Beyond Borders

Beloved friends,

We live bordered lives. Boundaries are everywhere. Created by the world in which we live, our local communities, our families, our minds.

There is certainly some safety to be found within these borders. They keep us within the realm of 'the known', 'the familiar', 'the understood'.

But whilst boundaries can keep us safe, they also keep us imprisoned.

Whats more, they all too often become the playgrounds of fear.

Almost every page of human history is stained by the blood of innocents which has been spilled because of xenophobia - the fear of difference.

All you have to do is turn on the television, or open your newspaper and you will be confronted by the words of people whose lives are invested in maintaining and perpetuating boundaries.

Boundaries between black and white, men and women, gay and straight, rich and poor, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist etc etc.

It seems 'Fear speech' and 'Hate speech' is everywhere.... And even when we talk about 'tolerance', there is often an air of superiority, or condescension, in the way we speak. We can imagine 'tolerating' difference, but not celebrating it.

Friends, as I wrote the above words, the picture of Jesus which has hung in my corridor for many years fell to the floor with an almighty bang (and sent my little dog into a barking frenzy).

I am reminded that it is 'Holy week.' The time when Christians reflect upon the passion of Jesus....

The great and beloved mystic who was nailed to a tree, because of his radical thoughts on love and peace.

And I cant help thinking of all the 'Christians' who have and continue to speak hatred and fear in 'His name'.

Why do we so consistently, and with such arrogance, use the name of love in vain...to spread fear and hatred...instead of peace

Earlier this year I wrote these words on the subject:

"I believe in love.

And we do a disservice to love when we exclude any one from its circle. When we classify anyone as 'less than' or 'better than', for any reason.

I believe that we as a global community need to create a poetics of inclusion.

A vision of fearless equality and extravagant love.

Walls separate. Love connects."


The following video is one of the most profoundly moving statements on the need to open our minds and hearts to all people, that i have ever had the priveledge of seeing...It was sent to me by a dear friend who is director of http://www.curiousworks.com.au/ . The video is in two parts... The first is an artistic/creative piece by an amazing woman with autism, The second part is the powerful and eloquent translation of the piece in her own words....





At this Easter time I would like to offer the words of Jesus as you may not have heard them before... they are directly translated from the original Aramaic by the great Aramaic Scholar, Neil Douglas Klotz (author of Prayers of the Cosmos - Meditations on the Aramaic words of Jesus)...

Matthew 22:35-39 (King James version)

"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

The text as it is written in Aramaic:

Jesus said:

"Detrahm l'marya Alahak
men kuleh lebak
wa men kuleh napshak
wa men kuleh haylak
wa men kuleh rewhyanak...
Detrahm laqriybak ayk naphshak"

Translated directly from the Aramaic

Jesus said:

From the deepest part of yourself,
let love be born for the rays of the One that shine around you...
Let this come from your whole heart-the center of your life:
your passion, courage, and audacity-
and touch your whole subconscious self-
that instinctive soul within which scatters and gathers.

From this self liberate your whole animal energy and life force
to flood your entire grasping mind with love.

This is the most important command - the first creative movement that empowers all others.

The second is like it: Draw a breath of compassion for the one mysteriously drawn to live near you: love that friend as you love the self that dwells within - the subconscious that sometimes feels separate and intruding.


Let us continue to loosen the ties that bind us. To realise that boundaries are merely constructs of the 'grasping mind'.

Let us breathe love into the spaces between our lips...

And learn how to celebrate one another... To walk together upon this human path.

Take my hand, Maithri.