These days seem to be asking many blessed ones to leave this planet and so I will take a breath and trust it is of Great Mysterys design. Another dear one to my heart has died - one who has influenced me on my path of peace. Inbal Kashtan released this mortal coil and leaves her son and wife and so many thousands of us touched by her love and her dedication to spread NVC so all beings could be free from suffering. Inbal was one of the original NVC Trainers that would come over to the TEMBA School, as Julie Greene did, in the early days to offer trainings to the parents. I remember, possibly 1999 or 2000, when she shared with me a dream of NVC Family Camps and having them be all over the world. Well, Inbal, your goal reached! It is incredible how many Family and Community Camps there are now happening all over the world! For me, Inbal was also someone who was amazing at keeping connection, even when we disagreed. When I was in the process of becoming a Certified Trainer with CNVC I asked her to write me a non-recommendation based on our differing points of view. We had a long walk in the beautiful Bay Area to discuss this. It was the last time I got to spend any time of any significance in person with her. She loved that I asked and we discussed our differences and learned that really our care, intent, and dedication was not so different. We walked together in companionship on this path of peace. The dialogue was a vital part of my willingness to become a Certified Trainer and to trust that people in the CNVC organization could stay in connection through seeming differences and come to understanding, respecting, and upholding each others work…really living the nonviolent tenant – we don’t make it, until we all make it I have so many memories that came rushing in hearing of Inbal’s last breath. And I notice each memory holds an important pivotal moment in my life for me...and especially the moments of Ron Gibbs and Julie Greenes deaths. So it is now that I realize that the last retreat I was on with Julie is now officially the last retreat I would ever be on with Inbal. Being on Inbals update list over the years and, witnessing from that place on the circle, her journey with cancer demonstrated to me what it is to LIVE, not just with cancer, but really LIVE - being attuned to the nuances of the body, mind, and spirit in ways to be with suffering and engage the moments of joy that life brings. (I wrote her many times that Id love to see her writings for the updates become a book. I hope that it does.) This is one of her biggest teachings for me. It is one thing to say we are on a spiritual path, on the path of nonviolence, or on the path of NVC... to say we are “present” in this life…and it is entirely another thing to actually engage it through life-threatening illness, raising a son, being a wife, staying connected to hundreds of students, and being a person from Israel fighting for peace. I play with the word fighting here as I remember a conversation years ago with Inbal about how each person in Israel, male or female, is required to serve in the forces there and her feelings about that. I remember talking about how NVC is changing the way we fight. I also play with this word because it is so often used with cancer - people often say fight cancer. What I learned from Inbal is that the fight can change so entirely that the word no longer fits the description of what is actually taking place. We have the ability to enter so gracefully and humbly into the center of the struggle, the pain, the fight - that we find the field - beyond right doing and wrongdoing, beyond judging the pain or even the actions as a result of pain. I bow deeply to you, Inbal. Thank you for gracing my life. Thank you for helping influence who I am today. I bow deeply to you, Kathy and Yannai, beloved wife and son to Inbal. I bow deeply to you, Miki and Arnina, beloved sisters to Inbal. Thank you four for your incredible walk with Ibal and all you gave her to be who she loved being, and thus, giving to all of us the teachings of what it is to be gentle, peaceful, and honest. May you walk in beauty, ease, love, connection, and integration of all that is this journey. Inbal, I will remember all you have taught with your walk in this life with great ease for it is as simple as remembering your absolutely unforgettable smile. I will recall your smile so my heart will soften and I can continue steadfastly on this path of nonviolence https://youtube/watch?v=IQO7h9MNCqI
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 18:11:50 +0000
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