The Meditation/Prayer
Celebration of Life Concert
Kansas City, Missouri March 2003
Stuart Alpert

What follows is an opening meditation/prayer that was written and presented by Stuart Alpert at the Celebration of Life Concert on March 22, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri:
The quieter we become inside of ourselves by becoming aligned with our breath, the closer we come to universal wisdom and feeling how peace is in each mindful breath we take. Peace begins within each one of us. Peace is not just a reality that occurs between our political and military leaders. It is a reality that all of us have a part of co-creating.

It has been said that if we had instruments that were sensitive enough, we could measure the vibration of the beating of a butterfly's wings on a distant star and that the shift of vibration on a distant star could be measured here on earth. I believe that's true. The same is also true for the vibration that all of us send out into the universe. Especially, in this time of war in Iraq, whether we send out the vibration of violence or love can have a profound impact around the world.

Therefore, I want to invite all of us here this evening to focus our intent on peace. This concert, entitled Celebration of Life that will produce Music from the Heart, also can be a part of an energy of peace that is sent throughout the universe from this auditorium this evening.

If we can quiet ourselves right now, we can feel the collective energy of love and peace beginning to grow. No matter what your position is on the war, whether you believe that it is justified or not, let us open our hearts to one another here his evening. Let us feel peace and love in relation to our different views, rather than remain polarized in animosity that one view is right and the other wrong.

I want to invite each one of you to send an energy of peace toward everyone else in this auditorium and then, like the beating wings of a butterfly that can be measured on a distant star, let us also send the vibration of peace and love to all political and military leaders all over the world, to all military troops, and to all civilians in harms way.

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The Fourth Celebration of Life Concert was presented March 22nd in Kansas City. This concert was first done at the 3rd International Conference in Body-Centered Gestalt Therapy in Wels, Austria. It was conceived and directed By Naomi Lubin-Alpert. Since that time it has been twice presented in Kansas City, once at the The Fourth International Conference in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and then in Hartford.

Stuart Alpert , Psy.D., LCSW, is a Partner and co-founder of Hartford Family Institute, and a co-creator of Body-Centered Gestalt Therapy.