| Reflections | |
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Thien Mu Pagoda Today I was deeply honored to participate in this humanistic effort towards world peace. The artistic expression of Peoples to Peoples is a heart-warming enunciation of the need for peace in our ever-shrinking planet. My everyday personal aspirations are to express through my art of massage and healing arts that parallel personal need of peace. I believe each small effort by individuals adds to the collective collaboration towards expression of peace. The very moving experience of wearing the peace belt filled me with hope as I felt the energies from previous wearers' intentions through their arts of dance and song. Wearing the belt in this mecca of peace, the Buddhist temple of Thick Quang Duc who set himself a blaze in a square in Saigon in 1963 to protest the escalation of the Vietnam war was very poignant. I was greeted and blessed by the monk. I felt such a calm warm energy through his hands. I knelt in reverence with incense in hand to honor those that came before me. I was filled with compassion and sorrow as my own thoughts mixed about the horror and ravages of war came to surface. As the gong sounded, the tone and reverberation burst my heart in tears. My tears washed down my cheeks and over my soul leaving me drained. The warm touch of the monk's hands in mine as I thanked him in thought and gesture for his presence and acceptance in his temple reassured I was not alone in my quest for peace internally and globally. My deep thanks and appreciation goes forth with my addition of intention to the belt. John Marcoulier, RN, LMT |
