Flower Power

Maybe some of you remember flower power? The sixties? Hippies putting blossoms in the bayonets of soldiers sent to dispel or arrest them?

Actually, flowers do have tremendous power. Without them, biologists tell us, our earth's ecology would be in big trouble, and we would probably not survive. Moreover, they are powerful symbolically speaking as well.

They speak to us of beauty, love, fertility, and grace.

In this blog, I want to follow up on my intention to write an excerpt from the introduction (a first draft) to my book Flowers From Gardens of Faith. In this case, flowers symbolize the beauty, wisdom, and truth which one can find in the great religion/wisdom traditions of the world. The flower pictures that accompany this excerpt were taken by me over the past few months.

In the blogs that follow this one, I will be using the beautiful flowers photographed by my friend Richard Wedemeyer, with his kind permission. And I will begin publishing meditations of the sort I intend to put into my book. Each meditation, or devotional, if you will, includes a suggested ritual, a reading, suggested music, and a prayer written by me as a response.

But for now, here is the excerpt from my introduction. As always, your responses and input are most welcome.

"From time immemorial, there have been pe0ple of faith living in every culture, every land, and every cetury. Some of the religions they developed have come and gone. Some still survive in our century. I like to thing of these religions, or "wisdom traditions," as beautiful gardens filled with the flowers of faith. each garden reflects the particular context in which it was created and developed over time. Each garden has in it gorgeous flowers of many kinds. To me, these are the rituals, the sacred teachings, the music, the symbols, and the prayers of each faith. They make it possible for us to enter into the sacred heart of each faith, in a spirit of good will and a desire to understand and grow wiser.

In times past, ignorance, misunderstanding, and even hostility on the part of some people towards the faith of others has contributed to the lack of peace among the peoples of the world. In fact, there have been religious wars and persecutions--people trampling upon and trying to destroy gardens of faith that are different than their own. I believe it is high time all this came to a halt, once and for all. It is a travesty of all the highest values that bloom in all gardens of faith. People of faith the world over have the high calling and responsibility to behave more wisely, more maturely, and in a way that contributes to world peace, rather than making it impossible.

Now that the human race is so connected through trasnportation and the innovations of modern technology, it is possible for us all to learn to appreciate the spiritual wisdom in all the world's great religious traditions. They are a precious legacy available to the whole human race for the first time in history. Finally, we have evolved to the point of being able to walk in each other's gardens of faith, and enjoy the beauty and truth that bloom there.

May you find many blossoms with which to create spiritual bouquets for your soul to enjoy.