The roots of conflict: transforming generational suffering
I've been reading , watching videos, shivering and crying about the wars currently happening in our planet. Probably like others, I can't help but sensing some sort of no-way-back, and heaviness that comes with with the atrocities, the polarisation and the inaction.
Finding little windows of wisdom like this podcast episode I'm sharing with you today feels a true gift. I hope you can enjoy the presence and the reflections Brother Phap Huu and journalist Jo Confino brought up beautifully. May these plant some seeds of healing and understanding.
Thich Nhat Hanh
In this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino discuss conflicts in our world. They focus on the war in the Middle East, through the prism of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, which remain so relevant in the current moment.
Exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings in relation to conflict, pain, and the path to peace, the presenters investigate ways to not take sides during a conflict, and how Thay managed this during the Vietnam War; deep listening, holding space, and transforming the conflict in us; keeping communities together; cultivating nondiscrimination; walking the path of love and understanding in times of war; and gratitude.
Brother Phap Huu further shares around Thay’s legacy of dealing with conflict and the joint retreats he organized for Palestinians and Israelis in Plum Village; ways to show love for humanity; right action and enabling healing in the present moment; the importance of small acts of kindness; our own true presence of peace and nondiscrimination.
Jo also opens up about what it feels like to go through a “period of deconstruction”; being the child of refugees and the deep connection this can create to generational trauma; dealing with the tensions created in organizations by global conflicts; and fear, and how to not be consumed by despair, but, instead, how to feel it in order to transform it.
The episode ends with offerings of gratitude and a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
