Aloha,
I'm Cindy Palos and I want to talk about an element of peace that I hadn't considered before,
That just came to me almost as an epiphany.
And that is the element of people gathering together in celebration.
This idea came to me as Dr.
Roy created an amazing painting of people together.
And there are many different colors to the people.
Some are blue,
Some are green,
Some are orange.
They're surrounded by lots of beautiful colors.
And there's no distinction of knowing what race they are.
They're obviously all people.
They're all people joined as one.
And if indeed we can have all people joined as one without a definition of what race you are,
What color you are,
And what religion you are,
Then you have that oneness joining you together,
That is a very important element of one world,
One people together in peace.
Because we are just one planet with many,
Many,
Many different people.
The second element that came into this concept was talking to another Indian friend of mine,
Dr.
Rupam Sarma,
Who had just celebrated a New Year's celebration that goes on for days with people from all religions getting together to join.
And even though Ramadan had been going on,
People who have been fasting come to celebrate this tradition with other people of other religions without distinction of like,
I'm this religion,
You're that religion,
I don't celebrate this.
But the main motivation being getting together and celebrating.
And if we look at this,
I'm recording this and talking about this during a very interesting alignment of celebrations that hasn't happened in quite a few years,
Where there's been a full moon,
There's also been Ramadan,
Passover,
The New Year celebration of Bihu for Indian people,
And of course,
Easter as well.
And a planetary alignment happening at the same time.
And perhaps,
I am a dreamer,
But isn't it interesting?
I think it can't be overlooked that there is a reason why we have all of these holidays and a planetary alignment and a full moon all happening at this very important time.
And when we have everyone getting together to celebrate,
Another interesting element of celebration came to my mind.
It happened when I was looking for a picture to put and post on Facebook to celebrate Passover.
And when I went to Pinterest,
What I saw mostly for Passover were all these dishes that were made.
I mean,
Picture after picture of meals and the way it celebrated with the foods.
And then I was talking to my friend Dr.
Sarma about how they were cooking all these amazing dishes,
All kinds of preparations for a lot of food.
And then I realized,
You know,
Behind every celebration is food.
I talked to a very wise person once and they said,
When you sit down together for a meal,
You are in a form of communion and meditation together by sharing a meal with each other.
So if we look at food and the celebrations,
Including the time that it takes to buy the food,
To cook the food,
To share the food,
To eat the food,
Consume the food together,
Then there's another element of all people joining together to enjoy food for the celebration.
And then you have the element of celebration.
Now when we think of celebrating,
Everyone gets excited about the celebration.
But the element that's important with that getting together with the celebration is getting together.
Because you're all excited and enthusiastic and you're going to get together.
And many times that includes music.
That includes dance.
Sometimes it includes eating.
And it includes sharing what's happening,
Your story,
Usually about what's going on in your life and your family.
And those are all things I've talked about in the book on peace about finding a common ground.
I think you can find a common ground as one people when we celebrate.
If we're celebrating for the sake of joining together and participating and enjoying the spirit of getting together,
Enjoying the spirit of celebrating,
There's something that's kind of ageless in the celebrations that have been happening for thousands of years with all people on earth taking time to celebrate.
Now,
There's something innate in our DNA that knows we all celebrate.
We celebrate birthdays.
We celebrate holidays,
Which are holy days,
Of course.
We celebrate weddings.
We celebrate good things.
And at the base of the word good is God.
We celebrate God things.
And in the celebration,
We feel ourselves lifted together,
Whether we're lifted together with music or lifted together with just sharing and happy for people's achievements or the joy of what they're doing,
The joy of their birthday,
The joy of the wedding,
The joy of a holiday.
Then we have the rising of the spirits together,
Joining in the rising of the spirits together.
And this is important for people to be at peace.
I believe that we have to understand how important that we are one people and that we all have things to celebrate.
We all can understand the celebration of a birthday.
We all can understand the celebration of a wedding.
We all can understand the celebration of a holiday and the preparation for it and the work that we put towards getting to the celebration of the holiday.
And in the holidays,
By the way,
There's often included,
Most often included,
Prayers,
Whether they be pujas,
Whether they're prayers in a church or prayers in a temple or whether it's chanting.
But there is something that is happening at that time to raise our vibration of energy with that prayer.
I was talking to my friend Rupan Sarma.
He mentioned that,
And I wasn't aware of this,
Of course you fast at Ramadan.
But he said at the breaking,
Before you eat food at the end of the day when it's into the evening,
You break your fast by eating dates.
I thought that was fascinating.
He looked it up to see what the elements of dates are.
Very good for your immune system.
They're good for rebuilding your strength.
And they have a lot of great elements to them.
So even in the breaking of a fast,
Which many people do for holidays,
It goes way back thousands of years,
The idea of fasting.
Then there's food involved also,
Food that's good for you,
Food that regenerates you,
Food that helps your immune system.
And again,
That's a celebration of your body and your whole life.
So we include in these celebrations our body through dance many times.
We include music,
Which lifts our spirit,
Which brings in the inspiration and happiness.
We include our mind because we take our mind and think about the meaning of the holiday.
We include the prayers,
Which lift our souls and bring that energy into the entire service,
Whether you're having a priest or a minister do a wedding or telling you about the holiday and the meaning of it.
And you're joining together with other people.
All of these elements are key elements in celebration.
And in celebration,
We're happy and we're joyous,
Which removes the darkness,
Removes in many ways any of the definitions.
It removes the blocks.
It removes anger.
And it joins us together as one.
So I love,
I'm coming to my mind as a song,
I just want to celebrate another day of living.
I wrote a song about celebration as well,
Which I'll include at the end of this talk.
But celebration is something that can help us bring about peace.
And in a time where there's been so much hardship and so much suffering and so much pain and war,
I think it is important that we allow ourselves to be open to understanding celebrations and joy and light and the way we join together as one in celebrating.
And we can't underestimate the longstanding traditions we've had that go back these thousands of years that work with the time of the year,
That work with the seasons,
That work with the movement of the planets,
That work with our own evolution.
And isn't it wonderful that we can look at times that we can join together and celebrate?
And let's look at how we can celebrate peace.
There are days,
International Day of Peace and times to celebrate Gandhi and the peace work,
Times that we celebrate Dr.
Martin Luther King for his work on peace.
There are many wonderful teachers,
Christ,
The Prince of Peace,
Buddha for bringing us peace and understanding peace.
If we can celebrate all of those wonderful peacemakers,
Peace teachers,
People who we can celebrate along with those people who are working so tirelessly towards peace and celebrate the work that they do in gratitude because we need to at times have gratitude that brings us also aware that life is worth celebrating,
That people are worth celebrating,
That when we join together it's worth remembering our oneness,
Our unity,
Beyond color,
Beyond definition,
Beyond our differences.
We are more common than different in our DNA,
In our existence here on this planet.
We all wish to bring about peace and goodwill and we all wish to celebrate that.
So may you celebrate your celebrations with joy,
With light,
With the upliftment of spirit to raise that energy that we are and remember that we are people who love to celebrate peace and goodwill and joy and at the heart of all those things is one thing,
Isn't it?
Love.
Let's celebrate with love who we really are and in our oneness at heart,
In our heart of hearts is that wonderful principle of love.
I thank you so much for being open to understanding that power of love in celebration of life.
I celebrate your soul,
The one who calls the moon forth from the stormy skies to see the stars guiding the light of the heavens to Mother Earth.
I celebrate the ocean and the constancy of the tides,
Pulling recede and wash the shore with traces of her Neptune floor.
I celebrate the folds and turns of the canyon,
Guiding the mountain stream to meet the waterfall and the waiting ocean rocks above.
I celebrate the love that is the force of creation and action,
The sky,
The air,
The ocean,
May the beauty we see teach us the glory that is the essence of our source and may the magic we experience transform us with the rainbow light that is heaven on earth.
I celebrate you for all that you are and all that you do.
You are love in action,
A soul whose life has meaning with blessings of love and wonder.
