The End of Day 5

It is the end of day 5. I left the fires of Los Angeles and came to the fire of the middle east. Oh, but what a fire.

For the first time since last May we were able to find a place to meet together. All of us. Israeli Jews, Israeli Palestinians, and Palestinians from the West Bank. We are in the desert. We are at the Dead Sea. We are in a place where we brush our teeth together, we eat together, we share the communal bathrooms and showers.

It is never easy. And yet…the changes in this group from when we began until today. The changes from the last time we met together. It is something to behold.

The second night after a powerful day when there was such love and unity in the room, we met at night around a fire. We sang together, we laughed, in the background we could hear the jackals howling. I felt a joy that is hard to explain. Looking at these beautiful faces shining in the light of the fire, singing and laughing. Peace on earth I thought. This is what peace on earth feels like.

Of course it doesn’t last, we ride the waves. We come close and then we break apart. And then we come close again. BUT WE STAY.

It is not easy to talk about the reality here. It takes time. But today was the day we faced it head on. We have to walk up to the edge sometimes before our leap.

What is amazing is the group members are now stepping into their leadership, both out in the world and here together. They have trained and done work. Today THEY held the process all day. With their wisdom, their courage, their maturity, their creativity.

Truth comes out, hard truths. Eyes are opened. People are changed. People keep being changed. They work the principles, and we go, we go where so many fear to go. And we keep going.

I watched them lead each other. I saw that they are learning to stand in the fire with such grace and power and awareness. They teach me. They inspire me. They make me believe anything is possible.

And it is not that we are agreeing. It is fierce and anguished, and sometimes even hilarious. The laughter and the tears. The rage. And then the hands, reaching out to each other.

It is so easy to see in these places that in the conflicts of the world we NEED each other. We cannot solve anything unless we are willing to meet, again and again.

We have not been stopped by October 7th, the war in Gaza, the bombs to and from Lebanon, the missiles from Iran. We have not been stopped. Sometimes I stand in wonder at that. Nothing has stopped us. And because of that we have all been changed. And because of that we are all seeing with new eyes, and because of that we can say more and more to each other. And because of that we walk towards new realities.

Thank you to all who gave to make our meeting possible. It is a blessing. It is a miracle. It is a hard work miracle.

With love from mother earth, with love from the salty sea, with love from the mud, with love from the stars. And with love from all of us to you. There is a light shining here - I hope you can see it. ann