Jhusua take 2

You’re Not Alone

In this world where equality was drowned in a deep black sea;

Where love was swallowed by the Kaiser of judgmental humanity,

Which could turn a day of jubilance into a moonless night

And the age of glory refused to offer its’ light

But don’t let the words of colorless souls vanish your faith,

Or bring your life into the land of humorless marionettes

‘Cause you could jerk those words into the river of deficiency

Thus, be free to fly and reach the brightest star in the galaxy

It’s not a sin if there are two kinds of hearts sprouted by your earthquake prone world

It doesn’t matter if you are suffering from the nightmares of reality,

But it matters that your heart grows, which gives light and strength,

And that you’re the apprentice of love; not a traitor, nor a villain, nor a monster

And even if their demonic lasers strike and tear your golden mirror

There’s always a rainbow after a million pale tears have to fall

I will share with you the rare lights of my powerful chandelier

Always remember that I’m here and you’re not alone

Spaceless

During a lifeless winter day

The world was entirely covered with the tears of grief

Hopes were sunk in a deep dark grave

And my corpse heart was alone…searching for a place

I was there to be the light when the autumn conquered the dawn

I was there to offer strength when the stern paradise stole all life

But how could I divulge the words of truth?

If there wasn’t space available for me!

Did I need to pursue a search until I reached the kingdom of silence,

Or just bury my words in the grave where I belong?

‘Cause now there are pangs that bring down my hopes

And the comets beyond won’t show their brilliance

The goddess of sorrow whispered into the shadow of deadly cosmic rays,

Which refracted and hypnotized my foolish soul

Saying that I needed to cast my words into the dark hole

Where they would easily vanish, just like fake happiness

This is my letter to Jhusua

i'm including this because i spend so much time telling him the world needs his words and will listen to him, but, as you can read in the above poem, he more often than not feels his words are going nowhere.  this devestates me, and often makes me wonder if my belief in him is enough to make him realize all that he is, or if i should just sit back so he isn't so disappointed when things seem the same day after day

Jhusua

Never stop sharing your words with the world. They need to be heard and read. Your stories, your life, all that your pen documents, carries strength and the vision of a world where love prevails. This is something people need. It offers hope even during the most hopeless times.

Words have the power to transport readers from their world to another—sharing not only oases of peace and possibility, but also truths of reality and the complexity of human life. You have the ability to do all of this.

You possess a wisdom that far surpasses your age, a wisdom that you must always remember to hear and let guide you. The world may tell you one thing, but what you know, what you believe, what you have come to discover as truth should never be ignored or forgotten.

Use this notebook as a space for expression. Anything and everything. It is yours, just as your words are yours…never to be destroyed or stolen

Jhusua

I have no idea why I was brought to the Philippines, but I think it might have to do something with this boy.  The Philippines is a very difficult place to be “different.” In the U.S. I thought it was hard to be unique and dance to the beat of your own drum, bur here, I think, it's much harder. 

I have a student named Jhusua.  I have contemplated naming my future son after him.  He is a remarkable boy, and there is something in me that literally feels like it is melting when I read his work or see him smile or watch him struggle as he tries to figure out what he thinks about something or as I listen to his often terrible stories from life outside of school.  “Melt” is such a cliché word, but I can’t think of any other way to describe the connection I have to Jhusua.  

I wanted to copy a piece of an email I sent John Todd about Jhusua, but I couldn’t find it, so I’ll just do my best to give you a little bio.  Basically, his work will speak for itself.  He is a compassionate soul, and has a degree of empathy and understanding I’ve never seen in anyone else his age. He knows and feels what people he has never met, and may never meet, feel and know.  It’s as if he is somehow transported to their lives when he is day dreaming in class or walking home after school. He has such a vivid comprehension of all that is a part of this world. His wisdom is almost terrifying for such a young person, and he is in tune with all life. He is sensitive to everything. When something hurts, he hurts; when something thrives, he thrives.  But, he is strong and he is a fighter. I think a lot of this has to do with his life and the way he has been treated at home and by his peers. Just as he can love, he can hate.  Both of these expressions are so pure and so full. I cry when I experience him doing either because his love is so powerful that you can watch it heal people, but his anger and hatred is also powerful, and I fear they have the potential to do great damage in him, just like anyone else.  But, unlike other people, he is in constant dialogue with his love and his anger (sometimes hatred) so that they are both solidified and he carries them with him in every thought and feeling that passes through him. 

 Since I met him last year I have hoped that I could somehow encourage, strengthen, and support his self-image, and thus his ability to find internal peace and spread his love, because I think it’s a dangerous thing for someone so young to be torn down so many times by so many different people.  

Before you get the privilege of reading Jhusua’s wise insights to the world around him and himself, I will give you one more quick preface.  In the Philippines students have not been trained or encouraged to think critically. I have little else to say about that right now, other than that is one of the main things that setsJhusua apart from his peers and why adults and youth alike criticize and judge him.  It is not acceptable to question or doubt what has come to be common belief. At the same time, this is one of his many qualities that I find refreshing and gives me hope for the Philippines. I have no doubt it’s this quality that will help Jhusua do great things for the world.  

The first four of these posts are taken from his class journal.  The first ten minutes of my class are dedicated to journaling based on a different prompt every day. The journals are graded for effort and individual thought instead of grammar.  The next six are from his private notebook. Enjoy, and hopefully, through these you will get to see a glimpse of an incredible boy I get this time working with and learning from.

A portion of Jhusua’s response to the word power written on the board

“If I’m giving a chance to have a power to rule our country, I will not accept it or I will just ignore it because I just want to have a simple life. A life where I can express myself and a simple world where there is even a small space available for me to shout my words in the world which could offer hope and could bring peace and love in everyone’s heart.”

The World of Seven Billion (A National Geographic map that shows areas of development, population growth, access to food and water, health statistics etc.)

“Actually I don’t read the details written in the chart because it’s so long. But when I read the title, I surprisingly said, ‘Wow!’ The title have a really great and powerful impact and charisma. The first thing that comes to my mind is about overpopulation and poverty after I read the title.  We are all aware that the main problem of all governments in different countries was poverty caused by overpopulation. Because of poverty, sad to think that many youth will not be able to go to school because their parents have no enough money to support their studies.

Especially in Africa, aside that most of the children in that continent cannot study, they also can’t eat three times a day. That’s why most of them are malnourished, which caused high rate of death. Because they easily got sick from their harsh environment in the reason of they are lack of nutrients in their bodies to fight or avoid getting deadly diseases.

Actually, sometimes before I sleep, I think about the children in Africa and in other countries. In my imagination I saw them sleeping in the mud, nothing to eat and no comfortable things for them to live. I feel sad. I fell guilty because I can’t do something to help them. I’m sorry, but I can’t continue to write what’s next ‘cause now I’m crying. I don’t know what to write anymore…I’m sorry. Goodbye”

Cultures (A response to a National Geographic map that traces and displays the exchange of technology, food, art etc across the globe)

“I also didn’t read the details about this one, but what I understood when Miss Kaitlin told something about this topic to us is about obviously ‘cultures’ and progression of some countries. In cultures, we are all know that each countries have their own traditions, philosophy, and beliefs, but some countries have almost the same cultures maybe because of colonialism. For me, our cultures is most important things in our life because some people can be able to identify whether in what country or raise we are belong. And I think culture is like a rights which should be respected and accepted by others. And which we can be proud of and complete our personality as one voice. 

In progression, the countries belong or categorize as the most progressive are the U.S.A., Hapan, Chine etc. I think the basis why those following countries considered as richest countries in the world are the amount of energy that they consumed and their technology. I know and we know that everyone wants to have a developed county but what is the value of progression using high-quality technology if we could destroy our environment, our beloved world where many people are living, not only me, you and them. Am my right? There’s nothing wrong to aim progress but we shuld make sure that while our country is progressing, our mother nature is not suffering from the bad side effects of using technologies.”

Response to the statement “All men are created equal.”

“This quotation is extremely true and super powerful. Because we are really born equal with the same rights. But I think this quotation is just ignored by somebody cause we are all aware about the discrimination happening in our world. Most probably, the persons which are discriminated with others are the bisexual community. When I watched on t.v., I heard that the transgender lifes are mental disabilities. I don’t believe on this and I really hate those persons who discriminated the bisexual community and other persons who have insecurities in theirselves. Those who discriminates are such an evil because they ignored what are the feelings of those who they discriminates. 

If I would given a chance I would kill them because I felt hatred in those persons. I really, really, want to kill them even though a big sin and even I’m in prison. They should respect the rights and treat them equal as they are. Because our rights is our life, if we lose it because of somebody who discriminates us it seems like we lose our life. We would not be already a complete person. We would be a dust floating in the air if we lose our rights through discrimination. I don’t know why I’m becoming an evil because of those evil person too.  Maybe I just can’t accept that there are persons who discriminating others ‘cause I am one of the victims of discrimination. Most of the persons around me insulting me and saying that I am weird, abnormal, mysterious, and misunderstood, and they also treated me seems like they are on the highest and I am on the lowest!”

From his private notebook (p.s. he told me it was okay to share all of these entries with all of you)

To the readers:

“MASTERPIECE…a very complicated and difficult word to define. But according to the dictionary, Masterpiece is anything done with superior skill or in short a chief performance. Do you agree? Of course you did because it’s come from the master of all English word books which stating the correct or let say perfect definition of different words.

But, immediately…I felt confused because every time I heard or remembered that word there was a different or another idea which playing in my mind.

For me, masterpiece isn’t all about being great, being amazing, being stunning, being unique, being expensive, being powerful, and so on. ‘Cause for me, true masterpiece is anything which causes a great happiness to you when you accomplished on making it.  That when you see your work, it will offer brightness when the darkness blocks your way.

That’s what I think the most about masterpiece. But, you! What is your own definition regarding in the word ‘Masterpiecee’?” –Jhusua O. Celeste

Dark Room

I am alone…

Wondering unto the shadow of dayspring

Keeping the maiden came from darkness

And whispering to call the fair of happiness

I am standing…

My eyes having discourse till they cry

My greatest organ gazing into the sky

But my knees declare that I need to die

I am confused…

The weapon of death ant to end my life

And strange daylight cover me from grief

But the bold pale light conquers the brightness

And now…I’m dying…

Foolish blood creep around the heaven

As for the heavenly bodies ruin the beauty of Sunday

Until the angel of death ushers my soul with the world of sadness”

Private Journal

“When I watched ‘the Glee Project’ they performed the song entitled ‘MAD WORLD.’ That song wasn’t familiar to me but when I heard the lyrics I felt sad, I felt bad…I don’t know but I became emotional which leads me to cry.

They said that the ‘Mad World’ song is knowned on its strong words that are used to make the song powerful and unforgettable. This is all about ‘INSECURITY.’ Each performance that I saw wore a board where their insecurity was written. Some wrotes: fat, gay, small, misunderstood, numb, used, fake, black or white, rejected and anorexic—I don’t know what does ‘ANOREXIC’ means.

As I said, when I heard the lyrics I felt sad because that song or maybe that performance is related to myself. I have a lot of insecurities like being a devil, being fake, being less fortunate, being a loser, being weird and having a broken family. Sometimes I want to show my real me but I’m afraid because this world where we are living is true judgemental.

But now, I’m trying o change some of my bad attitudes to be a better person. That song and that performance causes me to thinked and imagined that this world is a world of sadness, where discrimination prevailed and where love and equality are ignored. I don’t know if I’m right but that’s what I think the most.

That song will not be vanish in my heart, in my mind and in my soul until the end of my life because that was powerful, amazing and genuine. And that song is also the reason why now I feel good because now I accept myself, my insecurities and I understand that there are reasons in all things happened in your life. Just accept who you are and be true to yourself then you will be free.”

Monster

When the darkness pace the entire land of insilence

Take either your breathe or your heart

Cast it away from me—the lord of monsters

Then swiftly read the gleam before it vanish

Don’t even try to tear my foolish heart

Or even after your fake and conditional love

‘Casue I could easily cast your soul on the dark-sided paradise

And make things nocious for you to ignore the light

But in the end of autumn, spring sprouts and creeps

Peace predominates in the world of greenish blood

So please entrust me your genuine heart

I’ll try to keep it, not destroy, or ruin it

And even the dark-day must have to come

I would conquer the evil spirit came from the underworld

Even it could be the reason for me to die

I’ll go for it…just for the sake of our love

I am weird

Most of the person around my world said that I’m weird. Sometimes I flet bad because they’re insulting my whole personality. But now I accept that I am a weird person, actually I’m really proud and glad to be weird ‘cause it makes me unique from others. And I think this is a blessing to me in the reason I’ll be able to express who I really am; n hiding and no pretending.

They say being weid is being mysterious, abnormal and misunderstood. But I disagree on what they say because for me it is more about being creative, imaginative and being curious in all things happened and would come to happen even something out of this world like aliens and ghosts and other things which can’t reach by science. Most probably, I think their reason why they called me weird because I am the only boy among us who loves to wrote poems, stories, etc. which is so hard and complicated to do in the reason of you need to widen your mind or your imagination. I really have interest in writing poems, stories, and others. I don’t’ know why but I think this is my only way to express what I felt or what I expereincd and maybe I’ll proudly say that writing is my PASSION!

Now I can’t wait to shout in the world that I am weird and I am proud to myself.  If somebody try to insult me, I’ll just ifnore them and let them do what ever they want because I knew in myself that I accept who I am and most especially I knew that I’m on the right track. 

If you could only love me

If you could only love me

My life starts its excursion in a world without gravity

If you could only love me

Stars at night will proudly shown its true beauty

If you could only love me

A thousand miles away seems like two steps for me

If you could only love me

It’s liked I took all the precious treasures using your vitality

If you could only love me

You are the bold knight and im your beige and metallic armory

If you could only love me

I could reach the sky and forget the reality

If you could only love me

The ocean of love prevails in my fantasy

mad thanks and love

everytime i get to the internet and load my email i feel overwhelmed by love and support. this happened just now. i opened my email and just started crying because there are so many kind and supportive words from so many different people. people from different countries, people who i've known only a few days, people i've known for a decade, people i was sure would have forgotten about me months if not years ago.  all of these people, all of you (if anyone is reading this haha), are absolutely amazing and i honetly feel so blessed to have everyone in my life.

i feel  i'm not uch of a person. just a plain average girl. nothing about me stands out or is remarkable in anyway--i tend to blend in with the walls so to say.  BUT, the people who i've shared life with thus far, and hopefully for the rest of my time, are stunning in evey way and have made my life anything but ordinary. without a doubt every person who i've shared  meal with or a conversation or even just passed by on the sidewalk have left a permanent mark on my life and have helped shape my worldview and have given me a great hope for this world. 

basically, thank you everyone, and you really have no idea how much your words mean to me no matter what form they come in...even just a fleeting thought.

i want

other volunteers have told me that they have made lists of things they want to do in their lives post peace corps (we have a lot of time to sit in solitude and think), so i figured i should make a list too.  here it is:

I want to go there alone, and leave with family

I want to love you. And him. And her. And them. And me.

I want to learn how to cook, and not just cook, but create a masterpiece of delicacy with spices and sauces and peels adorning the walls—like a canvas dressed with flickers of paint that were flung with simultaneous consideration and carelessness

I want to spend all day in bed doing nothing but eating popcorn and drinking root beer floats

I want to swim in the sea, dressed in only the glistening reflection of the moon

I want to get lost in the forest until truth has been discovered, and the most welcoming of trees has been climbed, lifting me to the sky for a baptism of light

I want to find peace. Not in a far off ashram visited by the wise, but here, and now, in the most ordinary of times

I want to eat caramel apples and ride a Ferris wheel because it seems simple and pure

I want to dance in the streets of Havana, chant in the hills of the Himalayas, and eat a baguette in the shadows sprung from the Eiffel Tower’s noontime chat with the sun

I want to again untie myself with the passionate African soil

I want to learn languages. The language of the soul while being engulfed by the mighty Navajo temples of soil and rock, baked under a sun known for its’ gifts of guidance. The language of the mind while discussing philosophy and politics with strangers on a street corner café in Prague, under the Bedouin sky in Jordan, beside Banksy’s mark in Palestine, to the sound of beating drums in Ghana, while drifting down the Amazon.  The language of the heart while watching a baby take her first breath and a dying man say his last goodbye. 

I want to sleep on the street where prophecies are told and bottles are finished

I want to write a letter of love to a murder, a rapist, a sailor and a saint. 

I want a small place to call my own with walls plastered in memories and vibrant colors, inviting all who enter to smile

I want to bury a box full of secrets

I want to believe that romance and love are true

I want to know God and all that God is

I want to jump in a puddle of rain and stand with the Zebra amongst the soothing sound of melodious grasses preparing for the storm

I want to be in a tent during a storm knowing all that surrounds me is being showered with life, while I’m inside being nourished with warmth

I want to remember my dreams

I want to spend a day in the park. Just you and me and we can lie in the grass and name the clouds

I want to kiss a soldier, and I want to stand with the pacifists

I want to make a grumpy man laugh, and get a child to ask “why?”

I want to make love to the rhythmic dances of shooting stars and the redemptive cries of monsoon rains

I want to meet an alien, and visit the moon

I want to swim with creatures that have yet to be named, and speak to people whose tongues are distinctive and unknown

I want to reconcile brothers and tear down walls and build welcome signs along the borders people cross for the sake of their children who remain in the distant horizon

I want to pick flowers along the pond, and learn an ancient poets’ song

I want the palm readers to be right, and I want the critics to be wrong

I want to seek hope in the most destitute corners, and I want to challenge the norm in the most comfortable settings

I want the horses to roam free and the buffalo to be

I want to fly through the sky and float with the wind

I want to paint for no reason other than I like color and getting my hands dirty, and I want to play guitar without a care in the world that I’m tone def and haven’t got a tune

I want to road trip cross-country, living off the hospitality of strangers whose lives are far more complex than their neighbors may perceive, eating in diners filled with old-timers, smoke and coffee, visiting holy sites and bars, blue grass concerts and under ground dance battles

I want to live freely, but remain bound to what is right and just

I want to invite those without four walls into my home. And speaking of that, I want to be rich so they can each have a bed and meals until their strength is regained and they are ready to step outside the door again optimistic about the day

I wan to learn to create beauty everywhere I step, leaving saplings where my feet have walked

I want my students to prosper and defend themselves against the cruelties of corruption and wealth

I want to be here and there all at once

I want to live in the camps that have dehumanized so many worn out souls in the hopes I can help people remember they are a name, not a number; they are individuals, not a mass story on the nighttime news in a distant place they have only heard rumors of being true

I want to adopt a child whose parents are gone.  And I want to love that child and help that child grow and discover him/herself and what she/he believes to be true

I want to walk through the snow, the light fluffy snow that carpets the world with hope, smoking a black clove, until I reach the perfect balance of being cold and hot all at once, of reaching a state of internal peace while still being eager to work diligently until the wars are over.  Then I want to go inside and sit by the fire and fall asleep to the sound of another voice reading stories of foreign places and close neighbors

I want the world to treat each color equal, but never forgetting to recognize and celebrate the qualities of each hue

I want each girl to grow up knowing she is strong and beautiful and each boy to grow up knowing he is beautiful and strong

I want lifelong lovers and devoted partners to be free to marry, and I want exhausted wives to be able to divorce[1]

I want the polar bears to have ice, and I want the farmers to have water

I want to grow a garden in the middle of a city. A safe garden. A place for people to play and sit and think and talk and dream and wish.

I want to jump from a plane, falling without restraint, and once I reach that point of either realizing there is no need for answers and clarity, or realize I have the key and the chest with all the answers has always been mine, I will pull the chute and gracefully glide back to ground where I will be swaying in a field embraced by the sun, preferably with an ice cream cone in hand

I want to know something is true, and I want that truth to be good, and I want to believe in that truth, and I want to be a part of that truth

---

[1] In the Philippines it is nearly impossible to get divorced, especially if initiated by a women, especially a poor women. 

typhoon mourning

Those from the days before warned us of this day

Like brail they engrained their belief, “all people are people through other people,” into the heavens where we seek hope, and the ground where we find enough gravity to stand, giving us momentum to push forward to tomorrow

But this truth has been cloaked as we shout and drink for no reason other than the death of another

Humanity fragmented, and we wonder why and how and when will it all stop. But we continue to wave flags in jubilee, filling the streets with festivity, ignoring the fact that flags are nothing but symbols of man-made lines that divide us from them and them from us and you from me and me from you…the outcomes of wars and lost lives all sacrificed for the flag.

And today another man falls, but we can cheer and praise this death as he is no man at all but a symbol of terror and murder—a monster feasting on the flesh of innocence, biting venom into the veins of life.  But what divides monster from man and man from monster? Is it the act of bloodshed without blinking an eye, without stepping from the body in remorse? Is it such hatred for a brother that cheers flood the streets like early typhoon rains? Is it the destruction of an earthly shell so that a mother and father can’t return their seed to the soil from which we all thrive? 

We must remember the words of the wise. The earthquake of pride and fear crumbles the tower, unlocking your fingers from mine and mine from yours, making my tongue foreign to yours, and leaving my eyes jaded by the debris of blame and judgment. Small particles of dust unseen by the mirror, but vivid to a soul of any other creed.  And these particles bond forming machines without hearts and killers without consciousness’. 

So one team rejoices while another mourns and plans for revenge, and the cycle continues just as souls vanish to light the skies, trying to illuminate the words for a future. So with dust in our eyes and poison on our tongues we prance around forgetting the typhoon always remembers to flood our streets, reminding us we are all human. 

more quotes/i'm turning into leah

I read a lot while I’m here. It’s wonderful.  I’ve never been a big quote person, but Leah has inspired me, and, well, maybe quotes aren’t so bad.  Here’s what stood out to me from a few of the books I read recently:

“There is a basin in the mind where words gloat around thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feeling untouched by thought.” –Their Eyes Were Watching God

“Love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is like da sea. It’s ah movin’ thing, bit still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.”—Their Eyes Were Watching God

“The polar Eskimos of Northwest Greenland call the polar bear pisugtoag, the great wanderer…the bear is a great wanderer not solely because it travels far, but because it travels with curiosity and tirelessly.”—Arctic Dreams

“They [the Eskimo’s] have a quality of muannarpaq, of taking extravagant pleasure in being alive; and they delight in finding it in other people.”—Arctic Dreams

“This is a timeless wisdom that survives failed human economies. It survives wars. It survives [some word I can’t read because I have messy handwriting]. It is a nameless wisdom esteemed by all people. It is understanding how to live a decent life, how to behave properly toward other people and toward the land.”—Arctic Dreams. 

“I thought about the great desire among friends and colleagues and travelers who meet on the road, to share what they know, what they have seen and imagined.  Not to have shared understanding, but to share what one has come to understand.”—Arctic Dreams

“What every culture must eventually decide, actively debate and decide, is what of all that surrounds it, tangible and intangible, it will dismantle and turn into material wealth. And what of its cultural wealth, from the tradition of finding peace in the vision of an undisturbed hillside to a knowledge of how to finance a corporate merger, it will fight to preserve.”—Arctic Dreams. 

These next are form a book about Bliss. I forget if the name is Atlas of Bliss or Geography of Bliss or what, but it’s something along those lines. 

“You see. Everything is a dream. Nothing is real. You will realize that one day.”—Bliss

“Happiness is relationships, and people in the West think money is needed for relationships.  But its it’s not. It comes down to trustworthiness.”—Bliss

“I would not have done anything differently. A;; of the moments in my life, everyone I have met, every trip I have taken, every success I have enjoyed, every blunder I have made, every loss I have endured has been just right. I’m not saying they were all good or that they happened for a reason—I don’t buy that brand of pop fatalism—but they have been right”—Bliss.

“in transit. If two sweeter words exist in the English language I have yet to hear them.  Suspended between coming and going, neither here not there, my mind slows, and, amid the duty-free shops and PA announcements, I achieve something approaching calm.”—Bliss

“Perhaps it’s true that you can’t go back in time, but you can return to the scene of a love, of a crime, of happiness, and of a fateful decision; the places are what remains, are what you can possess, are what is immortal.”—Bliss

“”Necessity may be the mother of invention, but interdependence is the mother of affection. We humans need one another, so we cooperate for purely selfish reasons at first. At some point, though, the needing fades and all that remains is the cooperation.”—Bliss

“Your imagination must, to some extent, be found in a realm beyond reason because it begins with imagining a future reality: the self that you might become.”—Bliss

“Hope is sheer anchor of every man when hope is destroyed, great grief follows, which is almost equal to death itself.”—Bliss

“Everyone is swaddled in the inevitable present moment.”—Bliss

The next series of quotes are from For the Sake of Peace: Seven Paths to Global harmony—a Buddhist Perspective By: Daisaku Ikeda

“What cruel demands nationalism makes on the lives of ordinary people!”

“…with the hope and conviction that as citizens of the world, we can discover our common humanity.. that, of course, is the basis for all efforts for peace.”

“What is needed to advance human history, to move from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from killing to coexistence? What light can dispel the gloom and illuminate the expanses of the next thousand years? These are questions we must ask ourselves in all earnestness.”

“In light of the globalization of financial, environmental and health issues, domestic problems cannot be solved without addressing international ones.  People must be interested, he (Boutros Boutros-Ghali) said, not only in their own countries but also in international conditions.”

“The central issue of the current era is crushing poverty. There can be no peace where hunger reigns.”

“War has held humankind in its irrevocable grip throughout history; it is the source of all evil. War normalizes insanity—the kind that does not hesitate to destroy human beings like so many insects and tears all that is human and humane to shreds, producing an unending stream of refugees.”

“Peace cannot be a mere stillness, a quiet interlude between wars. It must be a vital and energetic arena of life activity, won through our own volitional, proactive efforts.  Peace must be a living drama—in Spinoza’s words, ‘a virtue that springs from force of character.; Eternal peace is a continuum consciously maintained through the interactions of self-restraining individuals within a self-restraining society.”

“Communist regimes toppled because for too long they sought enemies outside of themselves, not attempting to see the evils they harbored within.”

“But life is never a material, a substance to be molded. If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself, it is infinitely beyond your or my obtuse theories about it.”—Pasternak

“The greater self of Mahayana Buddhism is another way of expressing the openness and expansiveness f character that embrace the sufferings of all people as one’s own.  This self always seeks ways of alleviating the pain and augmenting the happiness of others, here, amid the realities of everyday life.  only the solidarity brought about by such natural human nobility will break down the isolation of the modern self and lead to the dawning of new hope for civilization.”  

“The real seeds of peace lie not in lofty ideas but in human understanding and the empathy of ordinary people.”

“Whether at war or not, people are not so easily drawn into committing violence against others if they sense the others’ concrete, personal existence. This is especially true among people who know well and live near one another.”

“Overcoming negative attachments to difference—discrimination—and bringing about a true flowering of human diversity are the keys to generating a lasting culture of peace. And dialogue is the means to achieve this active tolerance.”

“If more people were to pursue dialogue in an equally unrelenting manner, the inevitable conflicts of human life would surely find easier resolution. Prejudice would yield to empathy, and war would give way to peace.  Genuine dialogue results in the transformation of opposing viewpoints, changing them from wedges that drive people apart into bridges that link them together.” 

“Tolerance is more than just a mental attitude; it must grow out of a sense of larger order and coexistence, a cosmic sensibility that issues up from the deepest wellsprings of life.”

“According to a United nations’ report, roughly 5% of the world’s annual expenditures on defense would be sufficient to ensure enough good, water, health and education for all the people on the planet during the same period.”

“I believe strongly in the latent power of people. To awaken people to their own power, education is necessary.  People need teachers. Today, it seems to me, we are hearing the call for education in global form. In more concrete terms, the course of education must include such currently vital problems as environment, development, peace and human rights…in all four of these essential categories, education must go beyond national boundaries and seek values applicable to all humanity.”

“The essence of goodness is the aspiration toward unity, while evil directs itself toward division or sundering.”

“Only through learning can we open the spiritual windows of humanity…”

“The inherent role of religion can be defined as taking human hearts that are divided and connecting them through a universal human spirit.  Arnold Toynbee addressed that goal when he wrote, ‘At a time when people with very different traditions, faiths, and ideals have come into sudden and close contact with one another, the survival of humankind requires that people be willing to live with one another and to accept that there is more than one path to truth and salvation.’”

“ ‘The meaning of the imperial past is not totally contained within it, but has entered the reality of hundreds of millions of people, where its existence as shared memory and as a highly conflictual texture of culture, ideology, and policy still exercises tremendous force.’”—Edward Said

“To be maximally effective, legal and structural reforms must be supported by a corresponding revolution in consciousness—the development of the kind of universal humanity that transcends differences from within.” 

“ ‘There are no ‘homeless’ words. Humans are the homes of words, their sovereign masters…words live within us. They leave and return to us. They serve us devotedly from the moment we are born until we die. Words carry the burden of the world of soul and the vastness o the cosmos.’”—Chingiz Aitmatov

“ ‘[the true aspect of life] cannot be burned by the fires at the end of a kalpa, nor swept away by floods, not cut by swords or pierced by arrows. It can fit into a mustard seed, and althug the mustard seed does ot expand, there is no need for life to shrink.  It can fill the entire universe. The cosmos is neither too vast nor life too small to fill it.’”—Nichiren

“the symbol for the third millennium…should rather be that of a constellation—a society based on respect for the value of cultural pluralism. The image of a constellation is apt. it evokes the brilliance of many individual stars. Their grouping creates a beautiful constellation, and yet each star’s beauty is unimpaired, on the contrary, the contrary, the splendor of the night scy lies in their diversity.”

“Each living thing, in other words, has a distinct character, individuality and purpose in this world. accordingly, people should develop their own unique capabilities as they work to build a world of cooperation where all people acknowledge both their differences and their fundamental equality, a world where diversity of peoples and cultures is nourished, each enjoying respect and harmony.” 

“Art is the irrepressible expression of human spirituality. So it is now, and so it has always been. Into each of the myriad concrete forms of art is ompressed the symbol of ultimate reality. The creation of a work of art essentially takes place within spatial boundaries, but through the process of creating, the soul of the artist seeks union with the ultimate reality, what might be called the cosmic life. a living work of art is life itself, born form the dynamic fusion of the self (the microcosm) and the universe )the macrocosm).”

“As a young Christian man I conceived of God as a rather fatherly figure, one who was paternal and watched over all of us down here on earth. Maybe he pulled a string or two to make things happen and kind of guided our lives. After having seen space, I was impressed by the great universal order of things. Today, I think that order of things in the universe is what we call God, or what other religions call something else.  God is the understanding we have that there is order to all things in the universe. It is from this feeling of religion that I believe there is a common universality of all men. I think that is the basis for an understanding of the world community.” 

“It goes without saying that effective assistance from industrialized countries is essential if developing countries are to escape form poverty. Ultimately, however, success depends on the internal efforts of the poorer countries to develop themselves, and the key to this lies in education.”

“A vicious cycle plagues nations of the South, our close neighbors on this one-and-only earth, linking poverty, population growth, and environmental destruction.”

“What Berdjaev calls existential time is experienced when we break free of the fallen time of daily inertia. It is the experience of joy and sense of fulfillment that comes from seizing the moment and fulfilling one’s innate human mission.”

“The existence of world citizens and national independence, of course, are not opposed to each other. In today’s world it is fully possible to deepen one’s national and cultural identities and to take a broad look at the entire world while working for humanity.”

“ ‘Extinction is more terrible—is the more radical nothingness—because extinction ends death just as surely as it ends birth and life. death is only death; extinction is the death of death.’”—Jonathan Schell

“Trust in nuclear arms is a negation of trust in humanity. The more people trust in arms, the less they trust one another. Ceasing to put their trust in arms is the only way to cultivate mutual trust among peoples.”

“Poverty is a key cause of conflict, which in turn further aggravates poverty. Severing this vicious cycle would simultaneously lead to the eradication of one of the causes of war and resolve this global justice. Removing the causes of war and poverty that menace human dignity will enhance enjoyment of human rights,”

“The initiative to build a world without nuclear arms and a world without war lies in the hands of every individual. We have to embrace this conviction and be cognizant of our responsibility in that task.”

“Peace is not something to be left to others in distant places. It is something we create day to day in our efforts to cultivate care and consideration for others, forging bonds of friendship and trust in our respective communities through our own actions and example.

            As we enhance our respect for the sanctity of life and human dignity through our daily behavior and steadyefforts toward dialogue, the foundations for a culture of peace will deepen and strengthen, allowing a new global civilization to blossom. When each person is aware and committed, we can prevent society from relapsing into the culture of war and foster and nurture energy toward the creation of a century of peace.

            The human spirit is endowed with the ability to transform even the most difficult circumstances, creating value and ever richer meaning. When each person brings this limitless spiritual capacity to full flower, and when ordinary citizens unite in a commitment to positive change, a culture of peace—a century of life—will come into being.”