TH6.1: Peace Council Reflection: In the Palace of Wisdom
BY MEGGAN WATTERSON
Swami Agnivesh, whose name means “master of fire”, found it comical that he was placed next to me at the Peace Council’s table. “Watter”, he would say, “I am fire,” and then he would laugh and ask me to pass a glass of water. Swami’s unassuming nature made it all the more impressive when he spoke of the pilgrimage he will lead this November throughout India with other spiritual leaders to ensure that equal rights for “the girl child” are observed and to raise awareness about female feticide.
I was in fact more the element in my last name than usual throughout my time among the sages of the Peace Council. Though the water that brimmed at my eyes is usually called tears, that does not con-vey what was happening to me physically. It was more of a welling over, it was an excess, the sort of excess William Blake describes as leading to a “palace of wisdom.” And this palace among the sages was that of the heart. A shift took place in me because of this welling-over of heart: I no longer feel overwhelmed by the amount I anguish over injustices in the world. I feel instead capable and even en-abled to cope with them because of this well, this depth of heart. So this welling-up, this brimming-over with an excess of love is what I know now of peace.
There is little difference, I came to realize, between the Peace Councilors and me. The primary fact is that they stood up, from within their respective religious traditions, for the hopes of love and justice above the fears of hatred and injustice. They stood up and moved as their hearts asked that they might move. An arduously simple task, to follow the soft-whistling directives of the heart. Arduous because the heart must be heard constantly. Faithfully. Daily. And simple, because I honestly believe that the smallest of small voices, the heart’s own, is ever and always speaking to us, from within us. We simply need to be peace-filled enough to hear its voice. And then, as the Venerable Bhikkhuni had said to me one morning, “Enough with words, now for actions.”
Meggan Watterson, third-year MDiv student, was a participant in the Peace Council conference.
Swami Agnivesh, whose name means “master of fire”, found it comical that he was placed next to me at the Peace Council’s table. “Watter”, he would say, “I am fire,” and then he would laugh and ask me to pass a glass of water. Swami’s unassuming nature made it all the more impressive when he spoke of the pilgrimage he will lead this November throughout India with other spiritual leaders to ensure that equal rights for “the girl child” are observed and to raise awareness about female feticide.
I was in fact more the element in my last name than usual throughout my time among the sages of the Peace Council. Though the water that brimmed at my eyes is usually called tears, that does not con-vey what was happening to me physically. It was more of a welling over, it was an excess, the sort of excess William Blake describes as leading to a “palace of wisdom.” And this palace among the sages was that of the heart. A shift took place in me because of this welling-over of heart: I no longer feel overwhelmed by the amount I anguish over injustices in the world. I feel instead capable and even en-abled to cope with them because of this well, this depth of heart. So this welling-up, this brimming-over with an excess of love is what I know now of peace.
There is little difference, I came to realize, between the Peace Councilors and me. The primary fact is that they stood up, from within their respective religious traditions, for the hopes of love and justice above the fears of hatred and injustice. They stood up and moved as their hearts asked that they might move. An arduously simple task, to follow the soft-whistling directives of the heart. Arduous because the heart must be heard constantly. Faithfully. Daily. And simple, because I honestly believe that the smallest of small voices, the heart’s own, is ever and always speaking to us, from within us. We simply need to be peace-filled enough to hear its voice. And then, as the Venerable Bhikkhuni had said to me one morning, “Enough with words, now for actions.”
Meggan Watterson, third-year MDiv student, was a participant in the Peace Council conference.
posted by JP at 8:01 AM
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