Grace - RESOURCES
Living A Life Of Grace
“Grace is the spiritual energy that transforms conflict into peace, confusion into clarity, and brokenness into healing.”—Melanie Douty Snipes
Gary Zukav describes grace as “uncontaminated conscious Light.”
Artistic and athletic movement is a physical manifestation of grace. When we live with grace, we put our best intentions forward, hoping to recognize beauty and perfection in everything, and everyone, we experience.
We at Force For Good are inspired and uplifted by those who live graceful lives.
“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.”—DALAI LAMA
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. — DALAI LAMA
In 2016, I (Jonathan Sprout) journeyed to Tibet where I was shocked to learn of the harsh treatment Tibetans have endured for decades. In the late 1940s, China invaded Tibet, destroying more than 6,000 temples. More than a million Tibetans died, many by starvation. Chairman Mao enforced the destruction of the local barley crop, replacing it with his “miracle crop”—wheat. But in high altitude Tibet (the capital Lhasa is 11,000 feet above sea level), wheat cannot grow.
When we visited important historical and religious sites in Lhasa, we were sometimes required to enter through airport-style security screening devices. Water bottles and cigarette lighters were forbidden. Why? Too many Tibetan monks had already embarrassed their invaders by dousing themselves with gasoline and lighting themselves on fire. In modern day Tibet, self-immolation is for some, the only way to meaningfully protest.
During the invasion of Tibet in 1949, many monks were murdered. Some were given the choice of death or having to abandon monastery life, forced to marry and have children. The 14th and current Dalai Lama narrowly escaped. He has since been forbidden to return. His thousands of followers pray for him daily, fearing that if this 85 year old man cannot return home before his death, the century’s old line of Dalai Lamas will be forever broken.
In spite of unimaginable trauma, this sweet, forgiving and kind man shines in our world as the embodiment of GRACE. I don’t know how he does it, but he has my respect and love. I pray that his grace will touch and soften the hearts of us all.
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”—DALAI LAMA
On June 22, 2020 the Dalai Lama wrote: “I’m 85 and physically very healthy. I feel this is because my mind is peaceful as a result of my cultivating altruism. My favorite prayer says: "For as long as space endures, And for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide, to dispel the misery of the world." And, in trying to fulfil that aspiration, I feel my life has been of some benefit.”
Here’s a History of Tibet.
Here’s information about His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.