A Message from Dean John

 

Dear Friends,

I came across this wonderful meditation and found it most refreshing and appropriate to our time…

 

Refusing the Gift

by The Rev. Cameron Trimble

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal law.”

 

There’s a story told of the Buddha and an angry man. The man came hurling insults, full of fury, demanding a fight. But the Buddha stood calm, rooted in stillness. When the man finally paused for breath, the Buddha said softly:

“If someone offers you a gift and you do not accept it, to whom does the gift belong?”

“To the one who offered it,” the man replied.

“Exactly,” said the Buddha. “So it is with your anger—I do not accept it. It remains yours.”

There is deep wisdom here for our moment. We are living in a time of constant provocation. From degrading AI-generated propaganda to the destruction of public symbols, from political gaslighting to cultural erosion, the powerful seem intent on drawing us into their theater of rage, spinning us in cycles of outrage, fear, and despair. But not every gift must be received. Not every insult must be dignified with our energy. Not every performance deserves our participation.

To not receive the gift of contempt is a sacred act of resistance. It is not passivity. It is presence. It is choosing not to mirror cruelty. It is refusing to be governed by someone else’s narrative of hate.

The empire may try to humiliate, distract, and dominate. But we do not have to carry what was never ours to begin with. We can be like the Buddha—grounded, discerning, still. We can hold our clarity like a flame in a windstorm. When we stop reacting to every cruelty and begin responding from spiritual depth, we reclaim our sacred agency. This is not detachment: it’s a strategic refusal to let chaos colonize our spirit. The revolution will not be reactive. It will be metabolically wise. Spiritually rooted. Discerning. Collective. Generous. Joyful. Courageous.

We are in this together.

The Very Rev. René R. John
Dean