Swords Into Plowshares
Isaiah 2:1-6
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning-knives.”
On October 7th Yaron Bob was happily living in his kibbutz, one mile from the Gaza border. Then terror struck. “A lot of my friends were killed,” said Bob. He survived after hiding in a safe room for 33 hours with no electricity or outside communication.
In some way, Bob was used to Hamas attacks. Since 2001 more than 34,000 rockets have exploded inside Israel. One day a few years ago Bob saw a blackened projectile on the ground and thought, “It’s laughing at me.” That’s when he decided to do something. As a sculptor, Bob had an eye for metal. He took a Hamas rocket into his workshop, cut it open, and noticed in its core a pattern that looked surprisingly like a rose. He took the twisted metal of hatred and turned it into something of beauty. And so “Rockets to Roses” was born.
Today Bob takes swords and turns them into plowshares. His creations include a menorah made of projectiles (which was featured at the White House), Shabbat candles and other Judaica, as well as jewelry. All made from the weapons of war.
The greatest obstacle to peacemaking is the near-universal sense that “there is nothing I can do.” We can’t change the big system, we think, so why try? Whatever small acts of peace we make are critical—an email, a letter, a phone call, a prayer for peace within our own hearts. We do not lose faith in small acts of peace, because ultimately we do them not to change the system, but so that that system does not change us.
Prayer: In a war-weary world, we await your coming, Prince of Peace; let us not be conformed to this world, but transformed into instruments of peace and vessels of hope. Amen.
Monte says
“The greatest obstacle to peacemaking is the near-universal sense that ‘there is nothing I can do.’ We can’t change the big system, we think, so why try?”
As I read the above sentence I ask myself what am I looking at here?
What I’m looking at is the result of thought.
Speaking of thought…
Something to ponder: The word ‘thought’ points to an abstract that is beyond words, symbols and concepts. Indeed, thought is beyond the farthest scope of our ability to comprehend. Thought is invisible yet we somehow know it to be.
Being that thought is an invisible abstract, it almost seems counter intuitive to state it is empirical that thought always comes first. However, this is easily observed to be the case.
Thoughts organize into beliefs and belief systems. All experiences are preceded by choice. Choice is dictated by beliefs.
All doing comes from thinking. The world we perceive, the solid reality we perceive is but a reflection of our thoughts. Perception is the outward picture of a thought that a person wanted to be true. Every thought one has makes up some segment of the world they see. It is with our thoughts, then, not actions and behavior, that we must work, if our perception of the world is to be changed. We will never be able to change form with form for form is an effect. If we want to change form/behavior we must change the way we think of the form/behavior we want to change.
The world of perception (the seeming external world) is a total effect; there is no cause in it. It is the movie being projected onto a screen, it is not what made the movie.
A person looks outward on the world and says, “This world is not a reflection of my thoughts. I did not desire, wish, or think of this kind of world. This is not a world I want. I am not responsible for this world and all the terrible things happening in this world! There is someone or something else that is causing this world to be what it is. I think only good thoughts about the world. I wish the best for everyone.” Of course, this is true. The person is not consciously thinking or wanting a messed up world full of scarcity, conflict, brutality, misery, pain and suffering. This is definitely not a world they consciously desire. However, every person is like an iceberg where that part of their thinking that they have conscious awareness of is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The bulk of the iceberg exist below conscious awareness as subconscious and unconscious thought. The thoughts that are originating from the mind that lies below our conscious awareness are what is producing such a distorted, undesirable reflection that we experience as a solid reality existing outside of us.
Monitor your thoughts. Find out What (not who) you really are. For starters…You are not a body. You are not a person and what You actually are has never been in the “movie.” From the very beginning and through countless body-identities You have only pretended to be identified as what is seemingly countless characters in what feels like a never ending movie.