Maximus Freeman

Walking through the woods has always calmed me. Spending time alone among the trees is part of my daily spiritual practice. But in my early years I struggled with anxiety and unhappiness. Perhaps it’s no surprise that my working career has been spent caring for trees, most recently the trees on beautiful Nantucket Island. In contrast to these great silent beings, complete in themselves, we humans seem filled with strife and worry. I began to wonder seriously what it takes to bring our restless spirits to peace.

My search began with the simple, positive messages of Dale Carnegie and his basic premise that thoughts affect reality. As I read more deeply from a range of spiritual teachers, notably Adyashanti and David Hawkins, I began to understand that inner peace does not depend on circumstances or situations, but on spiritual development. The human self is profoundly influenced by the physical, from DNA to hormones to the most-traveled pathways in the brain. Spiritual development helps human beings respond to life’s events in a way that transcends the merely physical. Delving widely into the literature of spiritual development, I began to compile a list of “virtues” that seemed to predominate among great spiritual leaders.

In a series of conversations with Rev. Jennifer Brooks, then minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church on Nantucket Island, the idea emerged that the practice of the virtues of peace promotes spiritual development. Reflection on the real-life circumstances where that practice is tested is a way to affirm and accelerate spiritual development. In the practice-and-reflection approach of Nantucket Peaceworks, a small group setting and structured format support and sustain both practice and reflection.

I am proud father of three amazing young men who together have taught me much about the challenges and rewards of the practice of peace. I love them deeply and am grateful for the opportunity to be their father.

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www.nantucketpeaceworks.com