Anniversary of the War in Ukraine: Holding Hope and Sorrow – A Spiritual Perspective

Dear Beloved Ones,

On this day, which is the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, we need to find a way of holding hope and trust within ourselves so that we do not succumb to the view that all is hopeless, or nothing will ever change, or we cannot do anything about this war. On this anniversary, this one-year marker of a war that we hoped would not last, and that we hoped would not even begin, we need to hold with compassion those whose lives have been completely overturned by the necessity of engagement with this war, the losses that have been incurred, the suffering and the sadness. And we need to understand that the world, including that part of the world, is going through a big change, a change in which the light of the heart is struggling to emerge in the presence of counterforces of darkness.

In our choice in each moment, we can align ourselves with a force of light, with that which is emerging and coming forth, and not that which is covering it. In relation to what is covering it, we need to hold compassion and love that allows us to say to those who are experiencing loss: “I am with you,” and in relation to the larger picture, to hold hope. Hope is a feeling in the heart of buoyancy, of anticipation, and even of joy. Your heart, beloveds, in its vastness, is large enough to hold both sorrow for those who suffer, and hope and joy for the future that is emerging.

See if you can feel in your heart the duality I am speaking of. On one side, sorrow based on love for those who are experiencing loss and great hardship, and on the other, hope and joy for what is emerging. See if you are able to hold both. Your heart is large enough, and so you need to believe that it is large enough.

To only hold hope and joy is to negate and diminish the importance of the suffering that is taking place. It is to diminish the value of life and of your oneness with that life. But to only hold sorrow, or dismay, or fear, is to deny that which is coming forth in the presence of sorrow, namely, light, newness, and the ascendance of the heart. Your heart, beloved ones, can reconcile dualities. It is capable of holding the world in it, but it needs to stay in balance.

These are the dualities we deal with: hope and sorrow, loss and gain, light and darkness, all held in the heart’s love, with the primary focus being alignment with light. This light is God’s intelligence and purpose, evolving life even now, evolving consciousness even now.

There is a choice involved that we can make. We do not have to be only an observer of violence. There is outer violence and inner violence. If you remove from your heart all that is hurtful and harmful to others as best as you can, then you are diminishing the amount of violence in the world. You do that within yourself by committing yourself to the purposes of love.

When you remove violence from your heart, when you commit yourself to the purposes of love, when you desire to not harm or hurt anyone, you must include yourself. You must include yourself and whatever remains in you of a willingness to diminish yourself. That, too, can be considered to be inner violence. Here is the affirmation that relates to this: “I will not commit hurt or harm to anyone. I will enhance and not diminish the life of all.” In this statement you must include yourself

War diminishes the life of all. It does harm to the life of all. It destroys the life of many, and harms the life of all. And so, we, as a people, must get past war. We must find a way to enhance the life of all, including ourselves. This is the new ethic, built on unity, that needs to emerge.

Remove violence from your heart beloved ones. Remove all diminishment of self from your heart. Let life flourish. Be a source of enhancement for life.

This war that is now marking its one-year anniversary, is tragic, and it is affecting the world in countless ways, some visible, some we do not know how to measure. For how can you measure the anxiety, fear, or sadness in others, including in children, who experience a world where things do not make sense, a world where people act in ways that are unfathomable. These are the ways that this war and all war affects human consciousness. Instead, we need to create safety. We need to remove the causes of violence within ourselves so we can help others do so. And if it looks like that is not possible, it is because we have not reached the place of feeling our oneness with others yet. We are still viewing life in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ And so we need to move towards ‘we’ in our hearts. We need to move towards ‘we,’ not ‘us’ and ‘them.’

Feel in your heart, beloved ones, that vast heart that is yours, sorrow for those who are suffering greatly in this time, and hope and joy for what is coming forth. Hold with me this anniversary marker of the war in Ukraine, that we may be with the people who are needing our help, support, and love. And hold with me the commitment to root out from our hearts the sources of violence, because the outer violence begins with the inner, and with the motives that separate us from love. Remember that you are part of the equation, and that the willingness to love, and the willingness to remove all sources of harm, has to be for yourself as well.

We pray on this anniversary of the war in Ukraine, for those who are suffering, or cold, or homeless, or who have experienced loss of children, or parents, or families, or relatives, or communities, and we hope for a new idea, a new ethic to be born, that of the oneness of all beings in the greater Life that all belong to.