Prayer for Peace

'Prayer' 2009
Clay (unfired)

This sculpture transformed through many different variations before this Kuan Yin-like figure emerged out of the clay. Kuan Yin or “She Who Hears the Cries of the World,” is the Bodhisattva of compassion in the Eastern Traditions. In the West, we also know her as Mary, Sophia, Shekinah, the Beloved, or Goddess—the Sacred Feminine who goes by so many names. This piece speaks to me as a prayer for peace through compassion. This is my artful prayer towards ending violence against the other and towards all Creation, our beloved Mother Earth, who gives and sustains life. According to Thich Nhat Hanh: "What we most need to do is to hear within us the sounds of the Earth crying.” At this time in history, I believe we are all being called to listen and to bear witness to each other and to the living body of the Earth. By being present in this way, we break open our hearts to compassion and begin the journey towards healing and hope.

Overcome any bitterness that may have come
because you were not up to the magnitude of the pain
that was entrusted upon you.
Like the Mother of the world,
who carries the pain of the world in her heart,
each one of us is part of her heart,
and therefore endowed
with a certain measure of cosmic pain.
You are sharing in the totality of that pain.
You are called upon to meet it in joy
instead of self-pity.
—Sufi saying

May all beings know peace.