On the day of the London subway bombings, July 7, The World Dreams
Peace Bridge went into action like a well-oiled machine. By the time
I awoke in Virginia, Peace Bridge members in other time zones were
asking concerned questions about the safety of Bridge members in
England. I learned about the bombings online, before I had ever
looked at the newspaper or turned on the t.v.
Soon after I woke, Brenda reported that her daughter, at school in
London, was safe; and Kay sent links to the British media coverage.
By evening, we had agreed to light candles around the world, and
dream together for the safety of the people in London.
The next day, as it happened, Jeremy was traveling to London with his
daughter, Eloisa, and he could report that their travels by bus and
subway had been on time and uneventful, a paean of praise to the
British people.
This interconnectedness is one of the key elements of the Peace
Bridge, whether the connections are made while waking or sleeping.
Interestingly, they reflect a story that Olivia had sent from England
just the day before terrorists bombed the London subway:
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day,
while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a
nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in
black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free
himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a
slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as
the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer
replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the
family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.
"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education
my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to
be a man we both will be proud of." And that he did.
Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time,
graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become
known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the
discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog
was stricken with pneumonia.
What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name?
Sir Winston Churchill.
DaFuMu for World Peace on July 15
Shortly before the bombings, the conversation in the Peace Bridge
discussion group had turned to the subject of PR and Spin. From
Australia, Kathy pointed out:
It is very very hard to fight PR lies - they are so seductive - they
speak to our deepest desires (we want to be good, we want to help everyone, we are willing
to suffer to bring about good). This is what seems to me make their lies and
manipulation so powerful. So how to counter them? One way is to speak the TRUTH
BUT that does not have as much power in such a situation.
The other way, perhaps the only way, is to become more aware of our
desires and fears. BUT that is such a task! How can we help ourselves and
others move in that direction?
We can do this for ourselves BUT how to open up this possibility more
widely????
Maybe we can think on this in our 15th dreaming DaFuMu this month.
Olivia responded:
Dear Kathy, Jean and All,
I will go with this (Kathy's suggestion). I also want to share a text
I came across about 14 years ago - it seems to answer some of your
questions, Kathy. At least to me...
Also, I can't quite agree about what you call our deepest desires - I
for one do not wish to suffer to bring about good, partly for
entirely selfish (!) reasons, but more because I often (but not
always) question the value of something brought about through
suffering. I mean, sacrifice may have its place, but suffering? It
may sound like semantics, it certainly has a lot to do with
awareness, or conscious attitude, what one calls it.
I think the biggest problem with PR lies, lies with the distortion of
fact, especially when these 'facts' fall into the category
of 'protected information'. A lot of the time, ordinary human beings
simply don't stand a chance to accurately discern what, if anything,
resembles the 'truth'. How does one get such information, the 'real'
facts (a lot of 'facts' I would classify as opinion) to the general
public, the voters of any one nation?
Anyway, the text...
On Integrity
"We are going to visit the arena of Profound Humanness
called "Integrity". Sometimes "integrity" is reduced to mean a kind
of moral uprightness and steadfastness, in the sense of saying, "He
has too much integrity to ever take a bribe".
"But profound integrity goes far beyond this. Sometimes, in order to
distinguish it from the more limited popular usage, it is
called "secondary integrity". This is the integrity which is not
constrained by limited moralities, however well-intentioned. The
integrity that is profound living is the singularity of thrust of a
life committed and ordering every dimension of the self towards that
commitment. Thus the self is in fact shaped by the self, and focused
towards that commitment. You can say that an audacious creation of
the self takes place in integrity, without which you are simply the
creation of various forces impacting you in your society.
"Thus the basis of integrity is a destinal resolve – a resolve that
chooses and sets your destiny and out of which your whole life is
ordered. The object of that resolve is the ultimate decision of each
person, and each person makes that choice, consciously or
unconsciously. To do so with awareness is the height of
responsibility. It is incarnate freedom. It is what real freedom
looks like. When man has thus exercised his freedom he realizes that
to be true to himself ever thereafter he has a unique position to
look at the values of his society. He is no longer bound by the
opinions and codes of his fellow-man, but re-evaluates them on the
basis of their impact on his destinal resolve.
"Thus the man of integrity is continuously engaged in societal
transvaluation, a moving across the values of society and
reinterpreting them in line with his life's thrust. It does not give
him the liberty of ignoring his society, but his obligation
transcends the conformity of living within the codes and mores of his
society. Thus the man of profound integrity always seems to not quite
fit with his fellow-men but his actions always are appropriate for
him, even to those who oppose him."
(Attributed to the Maliwada Human Development Training School)
After the bombings, Kathy replied:
One of the things that worries me about the London bombings is the
way it enables those who want to be at war to do so. English people,
by and large, disapproved of what Blair was doing, English people, by
and large, it seemed to me, could see through Blair's incredible
control of rhetoric. What has happened now?
Now we see this bombing spoken of as being the act of barbaric
terrorists (YES it was) but it is always placed side by side, most
evident in both Bush's and Blair's responses - no doubt produced by
their spin doctors, with the necessity to replace this barbaric world
with the world of freedom and safety that they are offering (NO -
surely the deaths of so many Iraqis from bombings, the deaths of so
many Iraqi children from cancer created by exposure to Depleted
Uranium, the killing of so many Iraqis who just happened to driving
in the presence of an armed vehicle, the deaths and destructions in
Falluja and elsewhere, the creation of a context where suicide
bombers can kill almost everyday, the total disruption to society in
terms of water, food, health, education, hope, planning, work - all
this is allowed to appear on the side as "good" a "necessity" - as
NOT terrorism - partly because it is the action of a State, mostly
because it is "our" action).
How many will be swayed by the spin of Blair and Bush?
How can we open up the view? How can the spin have less control
over how people think?
The SPIN partly works because we agree that YES these bombings in
London ARE an act of terror. How can we stop it FALLING immediately
into support for State terrorism?
What would happen if we just said YES they are an act of terror.
THEN deliberately left our MINDS OPEN rather than let them fall down
the path to acceptance of State terrorism?
What if we could OPEN a SPACE OF PEACE AFTER the acceptance that this
is an act of terrorism.
What would follow?
Though members of the Peace Bridge agree that admirable efforts have
been made in England to point out to everyone that the Muslim
minority is part of the community, and not responsible for acts of
terror, there is also an agreement that on July 15, we will dream
together in a DaFuMu Dream for World Peace
(see http://worlddreamspeacebridge.org/dafumu.htm) and individually
attempt to address Kathy's question about dealing with PR and Spin.
We hope that you will join us.
Aid for Traumatized Iraqi Children Silent Auction Huge Success
Recently, when the World Dreams Peace Bridge took its work for the
children of Iraq to the conference of the International Association
for the Study of Dreams in Berkeley, we discovered that more people
had been DaFuMu dreaming with us each month than we had ever
suspected. Several people mentioned they have been joining the
DaFuMu, and one Chicago-area woman said that she and several members
of a group she is involved with join together on the DaFuMu Dreaming
for World Peace.
If you are one of these people, could you let us know? It would be
nice to hear that the practice of a monthly group dream for peace has
been growing. You don't need to join the discussion group, but a
post to the World Dreams site will work just fine
(www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org).
In addition to this delightful information about the DaFuMu, the
Silent Auction/International Bazaar was an enormous success. Auction
items, the raffle of two Dream Baskets created by Kat Peters-Midland,
and the sale of Peace Train place mats brought in over $3,000. We
would like to thank and congratulate any of the participants in the
event who might be reading this article, either donors or bidders.
Many people commented on what a beautiful silent auction it was, with
items from literally all over the globe. And the "battle of the
pens" during the last minutes of the auction demonstrated just how
much people were enjoying themselves.
Dreaming the world into Peace may be possible, and it may even be fun.
Here is a definition of Peace created by Bridge member Ron Adams from
Colorado, one of the few definitions of Peace as compared with the
many definitions of Violence or Nonviolence:
"Peace is the cultural maturity to seek forgiveness and compromise
for all parties involved, rather than lash out in hurt and pain,
creating struggle, fighting and war (Peace opposites)."
Ron L. Adams June 14, 2005 ©
If you would like to know more about the work of The World Dreams Peace Bridge, take a look at our web site at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org, and if you would like to join us in discussion, just send a post to
worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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