February 1, 2025
Today is the first of our daily reflections for Interfaith Harmony Week. The Interfaith Peace Project is pleased to offer you these reflections for each day of Interfaith Harmony Week, February 1-7, 2025.
Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P.
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925-787-9279
RADICAL OPENNESS
INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK
Day One
by Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P.

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Do not listen with your ears but with your mind. Do not listen with your mind but with your vital energy. Ears can only hear, mind can only think, but vital energy is empty, receptive to all things. Tao abides in emptiness. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.
Confucius
Reflection
“Emptiness” is a problematic concept in the history of philosophy and religion. Emptiness implies nothingness, void, and meaninglessness. Upon deeper reflection, we realize the wise sages of the Centuries were referring to “openness” in the face of reality.
When I meet another person, I listen to them with my whole being (vital energy). I am not preoccupied with my own concerns and affairs. I am on the verge of delighting in the wisdom and concerns I am about to hear from my companion on the road of life.
I am blessed in this moment of being with another person. I listen to them with every fiber of my being. Why should I be so blessed as to meet another person who is meeting me? For this, I am deeply grateful.
Wisdom
I will not be determined by the anger, hatred, or conflicts around me. In the time of crisis, I will call upon my greater consciousness which is no less than my inner light of peace, serenity, and wisdom. I will bless the world with my inner wisdom as I am open to meet each and every person with love, respect, and compassion.
Response
I will invite every aspect of myself to savor the presence of another person in my life.
In all the affairs of my life, I will practice that consciousness by which I treasure the presence of people in my life.
Religions, philosophies, political parties, etc. cannot meet. Only real people can meet one another. I will meet others with the respect I seek for myself.
I will be courageous, generous, and kind in sharing the wisdom of my inner light.
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