Collaborative Blessing

Dear Friends,

There are at least three interweaving aspects from which we can think about the events in Ukraine. 

The personal aspect takes in the fear, anger, grief and physical pain of the people in Ukraine -- including Russians, who may be serving there unwillingly and also the Russians hurt by sanctions and increased repression at home.  The personal level is the one where, for instance, we are starving, or wounded, or fleeing, or grieving.  The personal level covers all suffering, however, so it includes the suffering in aggression itself.

The second aspect is political, the stuff of power struggles and strategies.
This aspect occupies much of what is in the news media and diplomatic and economic commentary.

It is harder to talk about the third aspect, the subtle aspect at which we may sense the engagement of humanity with the earth and the earth with humanity in that region of the world.  To feel our way into it, we can ask more openly, and wonder more wonderingly, not only in words but with parts of our attention we rarely unfurl: what is humanity doing on earth altogether?  How does the current conflict fit into that?

In group, we'll discuss all three of these somewhat, but our meditative work will be with the third and first.  We want to reach into the subtle currents and overarching significance of events for the sake of sending blessing and compassion toward all the suffering that is taking place through this war.  At the same time, we are mindful of the innumerable acts of courage and ingenuity and kindness that have met this conflict from within and beyond it.  Our group activity is a part of that total response.

Above is a view of the Ukrainian glacial lake Vorezhka in the Carpathian mountains, at almost a mile high.  I was touched by a line in the Wikipedia entry on it:  The water of the lake is clear and cool.  Thickets of juniper and blueberry grow around it.

with love,

Michael