Mattie Stepanek Peacemaker Award

"Peace IS Possible, if we choose to make it something that matters, and if we seek to balance all basic needs of all people in all spaces of our world." -- Mattie J.T. Stepanek (1990-2004) poet, peacemaker, philosopher.

The Mattie Stepanek Peacemaker Award, 2010.

Peace For Our World, Mattie Stepanek

Young poet, philosopher and peacemaker, Mattie J.T. Stepanek (1990-2004) wrote this poem following 9-11-2001. Even today his words have such strength, meaning, and inspiration, for living peacefully and with respect for all others. It is reminder for today's attitudes about acceptance, diversity, equality, and events of bullying (cyber and otherwise), hate crimes, as well as terrorists acts.

Mattie was a wise and beautiful soul, so far beyond his years. He published his inspirational poetry and essays and you will find them in his HEARTSONGS series of books, and in JUST PEACE: A Message of Love, cowritten with former President Jimmy Carter. His mother, Jeni Stepanek's book, MESSENGER: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs, (Forword by Dr. Maya Angelou) is now available in paperback, and also Kindle.



For Our World


We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment.
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment.
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment.
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice.
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment.
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

September 11, 2001
© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek
Used with permission from Hope Through Heartsongs, Hyperion, 2002


Read my review of JUST PEACE: A Message of Love.

~Linda

Contentment

“A little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us that a higher law than that of our will regulates events; that our painful labours are unnecessary and fruitless; that only in our easy, simple, spontaneous action are we strong... Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.”
~ Vernon Howard, (1918-1992) American spiritual teacher, author, philosopher, The Mystic Masters Speak!

~Linda

Music for Change and Peace

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.” ~ Plato ( 428 BC-348 BC)

From "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", incredible renditions of the legendary Bob Marley song "One Love" with Keb' Mo' and Manu Chao. This is the third video from the documentary and a follow up to the classic "Stand By Me" and the uplifting "Don't Worry."

Thanks, John-Michael for reminding me....

~ Linda

ONE LOVE SONG AROUND L.A.





ONE LOVE SONG INTERNATIONALLY

Marilyn Ferguson and her Aquarian Conspiracy Book

Author, Marilyn Ferguson and her best-selling book, The Aquarian Conspiracy opened new doors, new ideals, and enforced and inspired a movement that was taking place, and her book sort of brought it together and made it acceptable, and promising on a massive and global scale.

I just discovered today that Marilyn Ferguson passed away recently. Her 1980 best-selling book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, blended ideas in medicine, psychology, polictics, environment, spirituality and such, into what many considered New Age. Although all of those ideas were not new, Marilyn's book gave millions much more to think about the world we were living in and what could be done to make it a better, more peaceful place.

A November 2, 2008 Los Angeles Times article by Elaine Woo, Titled, Marilyn Ferguson, 1938-2008, Writer was pivotal figure in New Age movement, is correct. It was really about a revolution in consciousness, a swinging of the pendulum from a darker place into a place of light, hope, and love. The book resulted in Marilyn traveling world wide for lectures, in addition to lecturing to members of Congress. And rather interestingly Al Gore was a fan of the book and invited Marilyn Ferguson to the White House, according to Marilyn's son, Eric.

I'm not surprised by that as I've considered Al Gore and Bill Clinton to be visionaries, and spiritual minded and, of course, for many, many, years former Vice President Gore has giving the environment his utmost attention; and Bill Clinton dedicates his attention to humanitarian efforts, HIV/AIDS with his Clinton Foundation.

I was rather surprised by a beautiful comment in the L.A. Times article by publisher, Jeremy Tarcher. Tarcher says he remembers clearly how he reacted when she showed him her writing and information she had collected for a book idea: "he began to cry." He said, "I had one of those moments of epiphany when you feel you are hearing or reading something that is going to be a guide for a significant part of your life. That doesn't happen to publishers every day."

Jeremy Tarcher has published a lot of excellent books over the years, books about health, philosophy, consciousness, and human potential, and other transformational subjects.

I'm sure her work will live on.....she leaves a remarkable and inspirational legacy....

I found this posting by Dr. Deepak Chopra very nice in regards to Marilyn Ferguson and her work:


"Marilyn Ferguson: An Appreciation- posted: Friday, November 7th, 2008-->
From: Deepak Chopra Posted: Friday, November 7th, 2008

Reagan was on the rise, the anti-war movement had sunk to a low ebb, and the New Age was barely christened when The Aquarian Conspiracy appeared in 1980. Overnight Marilyn Ferguson's book became famous and sold in the millions. I was a young doctor who had just learned to meditate when I picked up a dog-eared paperback copy at a Catskill spiritual retreat. Ferguson's message shot through me like electricity: a "benign conspiracy" was bringing about the greatest shift in consciousness in the twentieth century. In one stroke Ferguson unified a movement that seemed like small, isolated outposts on the fringes of respectable society.

Ferguson was a uniter and a futurist. By showing feminists what they shared with environmentalists, New Age spiritual seekers with peace activists, her book inspired a movement that didn't define the future in terms of technology. Cell phones and computers were incidental. The real future lay in consciousness-raising on a global scale. Ferguson's "BrainMind Bulletin" made sure that her message kept up to date with scientific breakthroughs, and she joined forced with former astronaut Edgar Mitchell and his influential Institute of Noetic Sciences in California.

When she died this October at age 70, Ferguson could take satisfaction that a watershed had been crossed. For all the multitudes of people for whom Dick Cheney is more familiar than the I Ching, George Bush than the Bhagavad-Gita, her "leaderless revolution" has grown steadily around the world. Ferguson helped make possible a new style of politician like Barack Obama and ecological activists like Al Gore. She was a one-woman movement for hope. She promised every voice in the wilderness that there were a thousand other voices like theirs."
~Deepak Chopra, posted at http://www.intent.com/