Birgett, Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful, courageous, compassionate heart. Peace be with you.
Jim -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Birgitt Williams Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 5:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: WAR IN IRAQ and other difficult realities John, I too am perplexed by these life mysteries around suffering. At times in my life, I also placed myself in positions where I was immersed in people suffering. For me, I was not strong enough to keep dealing with it on a daily basis. I had attended one funeral too many that could have been prevented. I ended up in a state of total emotional collapse because I thought there must have been something more I could have done especially regarding the corruption that led to so much of the abuse. My collapse took a few months to recover from, and eventually and much to my relief I finally could do up my buttons again, read again and so on. I had wonderful teachers through that time, as I have had through all of my life--just the right ones for what I needed at the time. One of them was Harrison who made a phone call to me and was the first to discover what shape I was in (I was home alone at the time) and who gave me lots of sage advice and friendship. A lot of the advice was about detachment from outcome even in the most awful of circumstances. And you know Harrison so you know he was also in tears as he gave the advice. Another teacher was a spiritual advisor who said that my heart broke from compassion and that if I continued, I was likely to lose my life. He also suggested that I learn detachment. He said that I was in this for the long haul and had to learn to take care of me so that I could really make the difference that I am here to make. That was in 1994. I have since learned a lot about loving all of humanity and doing so with detachment from outcome, what it means to hold space for "opportunities for harmony" such as we are doing with our Harmony Project in holding space for harmony in the world. I have learned to BE the change I seek in the world and I know I am still becoming that change. I am convinced that this is very very important work for us all to do, who care to do so. Blessings to you, Birgitt -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of john engle Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 3:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: WAR IN IRAQ and other difficult realities thank you, for your response, birgitt. it helps me to better understand your previous message. i appreciate that you took the time to explain in more detail your thoughts. i frequently find myself perplexed by these life mysteries around suffering. john http://www.beyondborders.net/experiment.htm _________________________________________________________________ MSN Search, le moteur de recherche qui pense comme vous ! http://search.msn.fr/worldwide.asp * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
