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The announcement of a ceasefire is, at last, a moment of hope for the people suffering in pain and agony, living hopelessly in darkness and despair.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

‘The Children of Adam

Are limbs of one another,

In terms of Creation,

They're of the self-same Essence.’

(Sa'adi, the Persian poet. His words are inscribed at the entrance to the United Nations Secretariat in New York)

Photo: i.huffpost.com

The world needs hope; every person, everywhere, needs hope. HOPE gives us life. HOPE connects us. HOPE fuels us. HOPE moves us. HOPE keeps us. HOPE grounds us. HOPE protects us. HOPE anchors us.

As far back as the 6th century BC, the Greek poet Theognis of Megara said: “Hope is the one good god remaining.” The poet Theo Dorgan reminds us that hope is a profound act of imagination, the most important and the most neglected of the civic virtues.  In the face of the present societal and global crises we can lie down in despair, or we can choose hope — which means placing all our faith in each other and in the boundless capacity of the imagination to reinvent circumstance, to establish new truths.

Spring will come, and flowers will bloom!

Yearning Hope 

Yearning for Peace

Empowered with the healing powers of hope and yearning for a lasting peace in the Middle East and elsewhere, I wish to offer the following from our GCGI Archive for your deep reflection:

The GCGI View on the Power of Hope: A Gift in Dark and Challenging Times

Cyrus Cylinder: A Beacon of Hope for a Peaceful Middle East

Israel and Palestine: Can there be Peace?

The Transformative and Healing Power of Love and Friendship to Change the Middle East

All said and done, time is now for us to be led by our humanity and the philosophers of love, where all the issues from all sides can be addressed with an eye on justice and accountability by taking action in the interest of the common good, where the negotiations can be conducted in the spirit of open heartedness to the extent that the negotiators will maximise love and caring, kindness and generosity, sympathy and empathy, contributing to our capacity to respond with awe, wonder and radical amazement at the grandeur and mystery of life and our place in the planet of earth we call home. Carpe diem!