Peaceable Kingdom – Engaging Peace

Martin Luther King nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the
Nobel Peace Prize.In the public domain.

By Stefan Schindler

Note from Kathie MM: Today, tragically, is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., whose courageous leadership on behalf of peace and social justice has been receiving renewed attention this year on this blog and elsewhere. Today, please immerse yourself in this new ode to the King from Stefan Schindler.

ODE TO THE HUMBLE-KING

“Wealth, poverty, racism, and war. These four

always go together,” said Martin Luther King.

His words ring with urgency and truth,

as we applaud the awakening of youth

from the nightmare of parents in the voting booth

choosing more of the same: carnival of greed,

devoid of shame; goes by the name “land of the free,

home of the brave,” but is in fact Plato’s cave.

“He not busy being born is busy dying,” said Dylan.

And yet, “toy guns that spark” will never kill

the “flesh-colored Christ that glows in the dark”

who still teaches compassion. “There are no passengers

on spaceship earth,” said Buckminster Fuller.

“We are all members of the crew.” This is something

John and Robert Kennedy knew. John Lennon too.

Meanwhile, the dream … is not over. We continue to …

Imagine: a Peaceable Kingdom on earth, free of strife;

where music … is the medicine of life.

These are, indeed, “times that try men’s souls,”

Thomas Paine declared, not really all that long ago,

when the country was young, and sought to be free

from the oppressive grip of tyranny. And now it falls

upon you and me to keep the faith, shine the light;

keep the fires of peace and justice shining bright

for all to see; as Buddha did on Eagle’s Peak.

Yes, we seek: the triumph and the glory of The Good:

planetary peace at last, in a spirit of … universal …

brother-sisterhood. I believe we can; I believe we will;

inspired by the life of Martin Luther King, whose words

still sing, and legacy still … shines like the sun.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

Spreading, now, the Golden Fleece upon the beach

that is the shore to the dream come true, we know who

carried the torch and lit The Way. Each day,

what a sight! Precious, with beauty and delight.

In the sacred hoop of the Peace Abbey School

of Life Experience, gathered in Unitarian ring,

we celebrate Gaia, Gandhi, Romero,

and remain inspired by … the spirit of

Martin Luther King.

Stefan Schindler; Peace Abbey Cottage Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King; The Life Experience School; Millis, Massachusetts; April 4, 2018.

Stefan is co-founder of The National Registry for Conscientious Objection, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, a recipient of The Boston Baha’i Peace Award, and a Trustee of The Life Experience School and Peace Abbey Foundation, Dr. Stefan Schindler received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College, worked one summer in a nature preserve, lived in a Zen temple for a year, did the pilot’s voice in a claymation video of St. Exupery’s The Little Prince, acted in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and performed as a musical poet in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. He also wrote The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Awards for Howard Zinn and John Lennon. He is now semi-retired and living in Salem, Massachusetts. His books include The Tao of Socrates, America’s Indochina Holocaust, Discoursing with the Gods, and Space is Grace; his forthcoming book is Buddha’s Political Philosophy.

Stefan and John.
author: Lewis Randa, Life Experience School.

by Stefan Schindler

“Do we want to preserve the traditions – the history, prayers, rituals, and faith – which make Judaism distinctive, or do we want to become just a bunch of ethicists?” An ethicist advocates virtue, and the rabbi’s question was rhetorical. Now stay with me here; this is not complex.

Sabbath is the Hebrew holy day, beginning on Friday evening and extending through Saturday. Satori is a Japanese Buddhist word for enlightenment. One Saturday morning long ago, when I was still a child and attending a religious instruction class at our local temple, I had a mini-enlightenment.

I was only 12, and I found the Sabbath morning class inspirational. It was intellectually stimulating in a way that school was not. That morning, the rabbi’s question struck a chord. The name of that chord is irony. A Jewish education is ironic because, at its best, it’s Socratic: it teaches one to doubt and inquire. The same is true of Buddhism.

I was too shy to voice my response to the rabbi’s challenge; besides, he was on a roll. But I have always remembered that moment. Adding a retrospective flavor, here’s what I thought:

Although my mother was a Christian, she converted to Judaism to please my father. During the process of her conversion, my mother asked the rabbi if there was a conflict in being both Christian and Jewish. She wanted to convert, but she also wanted to keep her Christian values.

The rabbi responded that ethics is the heart of the Torah; therefore, at the deepest, most important level, there is no conflict. He told the story of the Hebrew sage who was asked to summarize the Torah, standing on one leg. So the sage stood on one leg and replied very simply: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

And so, dear rabbi, on this glorious Sabbath morning for which I do give thanks, kindly allow me to say: I would much rather have a world of ethicists, committed to peace and the Golden Rule, than a world of religious rivalry and strife. Religious distinctiveness has its beauty, but it also contributes, tragically, to what Hegel calls “the slaughter-bench of history.”

I would, therefore, gladly abandon all religious difference in favor of – and here comes irony again – a postreligious world committed to what the Dalai Lama calls “a common religion of kindness.”

After all, isn’t what all religions have in common more important than how they differ?

And at the heart of all religions, is there not a common urge, prayer, and path to the Peaceable Kingdom on earth?