Saturday, August 15, 2020

I read the blog post Realize You are the Earth, written by Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh). Thanks to Annely who shared a quote of it on Facebook. What touched me was the following paragraph:

We have constructed a system we can’t control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. –Thich Nhat Hanh

This matches so closely what I formulate in Subdue the greedy giants!

And another idea in the same text touched me because it is an interesting explanation for why I love the Taizé prayer style:

Many people suffer deeply and they do not know they suffer. They try to cover up the suffering by being busy. Many people get sick today because they get alienated from Mother Earth. The practice of mindfulness helps us to touch Mother Earth inside of the body and this practice can help heal people. So the healing of the people should go together with the healing of the Earth. This is the insight and it is possible for anyone to practice.

Just replace “Mother Earth” by “God” in above paragraph to make it sound like a text by frère Roger.