Two Times a Day for Peace

After overwhelming public response to my having not posted in a while (one email), I resume today jotting down some thoughts on the simple life, a life responding to "What would Thoreau Say?"

In a talk I'm giving at the National Cathedral next week I am presenting the workshop I call SiSiSa---Simplicity, Silence, Sabbath.  In this workshop we confront a series of questions about our life in an effort to simplify it, find room for silence, and take steps toward defining what sabbath can mean to us in our lives.

In the silence section we will explore something I call Two Times a Day for Peace, a simple system for meditation (it has been called meditation light) I developed and use to slow down...I present the contents of TTDP below.  Let me know your thoughts and perhaps respond with how you create peace...

TWO TIMES A DAY FOR PEACE

Introduction

Several ago my son and his girlfriend joined me in a Peace Walk sponsored by Thich Nhat Hahn as part of “peace is every step.”  We walked around a park in Atlanta in total silence.  We carried no placards, we chanted no slogans, we issued no challenges.  We just walked in silence to give witness to what peace could look like.  It was a wonderful experience.

I remember thinking on that walk we were single handedly increasing the amount of peace in the world just by walking in silence.

It could be argued the most peaceful time in the course of any given day is when the most people are at prayer or meditation at the same time.  Theoretically the exact moment when the most people have stopped what they are doing to spend time in contemplation is the most peaceful moment of that day.

Religious traditions encourage members to spend some time during every day either praying or meditating or just being quiet. 

Muslims stop everything, wherever they are, to pray five times a day.

The Christian tradition has the Daily Office which encourages specific prayer services be read privately or with others up to four times a day.

Jews are encouraged to pray three times a day morning, daytime and night.

The Eastern traditions encourage meditation at regular times during the day.  Some do sitting meditation, some practice walking meditation, some do both. 

Even those with no faith traditions stop during the day for meditation or silence.  Non faith based meditation disciplines like Transcendental Meditation have millions of practitioners.

The fact is millions of people already stop each day to center their hearts and minds and bodies.

What if a movement was started to encourage everyone, everywhere, to stop at least two times a day and be quiet?  Could this simple exercise change the world by changing the number of people who spend at least some time during their day without talking or doing?

I believe the answer is yes…

Two Times a Day for Peace (TTDP)

Two Times a Day for Peace is an initiative to get people of all stations, all walks of life, all ages, and traditions to begin the discipline of stopping all activity intentionally two times a day.  Two Times a Day for Peace (TTDP) encourages people to experience the benefit of intentionally doing nothing twice during the day.

Being part of Two Times a Day for Peace takes little time, little effort and no money—TTDP does not require anyone to join anything.  There are no new rules or dogmas, practices or exercises required except the exercise of stopping two times a day in silence.  No one needs to move from one congregation to another or one faith to another or to even profess a faith.  No one needs to take classes, get instruction, or study with a guru.  And no one needs go anywhere or attend anything-TTDP is done right where people are and whenever people want during the course of their day.  All they need is the will and commitment to find two times during the day when they stop, and are still.

What constitutes a stop?

Stopping is just that…stopping… as the Taoists call it, ‘non-doing’ (wu wei).  It is stopping all activity and being quiet.  It is the employment of silence and stillness, at that moment, in our lives.   It is literally bringing everything to a halt for a defined period of time for no other reason than that—to halt activity.

Those of us who meditate or pray can attest to the need to clear our mind and eliminate distractions to make our meditation or prayer effective.  When we begin we stop all activity, center ourselves and attempt to make the mind and heart ready to experience the peace that comes with our meditation.

In other words, first we stop…

Institutions could encourage ‘stopping’

Families, Schools, businesses, faith traditions…all could adopt this simple discipline. 

Think how much more peaceful our world would be if children, from their earliest existence, were encouraged at home and in school to ‘just stop’ two times a day? 

What if parents began and ended each day with their children in absolute silence? 

What if a bell rang in school causing everything to stop and kids were silent for a minute, or two minutes or five minutes?  This could replace the tendentious ‘moment of silent prayer’ and be much less threatening than if kids were asked to meditate.  TTDP just asks them to stop.

How much more peaceful would they be as adults if their whole lives they had made it a practice to stop two times a day to just be still?

And how many more children would find they could sit still, be mindful and learn, and be less distracted if they have been trained to mindfully stop and be still at least two times a day since their earliest days?

Think of the positive impact it would have in the business world if companies programmed computers to just ring a small chime a couple of times each day, after which everyone would stop and be still?  Conversation would stop; arguments would stop; email would stop…and stress would stop for at least this brief period of time.  My goodness even blackberries would stop!

Business magazines are filled with stories about all businesses do to help their stressed employees.  They build gyms and provide yoga classes; they hire psychologists and trainers to help their employees stay healthy.  TTDP would reduce stress at no cost and allow employees to re-charge a couple of times a day.  Productivity would probably increase were TTDP adopted by a business.

And think how much new prayer would be created if faith traditions began to teach about their existing forms of prayer and encourage the faithful-the folks in the pews-to use it at least two times a day?  Disciplines like Centering Prayer are beautiful prayer forms that few use because few know about them or how to do them.  TTDP would encourage faith traditions to explore these ways of prayer and would make it easy for clergy to talk about them and teach them to their congregations so they could participate in TTDP. 

A practice of stopping can help you see ‘thin spaces’

Celtic spirituality encourages people to see the ‘thin spaces’ between the ordinary and divine.  We all experience these thin spaces:  the beautiful flower box we hadn’t seen before, the child smiling over the back of the airplane seat in front of us, a beautiful song or written passage.  These experiences are special—peak experiences someone has called them, times when we are more alive, more attentive, more open to beauty.  If we stop regularly as a discipline we will find we are much more attuned to these thin spaces and, more importantly, we will know what to do with them when we experience them.  We will stop.  We will truly stop and truly experience the thin space between everyday and very special.

Non threatening and non denominational

For TTDP to work it will have to remain completely neutral.  It must be a simple non-denominational effort to encourage as many people as possible to undertake and commit to the discipline.  This would not mean denominations and religions wouldn’t adopt TTDP.  In fact its success depends on their doing so.  Rather it means that no religion or tradition would ‘own’ stopping.

Other keys to success are:

• There must be no minimum required amount of time for ‘stopping.’  A required period for stopping will discourage people from undertaking the discipline.  Some will pray the prayer of their spiritual tradition for example, which might take 15 minutes.  Some will meditate for perhaps 10 minutes or longer and some will just stop for a brief moment.  The key is intention-the stop is planned and ‘non-doing’ happens.  As people become conditioned to stop each day they will probably begin to increase the amount of time they have stopped the same way people meditating find themselves lengthening their period of meditation.  But no required period of time should be mandated or even suggested in order not to discourage participation.
• There must be no required way to ‘stop.’  No one should be required to pray in a certain way, meditate in a certain way or even just ‘stop’ in a certain way.  The beauty of TTDP is that it is completely up to the individual and the only thing someone has to do is have the commitment to ‘stop’ and be still.  Some will sit; some will stand; some with eyes open, some with eyes shut…so long as all ‘doing’ has been suspended it counts!
• And as we said in the definition above truly ‘stopping’ is truly ‘stopping.’  All should be encouraged to make the ‘stop’ a mindful ‘stop’ during which nothing else takes place.  No TV, radio, newspaper during the ‘stop.’  The only thing that is to happen during the ‘stop’ is the ‘stop.’
• People should be encouraged to develop their own rhythm and frequency for TTDP rather than be required to follow someone else’s system.  We will increase the number of people ‘stopping’ each day if they are free to develop a routine that works for them and their own schedule.  That’s why we are not suggesting TTDP should be the same time for everyone each day.  The flexibility to do TTDP when people want and as often as they want will improve chances they will do it and keep on doing it. (Some might actually stop more than two times a day.)
• From the beginning articulating what TTDP is not will be as important as articulating what it is.  The non threatening nature of TTDP must be heard and understood from the very beginning for it to be successful.  No tradition or individual should be threatened by TTDP.  It is designed to replace nothing and it is designed to be easy and something anyone can master. 
• We should focus on children first.  TTDP will benefit the world long-term when generation after generation does it.  This means it’s essential that children be taught and encouraged to stop first.  Getting parents and schools and churches to see the benefit to the child of having a practice of stopping will be essential for the success of TTDP

Summary

TTDP could change the world-literally.  If successful it would automatically increase the amount if time and number of people ‘being at peace’ every single day.   The more people practicing TTDP the more peace the world would experience. 

Two Times a Day for Peace will also lead people who practice it to explore deeper understandings of stopping, like meditation and prayer.  TTDP will naturally lead more people to go to a higher level in their stop.  And with this increased number of people in the higher level will come increased world peace.

How wonderful if we are able to create the peace we want to be…

 How to start ‘stopping’

• If you currently pray or meditate you can, of course, just extend this practice and make it your stop.  But it is important you make sure you actually stop.  Prayer can be an active exercise.  Make a commitment to non-doing and be sure to decide beforehand what form your stop is going to take.
• The location for your stop can impact its effectiveness.  It could be argued you can stop in the middle of the street if you want.  But a true stop, that has benefit, will require a quiet place, preferably away from others.  This might come from just closing your office door or going into your bathroom.  And using the same place each time can help too.  This will become your ‘quiet place’ and soon you will find it becomes an important place.
• If you find your mind wandering during your stop, don’t worry about it.  It doesn’t matter if your mind is full of the stuff you are trying to stop thinking about.  After a time you will find yourself much more able to sit quietly without your mind doing gymnastics.  Just let it happen.
• If you want to get serious about stopping the mind from wandering try these breathing tricks:
• Pay attention to your breathing.  You will find you can actually be very attentive to the air going in and the air coming out of your lungs.  This watching of your breath can help you concentrate.
• Count your breaths up to ten, and then start again.  Say the number to yourself as you breathe in and out—one, one; two, two; three, three etc.  You’ll find by saying the number you will concentrate on your breath and not other things.
• Create a mantra which you say with your breathing.  I like “be/peace” and “open/my heart”…You will find these match your breathing pattern perfectly.
• While posture in meditation is important, in stopping it isn’t.  If you are comfortable in a chair with your legs crossed, so be it.  Whatever position helps you to completely stop will work. 
• Remember-there is no right way and no right time for stopping.  However you do it, as long as you have completely abandoned activity for that period of time, you have stopped.