Becoming Peaceful Communities

You know that old joke about how everyone treats us like mushrooms: unaware of what’s happening, separated from our neighbors, and covered in compost? We misunderstood. Those mushrooms were connected by mycelium and never alone.

Mycelium are the roots of fungus, but they have other work as well.

It is only in the last five years that I’m beginning to understand that mycelium, tiny, hairlike connected entities, are couriers of the forests, supplying the much larger trees with information and sugar. Think of them as grandmothers — providing wisdom and remedies for life along with a casserole or a batch of cookies. It is this Peacemaking, community-building purpose that has much to teach us as we struggle to understand how we might best Pass Peace.

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Becoming Peaceful Communities

“We are stardust
 We are golden,
and we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.”

If you grew up when I did, this chorus of Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell, will forever bring a smile to your face. While I always smiled and sang along, it would be quite a few years before I understood the theology behind it — and certainly not any of the science. It is only recently that I’ve begun to see the possibility of Stardust’s being more than simply a Metaphor. As I pond building communities of Peace, I wonder what role might Stardust play?

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