Peacemaking, briefly, is the art of bringing everyone back into the circle, held with the same resources, love and support (for a fuller description, see https://skyness.net/peace/). It’s something many of us do as part of our daily lives, and this column is a way to raise our awareness of that, to recognize the many ways we contribute to peace in the world.
Dance leader Douglas Stevenson and his wife Deborah have been residents of The Farm in Tennessee since the early 1970s. This is Douglas’ brief account of how The Farm and its residents contribute to peacemaking in the world. More info can be found here: https://thefarmcommunity.com
Past articles in this series can be found at https://skyness.net
From the very beginning, the foundation of The Farm Community has been a commitment to peace and non-violence. We understood that to survive, we had to make peace with our neighbors. It’s one of the only places in the world where no guns are allowed. Working it out, settling our differences by talking to one another, is where we start.
My Life is my Prayer is something that can be expressed and made real through direct action. The Hippocratic oath of Do No Harm can also be expressed as the Buddhist teaching Right Livelihood, in that your daily work stays true to your ideals, a teaching we embraced as a clear step along the path. Peace is present though the simplest of tasks.
A few of the ways that is expressed in our community:
Midwifery: Childbirth as a Peaceful Passage
The Farm School: Peace in education
Swan Conservation Trust: Honoring Nature as an unfiltered expression of Peace
Plenty International: Building Peace through service to humanity
PeaceRoots Alliance: Direct participation in the Peace and Justice Movement
…and the list goes on.
Living in community allows us to leverage and magnify our energy, with each person able to express themselves using their gifts and skills to make a personal contribution toward their ideals.
Here is one example from our dance sangha. When we host a dance weekend here at The Farm, $10 of each person’s registration fee goes toward a Saturday night dinner that is a benefit for a nonprofit, such as Karen’s Soy Nutrition Project, started by Tomas, a member of our dance circle to honor the memory of his late wife Karen.
KSNP serves soy milk and soy fortified cookies twice a week to over 300 children, whose families scratch out a living salvaging materials from the dump of Guatemala City. During the dinner, there is a short presentation while everyone is assembled, which ends with us singing Love, Serve, Remember. After dinner, we have an evening of dance and are often able to draw in a number of new folks, introducing them to our shared communion, peace as a vibration we co-create.
Roberta, also of our dance sangha, is an experienced cook for large events, and she dedicates her time to organize the meal. Other members of our dance group prepare and serve the food, and take care of clean up. The dinner draws in approximately 100 people outside of our dance circle, many of whom make contributions beyond the cost of their plate. One dinner can raise nearly $2000, enough to fund an entire month’s budget for the project and beyond.
I could fill a book with stories like this. I am grateful for this path of community and all that it has given me. I am grateful to the Dances for further opening my heart. I am grateful to Sky as a friend and mentor. My life is my prayer.
