Courage and Community

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Peter
Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy
Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted
philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and
touring his “Concert & Conversation” series in support of his book
Life Is What You Make It.

Well, it finally happened. I really couldn’t come up with
anything to write when the time came to write it. So, with permission, I’m
posting something that a friend wrote to his colleagues over the holidays because I certainly couldn’t have said it better. This was written by Martin Ping from Hawthorne Valley Farm:

Strange is our situation here on earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes
seeming to a divine purpose. From the
standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are
here for the sake of each other.
–Albert Einstein

The concept
that we are separate is a worn and tired idea that resides at the root of many,
if not all, of our modern crises. The
Cartesian split has played itself out. A new consciousness is waiting to be
born to replace the foundational thinking on which our systems are built. Reductionism must give way to context
again. Mechanization must be reimagined
as biomimicry. An opaque financial
system based on anonymous transaction must transition to a true economy based
on relationship and caring. The
dichotomies of man and nature, mind and body, spirit and matter must be made
whole in order that we may remember ourselves in the universe. Collectively, humanity will co-author the new
narrative that imbues all life with meaning, purpose, and integrity.

This is the great work of our
time. It is work best undertaken as a community. Wendell Berry notes that “a proper community
answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of all its members-including the need to be needed.” We are here for the sake of each other. Learning forgiveness is part of what
community is for, inviting seeds of peace to be sown for the future. The season’s festivals inspire us to have
courage and ignite our inner light against the darkness. Courage derives from the French cour, meaning heart. May we take heart and have the courage to
inform our thinking, guide our feeling, and direct our willing with the light
of love.

What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com. Visit www.peterbuffett.comto learn more and Change Our Story to
join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping
our future.

Image courtesy of Hawthorne Valley Farm Greenmarket Blog

  • Published on Jan 9, 2013
Tagged with: Nature, Peter Buffett
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