CULTIVATING COMPASSION
Resist Internal Paralysis... ...continued from page 27
Joanna was truly a healer. She invited everyone to get to know their despair and see it as a source of energy. We never lose our energy, but it can be diverted or distracted, keeping us down and powerless. )DFLQJWKDWDOORZVXVWRUHFODLPRXUHQHUJ\RXUSRZHUDQG¿JXUHRXW ZKDWZHFDQ'2,WLVHDV\WRIHHOWKDWGHVSDLUDVLPPRYDEOHDQG\HW there are signs of real hope today. In the years since Joanna wrote that book, the world has been busy. Unless you are active outside the U.S., you likely don’t know that near- ly half the nations of the world have now signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This pact has made weap- ons of mass destruction — like chemical, biological, land mines, an- ti-personnel weapons and those that the US now intends to go back to testing — illegal. The treaty also “includes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on participating in any nuclear weapon activities. These include undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.” The TPNW is a growing community of Nuclear-Free Nations with an open invitation for all to disarm — there is no plan for the United Nations to march in and remove the nukes from any nation. The call from them to join is alive and ongoing for all nations to choose a shared future where we are all more secure because the nuclear threat has been eliminated. I had the great honor of supporting that work; and I later delivered a talk DERXWP\UHVHDUFKRQWKHJHQGHUGL̆ HUHQFHVIURPUDGLDWLRQKDUP DWWKH¿UVWPHHWLQJRIWKH731:SDUWLFLSDWLQJQDWLRQVLQ9LHQQD 6LPSO\OHDUQLQJPRUHDERXWWKLVDPD]LQJQHZGHYHORSPHQWDWWKH JOREDOOHYHODQG¿QGLQJRXWKRZ\RXFDQVXSSRUWPRUHDZDUHQHVVRI
it in the U.S., has given many of us tools for calming anxiety and mov- LQJLQWRDSRVLWLYHVSDFH0DQ\WKLQNWKDWZRUNLQJRQGDUNWKLQJVOLNH nuclear weapons will compromise those capacities — after all, there is a strong call to only focus on “the light.” Well, if that is you, you likely have already stopped reading this. However, if you are still here, I will R̆ HUWKHRSWLRQRIVHHLQJ³WKHOLJKW´ZKLOHFRQWLQXLQJWRHQJDJHZLWK the nuclear suicide, which is arguably one of the greatest existential threats that humans have created, as is the Climate Crisis, which is ULJKWWKHUHWRRDV³ERWKDQG´ 6R,H[WHQGWR\RXWKLVLQYLWDWLRQ %(+23( Hope is your birthright. It is so much more than saying something WHQWDWLYHRUWKHWH[WRIDJUHHWLQJFDUG:KHQZHLQWHUQDOL]HKRSHDV VRPHWKLQJDVSLUDWLRQDOZLWKLQXVZHUHDOL]HLWVSRZHU In these challenging days our brilliant brains and our deep convic- tions are vital. Love, courage, wisdom, compassion, and generosity are like the resonances of a big bell — many levels of sound — and never as simple as two hands bound by “this or that.” Hope is also one of these resonating foundations… and it’s a verb! Just as we understand courage as a verb, hope is equally an action. And hope does not depend on how recently we have seen it in our life. Hope is part of us, woven in… it’s with us in our collective cellular memory, always there. ,I ZH JR RQH VWHS IXUWKHU ZH FDQ DOVR %( /29( 7KLQN RI LW DV D seedling. With proper care, it will grow! It will provide many new pos- sibilities, and give back more than it takes from our care. Our society is so bereft of hope… There is so much going on. How '$5( ZH EH KRSHIXO ZKHQ WKH HYLGHQFH LV VR GDUQHG KRSHOHVV" ,W could also be said, “How dare we forsake hope in these dark hours!” ,H[SHULHQFHG+23(IRUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQDORQJWLPHRQHQLJKWZKHQ I was in a room full of people who were taking action, working to- gether on the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Our voices and plans to protect our collective future had a loving tone. We were acting with great courage, and inexplicable hope. I felt like I was breathing oxygen after being deprived… I vowed then and there to bring my “hope seedling” home, and let it grow. +HDU WKLV XQHTXLYRFDOO\ +RSH LWVHOI LV QRW D QHJRWLDWHG GHDO RU something we earn, or a word we use for something that seems un- attainable or in jeopardy. Hope came with me when I was born, and comes with each and every one of us. It is a part of us, and we can FKRRVHWRWXUQLW83:HFDQ%(KRSH)RUKRSHLVWKHDQWLGRWHRIIHDU and paralysis. Hope shared equals resistance.
28—PATHWAYS—Winter 25-26
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