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Newtown school shooting: Thoughts and tributes
Transcending the Violence
What follows is one of the most powerful teachings I have ever come across, especially in time such as these. It was reproduced with permission from Ram Dass in Wayne Dyer's book "Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling". I post it here in the hope that it will find its way to the source of all the pain, and start in some small way the healing process. This letter was written by Ram Dass to the parents of a young girl who’d been brutally murdered.
"Dear Steve and Anita,
Rachael finished her work her on Earth and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of a equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror, and desolation.
I can’t assuage your pain with any words, nor should I, for your pain is Rachael’s legacy to you. Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion. For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see a God sees, and to love as God loves.
Now is the time to let your grief find expression --- no false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachael, thank her for being with you these few years, and encourage her to go on with whatever her work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience. In my heart, I know that you and she will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know. In a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: why this had to be the way it was.
Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts --- if we keep them open to God --- will find their own intuitive way. Rachael came through you to do her work on Earth, which include her manner of death. Now her soul is freer, and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. In that deep love, include me.
In love,
Ram Dass"
"Dear Steve and Anita,
Rachael finished her work her on Earth and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of a equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror, and desolation.
I can’t assuage your pain with any words, nor should I, for your pain is Rachael’s legacy to you. Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion. For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see a God sees, and to love as God loves.
Now is the time to let your grief find expression --- no false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachael, thank her for being with you these few years, and encourage her to go on with whatever her work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience. In my heart, I know that you and she will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know. In a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: why this had to be the way it was.
Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts --- if we keep them open to God --- will find their own intuitive way. Rachael came through you to do her work on Earth, which include her manner of death. Now her soul is freer, and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. In that deep love, include me.
In love,
Ram Dass"
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