Who has not at times, in moments of fear, difficulty and discouragement, asked for help in their interior, according to their beliefs, to a loved one who is or has been an example for them, a guide, a deity, to whom they addressed a prayer, an invocation, a request?
These petitions have often had the power to comfort us, to change our state of mind and therefore to positively influence our behaviour.
And if we combine the deepest desires, prayers, and heartfelt requests of individuals and peoples, what will be the effect of this cry on each of us and on humanity as a whole?
In the situation in which we live, in which we feel plunged into a war that we have not chosen, in which we are subjected to a threat that affects us personally, which affects our loved ones, which affects the whole of humanity and the whole planet, in which we feel the pressure of propaganda which seeks to curb even our freedom of thought, the most pressing demand is for an end to violence, the ultimate expression of which is war, but which is also present in the interior of individuals.
On the day of 2 April, which we dedicate to peace and non-violence, some of us may feel the need to accompany the action with a reflection to find peace and non-violence in our interior.
I will therefore be proposing, recalling Silo’s words spoken in 2005, this brief meditation:
“In some moment of the day or night inhale a breath of air, and imagine that you carry this air to your heart. Then, ask with strength for yourself and for your loved ones. Ask with the strength to move away from all that brings you contradiction; ask for your life to have unity. Don’t take a lot of time with this brief prayer, this brief asking, because it is enough that you interrupt for one brief moment what is happening in your life for this contact with your interior to give clarity to your feelings and your ideas.
To move away from contradiction is the same as to overcome hatred, resentment, and the desire for revenge. To move away from contradiction is to cultivate the desire to reconcile with others and with oneself. To move away from contradiction is to forgive and to make amends twice-over for every wrong that you have inflicted on others.”
Let us ask for this new experience to spread in the hearts of human beings in order to generate the profound change capable of redirecting the course of events in this difficult historical moment.
Loredana Cici
