Dear Friends ~ In this troubled and troubling world we are continually forced to choose sides or else risk indifference or complicity by virtue of inaction. But taking sides also perpetuates a society of winners and losers, of "us vs. them." How can one seek peace and inclusivity and at the same time work for justice when working for justice means choosing sides and standing in opposition? How can one love one's enemies and fight against their actions without fighting against them? We need a world characterized by tolerance and respect toward all whether they are our faith or not, whether they are our gender or not, whether they are our color or heritage or ethnicity or not, whether they are our nationality or background or not, and also whether they are in our political camp or not. We need to be a people that will not be governed by hate ~ either from within ourselves or from without. To accomplish that we will need to learn how to fuse love and compassion with nonviolent action.

For compassion to move from feeling to action it must practice the art of power. Spiritual action requires an alliance of love, power, and justice. As Paul Tillich said: in both interpersonal and political relationships love, power, and justice are inseparable. Without love, power becomes tyrannical and justice is only a name for the rule of strong. Without power, love is reduced to sentimentality and justice to an impotent ideal. Without justice, love is a perverse dance of domination and submission.

~ Pam Keen in "Spirituality and Health" Summer 2002

Non-violence is a power which can be wielded equally by all--children, young men and women, the elders, provided they have a living faith in the Source of Love and have therefore equal love for all humankind. When non-violence is accepted as the law of life it must pervade the whole being and not be simply applied to isolated acts.

~ Mohandas Gandhi. Read more: Gandhi: An Autobiography - The Story of My Experiments With Truth

FDR left a handwritten speech in a drawer when he died (to deliver at the UN). He wrote, "If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships -- the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace... The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

~ in Prophet by Douglas Gillies

We must love them both--those whose opinions we share, those whose opinions we don't share. They've both labored in the search for truth and have helped us in finding it.

~ Thomas Aquinas. Read more: Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings

The Hebrew word for compassion comes from the same root as the word womb, suggesting that compassion makes us womb-like, nurturing of life. With compassion we enable all things to grow into their most beautiful and complete form.

~ Estelle Frankl in "Parabola" Spring, 2003

Shall I inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly blossoms by the roots.

~ Muhammad. Read more: Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong

This tenderness for life, bodhichitta, awakens when we no longer shield ourselves from the vulnerability of our condition, from the basic fragility of existence. It awakens through kinship with the suffering of others. We train in the bodhichitta practices in order to become so open that we can take the pain of the world in, let it touch our hearts, and turn it into compassion.

~ from THE HEALING POWER OF BODHICHITTA by Pema Chodron. Read more: Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better: Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown by Pema Chodron

I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Read more: Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

Compassion is not an invitation to non-action or complacency...nor a license to sit idly, viewing the events of life from a perspective of non-involvement, numbness or denial. Becoming compassion is your invitation to immerse yourself fully into the experience of life, whatever the offering, from a place of non-judgment. Serving simultaneously as the path you may become, as well as the gift you offer to others, compassion is only possible in the healing of polarity: ie., transcending your personal polarity while remaining in this world of polarity.

~ from Walking Between the Worlds by Gregg Braden

Love is not for our own sakes. Love frees us to see others as God sees them.

~ Joan Chittister. Read more: Joan Chittister: Essential Writings

Love is the most potent source of power we have available.

~ Margaret Wheatley. Read more: Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

You must not hate those who do wrong or harmful things; but with compassion, you must do what you can to stop them - for they are harming themselves, as well as those who suffer from their actions.

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Read more: The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams

Renouncing self and crying out to evil
To end its wars, I seek a land that lies
All unprotected like a sleeping child;
Nor is my journey reckless and unwise.
Who doubts that love has an effective weapon
May meet with a surprise.

~ Jessica Powers. Read more: The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers

In his award-winning book, Exclusion & Embrace, Bosnian-born theologian Miroslav Volf says, "It may not be too much to claim that the future of our world will depend on how we deal with identity and difference."...Where articles of belief threaten to set people in opposition to one another, we may embody articles of peace. Where difference is demonized, we may host suppers with surprising guest lists...We may test the premise that God uses the weak to confound the strong as well as the promise that the God who made others different from us is revealed in them as well as us.

~ from An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor

When I fail to embrace the solitude of God's peace, I get caught up in the world's downward spiral of violence and turmoil...Solitude plucks us out of the world's frenzy and centers us in nonviolence. Solitude silences the loud voices within us to allow the still, small voice of God to speak. Solitude gives God the time and space to disarm our inner wars and gives us the strength to receive God's gift of peace, and to learn to be at peace with ourselves and those around us.

~ from Living Peace by John Dear

What if we asked ourselves every night: "How does what I did today nurture life?"

~ Carol Christ. Read more: Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology by Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow

Compassion is a kind of fire-it disturbs, it surprises, it ignites, it burns, it sears, and it warms. Compassion incinerates denial; it especially warms and melts cold hearts, cold structures, frozen minds, and self-satisfied lifestyles. Those touched by compassion have their lives turned upside down.

~ Matthew Fox. Read more: Original Blessing

Celebrating 30 years of the Friends of Silence In 1987 

We want to take this opportunity to thank you, the far-flung and deep community of Friends of Silence, and to once again invite you to help us continue to celebrate Nan's life and legacy throughout this year.

So, yes! In 2017 Friends of Silence is turning 30! 

Please help us celebrate this remarkable anniversary and moment of hope for the world. We know Nan would embrace this marking of both the history and the growing life of Friends of Silence. 

We are preserving all of the FOS Letters in an online searchable archive and database, publishing a contemplative, liturgical resource based on Nan's vision, and planning a fitting celebratory event. We will need your help! 

Save the date - October 21, 2017 and send us your memories and stories of Nan and how her life touched you. Those of you who were in correspondence with Nan (a marvelous letter writer) include copies, if you can. 

The Enneagram in Motion: An intensive immersion and exploration of the Enneagram led by Russ Hudson and Deborah Rose Longo with Cynthia Bourgeault on February 27-March 4, 2017 at Claymont Society in Charles Town, WV.

Simply Silence  - Following an age-old prayer tradition for contemporary pilgrims with Lindsay McLaughlin and Mary Ann Welter on March 10-12, 2017 at Rolling Ridge Study Retreat.

Fourth Way Wisdom Work: An Online Study Group of the ideas and inner work practices of the Fourth Way using Maurice Nicoll's Psychological Commentaries on January 15 - March 30, 2017.

Celebrating 30 Years of the Friends of Silence on October 21, 2017.

Or schedule your own Personal Retreat. Friends of Silence is devoted to nurturing those who reverence silence, prayer, contemplation, the Divine Guest, and the Oneness of all creation. Personal retreat can be a wonderful discipline for those seeking the life-giving empowerment that derives from the Silence. We have partnered with Still Point Mountain Retreat to be able to offer space for personal retreat for our members, whether you come as an individual, couple, family, or small group. We also manage and offer River House. The wilderness setting of both these retreat spaces provides the quiet and solitude necessary for the ideal personal retreat experience.

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