A prayer for the summer solstice

May the awakening of this moment be complete. May all beings know God’s love in their hearts and minds and, with this love, may they accept their true selves. With this self-acceptance, may our systems bend irrevocably in the directions of health and justice. With this equilibrium, may our environment, too, know equilibrium. May the peace born in our hearts and relationships transmit seamlessly to our outer world. May our world know right leadership: may the arrogant know humility and step from their false positions of superiority. Simultaneously, may they know self-forgiveness and recognize that arrogance is not their fault. May all hierarchies dissolve and, with this dissolution, may all beings feel free in expressing their true selves. May the world cease to be run by human beings, and may it instead be governed by spirit. May the Buddha’s, Jesus’s, and other spiritual teachers’ visions be realized, in that awakening attains a collective structure rather than an individual one. In other words, may high spiritual principles find physical parallel in our systems and structures. May we live in a world premised on love and peace. May past, present, and future bleed together such that there is only one moment, and every decision ramifies in all fields. May the responsibility of this awareness humble and true us to our purpose. May we hear the trees, animals, and wind and know that they, too, have been subjugated. May we know that no future of justice can be realized without a reckoning with the past. Can we know that not only is truth relative, every aspect of reality is true—that is, even the delusional, the “insane,” see something very real. With this understanding, may we turn our listening ears to all spirits. May the brilliance of existence shine through our hearts in our every moment, such that we know we fulfill our purpose merely by being alive. May we thank God for the magical, mysterious convergence by which we are here. May we know that magic is as natural as science, and our only limitations imposed by imagination. May we become again as children playing on a playground, the playground that is life. May we know that our time here is short, and at the same time that we have all the time in the world. May this moment be one from which there is no return. At the same time, may we know that every single moment could have served as one such turning point. May this breed humility. May we love one another. May we understand one another. May grief, rage, and defensiveness pass and may we know silence and stillness as our truth. May love reign on earth. Amen.