“Is peace on the planet possible?"
A college student asked this question considering the recent university protests and encampments that have been taking place to help put pressure on leaders to reach a cease-fire in Gaza. The demonstrations not only shine a light on what is going on in that region of the world and the multiple perspectives and complexities related to this decades-long challenge, but also remind us how much the problem of war has plagued the human condition throughout recorded history.
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in the early stages of his leadership in the civil rights movement, and before his role in the protests of the Vietnam War, he said in a speech at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, “Change does not roll on the wheels of inevitability.”
Despite humanity’s track record, it is important to remain optimistic and believe it is possible to have peace in our communities and world. Exactly how we will achieve that peace is a complex matter. But there is something we can do right where we are.
We find that something in the words:
“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
Those words from Jill Jackson and Sy Miller’s Let There Be Peace on Earth contain what is needed to attain peace in our communities and planet. As we look at our external world and see the conflicts and the inhumane treatment human beings have inflicted on one another throughout history, it's easy to conclude that peace on earth is an airy-fairy pipedream beyond human attainment.
Yet, upon close examination, we discover that the lack of peace in our world correlates directly to our collective beliefs. What manifests in the world is a byproduct of our consciousness. If we are to have the peace that our souls long for and desire, we must each look in the mirror and begin with ourselves.
We may believe that our consciousness is not connected to and has no bearing on the lack of peace on the planet. Yet, an axiom says, “as within, so without." To manifest change in outer experiences, it must start with our consciousness.
This requires that our thoughts, words, and actions align with the qualities of peace. When enough of us radiate the energy and vibration of peace, there will be a correspondent demonstration of peace in the external world because we are the peace we want to see.
We will integrate into and be integral to our community organizations, schools, and governments and be the leaders and beacons of peace locally and globally.
It all begins with self-examination. We ask moment by moment, "Am I in any way harboring thoughts of hate, resentment, or belief in separation?" If so, we must recognize that we are contributing to the energy and consciousness blocking the flow of peace in the world.
Like any change, peace will not come on the wheels of inevitability. Peace must be a constant moment-by-moment choice. It must be intentional. If there is to be peace on earth, then we must individually and collectively choose peace even when faced with its seeming opposite.
It comes down to what we practice. Regardless of our philosophical theology, our actual theology is what we do. So, we ask, “What do we do when faced with revenge? Or hate? Or the need to forgive?”
If we believe that one day we'll forgive, then our theology is that one day we'll forgive. One day, we'll love. One day in the future, we'll practice what we say we believe. That is not an empowering theology; it is a delay tactic of the unspiritualized ego that keeps us inundated with the prevailing thoughts of the day and adds to the violent consciousness of the group soul.
For there to be peace, we must become peacemakers. A peacemaker does not see a world of separation where there is an "us versus them” mentality. A peacemaker no longer sees from the limited perception of my family, my tribe, or my country, right or wrong. Instead, a peacemaker realizes that there is only one life and that life is the life of God. All of humanity emanates from that one life.
Our world hungers for peacemakers. We long to become lights and instruments of the divine on earth and carry the consciousness of peace everywhere we go.
As we become peacemakers, we exude peace whenever we walk into any environment because the essence of who we are is proclaiming, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Peace & Blessings,
James
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