Peace Train by Cat Stevens

December 7th, 2008

This week’s inspirational video is a bit of a milestone for me. Back in the seventies Cat Stevens, touched my soul with his music. I loved the upbeat joyful songs he sung, and the very unique imagery that he invoked.

Then came Salman Rushdie and “The Satanic Verses” and over night I stopped playing or listening to anything that Cat Stevens produced.

Cat Stevens joined the chorus for Salman Rushdie’s death, in essence attempting to impose, by extreme measures, a type of censorship on an artist. Cat Stevens being an artist, working in the an open western society, and benefiting from a fairly wide open artistic culture, violated the golden rule. I could only imagine how he would feel if someone called for his death over some music he wrote.

However, over the last three years I have been searching my heart for those dark nuggets of unforgiveness cluttering up my soul. There have been times when I thought my work complete only to be caught out with a new discovery tuck away in some tight, dark corner.

So today I forgive Cat Stevens for calling for another man’s death over thoughts written in a book.
Now I am sure Cat Stevens or Yusuf, as he is called now, has never heart of me, and couldn’t care less whether I forgive him or not but that is not the point.

The point is: we should not be unforgiving: To the degree that we hold these things within us, to that degree we are diminished.

Sunday is a good time to think about forgiveness and to find a place in your heart to forgive those that you still hold in those tight dark nuggets of resistance that block your own way to the light.

Here is Cat Stevens and his up lifting song, called “The Peace Train”