Beloved Friends,

We pray that you may all be safely in the circle of your loved ones and that you may be finding the inner resources to guide you during this challenging time.

Anahata and I have made our way to Copenhagen. Due to some very unusual communication glitches our event in Poland is cancelled so we can give full attention to the circumstances before us.

We understand the great concern of all of our friends and especially our pilgrims at the daunting situation we are now faced with. What do we do? Do we continue with our journey, postpone our journey, cancel our journey?

For us it is too early to make that decision. A lot will depend on what happens in the next few days. Yes there is a lot of sword rattling coming from America and yes, things could escalate into a world war.

But other things could just as easily happen. The culprits could be swiftly found. The whole world is watching, praying.

Anahata and I feel completely committed to our pilgrimage. But we are not blind to events. Our ability to see what is really going on is somewhat hampered by our circumstances. We do not have access to 24 hour news. But we get the sense of what is going on. We watched with horror Tuesday the main events unfold. We left Ireland on Wednesday. We experienced the full security measures being taken on all the airlines throughout Europe. And the circumstances of planes to the US being cancelled, people waiting to be able to return home.

Our arrival was delayed, but what was most apparent to us was the incredible support that was given us as we traveled. People are appalled by the situation and deeply sympathetic. One Irish security officer brought me to tears with her tender sympathy.

On the other hand a Palestinian taxi driver in Copenhagen let me see the other side of the coin as well. America has made enemies, he told me. And it was quite clear to me that he could easily have been one of them. It turned out that he did not know I was American....thought I was Irish, and when he found out he apologized for his words. But I found it very helpful. We are all vulnerable to our karma. All the time.

We shall continue this week to make plans for our pilgrimage, with the hopes that the American government will act sensibly, that the countries of the world will draw together to condemn terrorism. However, we will be alert to how things proceed, and we will especially let our pilgrims know what our thoughts are as far as whether our pilgrimage would be of benefit at this time. We think it is too soon to make that decision. But rest assured we are looking carefully.

Our prayers are that everyone, from the President of the United States to the children in the schools will all be reflective and not reactive. We all have much to learn from these events.

Our prayers are always for wisdom, compassion and clarity. We urge everyone to stay in the heart of the practice, to invoke their sources of refuge for inspiration and support. We continually rededicate ourselves to manifesting enlightened mind in this world for the sake of all beings.

Prema and Anahata