremony that jumpstarted the program in the new year with renewed inspiration and energy.
The opening silence and prayers was followed by a few words from Shakun who leveled off the knowledge of the group on The Peacemakers’ Circle as a founding “member organization” or Cooperation Circle (CC) of the United Religions Initiative (URI).
This was followed by the viewing of some short video clips from the URI which gave more visual orientation, information and understanding about the global interfaith network which The Peacemakers’ Circle is actively a part of.
The participants were then invited to renew and reaffirm their involvement in the circle by formally registering their membership (a separate email will be circulated to open the invitation and announce the mechanics of this membership).
The group then exchanged reflections and insights on what they saw in the videos and this led to a lively discussion about interfaith dialogue and “religiously motivated” violence. This fueled more passion for the participants to continue engaging in dialogue– through the circle-- to foster understanding, respect and acceptance of the differences in each other’s beliefs and perspectives. Some topics for the open evening lectures for the year where suggested.
Next Tuesday (Jan.15) we will be discussing in more detail the new format, the themes and the mechanics for the Inner Work program 2008.
See you then!
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