Peace on Earth

The simplicity of these few words continues to resound throughout my being. They flawlessly describe the movement of people's ideas -- from jingoistic fervor to planetary allegiance, from potential human conflict to peaceful coexistence.

These words also readily convey the expansion of Everyman's consciousness that if we desire peace, sooner or later the movement from ego-centered possessiveness to Spirit-centered unity will occur. Many astronauts have commented on the miracle of actually seeing the planet revolving in the nothingness of space as if it were a celestial child's radiant top spinning in thin air. It is easy to imagine that when your point of reference is no longer on Earth, your attachment to Earth and earthly things changes.

To our misfortune, the cosmic awareness of "only one Earth" eludes most of us. Such expanded vision is incongruent with the commonly-accepted state of mind shared by most people. Too many people see others as strangers rather than spiritual brothers and sisters. Too many remain more concerned about their own welfare than the good of all concerned. Too many expect someone else to lead, to volunteer, to house, employ or teach, while they cling to the deceptive comforts of their own little world. Too many allow their egos to blind their perception of the joy, wonder and truth that exists in all nations, all cultures, all creeds. Too many falsely believe to listen to another's point of view is to in some way defile or abandon your own. And too many are willing to die for those beliefs and to kill those who do not share them. The longer we endorse these kinds of attitudes as a "normal" part of the human condition, the more distant is the day when we will know peace on earth.

Peace arises in a mind that is calm and still; "liberty in tranquility," Cicero, the Roman statesman, called it. To know peace we must face ourselves and the way we think. We must be willing to acknowledge that certain commonly accepted ways of thinking are at the root of personal sorrow and global unrest. Mankind's consciousness continues to perpetuate the loneliness of the stranger, the selfishness of the greedy, the sloth of the negligent, the cruelty of the arrogant, the stubbornness of the closed-minded and the judgement of the murderer. These are the ideas that steal our peace and in their place leave turmoil and grief.

The thinking person wonders why we continue to live this way. When seeking an answer, it appears these thoughts have prevailed in the minds of men and women since the beginning of time. Erroneously we are tempted to believe that good government can end the pain of society. Politicians recognize that "Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it" (former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt). All the laws mankind has fashioned, from the Codes of Hammurabi to the Bill of Rights, have not ensured peace. They cannot, for government and laws cannot heal the heart. As Nobel scientist Albert Einstein observed, "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

And so for centuries, mankind has turned to religion for the understanding that brings peace. Every historian knows that more wars, the most heinous inhumanities, have been and are conducted in the name of opposing factions' "Gods" than in the name of science or progress. War is the reflection of man's own inner turmoil magnified, the result of the failures in the common consciousness. Peace is more than the absence of war. [Peace] involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and binding agreements. "Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith" (Pope John Paul II). Peaceful coexistence is the reflection of man's inner tranquility, magnified.

Because of its bloody past, organized religion around the globe has earned a questionable reputation. As a result, many turn away from the religious instruction of their youth or refuse to even consider any line of thinking that is metaphysical. They believe freedom from religion is the same as freedom of religion. Nothing is farther from the truth. Until we are willing to consider ideas that are new to us, ideas that stretch the way we think, we will continue to set our destiny of repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. Sooner or later we must realize the oneness of Mankind, for when we do, we can hope to embrace each other and the Universal Truths that govern all our lives.

Every culture brings to the world archetypes of enlightenment. Their uncommon consciousness arises above the sea of humanity like the astronauts whirling above the Earth. All great spiritual teachers from Jesus of Nazareth to Siddhartha Gautama, from Confucius to Mohammed, from Mohandas K. Gandhi to Martin Luther King, have displayed this transcendent consciousness without benefit of leaving the Earth. Each demonstrated a better way to think, a better way to live -- a way more evolved, more loving, more enlightened. A way that brings inner peace. It is well for us to remember that from their teachings spring what the world now knows as religion.

Some complain the world's religions have strayed far from their original truth. In fact, it is popular to expound that what is outstanding about religions is that they disagree, but this preconception arises only in the minds of those who are unlearned. In reality, what is remarkable is what these scriptures, these religions, have in common. Here we find truths that transcend the moment. Here we find the cause and the cure for what disrupts peace of mind.

Consider the similarities in these scriptures. The Dhammapada of Buddhism teaches that the source of all misery is our attachment to the physical world while forsaking the spiritual: "If you sleep desire grows in you like a vine in the forest. Like a monkey in the forest you jump from tree to tree, never finding the fruit, never finding peace." The Bible of the Christian and the Koran of the Moslem teach that sorrow occurs when you are "away from the presence of God," separated from your own spiritual roots. The Book of Proverbs says, "Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gains understanding...all the things thou can desire are not to be compared unto her...and all her paths are peace." Hinduism's Bhagavad Gita counsels, "This peace that passeth all Understanding, cometh to those who know themselves for what they are, rather than for what they seem to the smoke-blinded eyes of the world. Being freed from the bondage of desire and sense-passion they master their thoughts by their Wisdom and their senses by their thoughts." Look for accord in scriptures and your eyes are opened to the universal yearning in every man, woman and child.

On the whole, we seem reluctant to lend an attentive ear to scriptures other than the one we find familiar. We appear frightened by what is different rather than hungry for knowledge that will feed the soul. The common consciousness fears interfaith study and devotion as if it is a spiritual plague that will doom us to eternal damnation. "Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown" (Scotland's John Buchan in Pilgrim's Way ). Open-mindedness makes all things known, thereby freeing the mind from the real and imagined terrors of ignorance.

In 1946 in Permanent Industrial Peace, Richard J. Cushing eloquently described the reason for embracing scriptural truths wherever we might find them: "Either for God or against God...Upon that choice hangs the fate of the world. In every department of life, in politics and economics, in the sciences and arts, in the State and in domestic life we follow God's laws to peace or bypass them into chaos." Without exception, every holy book seeks to elevate the mind by teaching how to live in harmony with the laws and truths that govern our universe. Studying any holy scripture quickens insight; learning from all of them produces the uncommon consciousness of the master. We must conquer our own fear and prejudice, for where they dwell peace is not found.

The answer is clear and simple, and the answer is the hardest task anyone is asked to perform. You and I must be willing to change. As the German ascetic writer Thomas A Kempis observed in 1441, "All men desire peace, but few desire the things that make for peace." We must be one of these few. We must be willing to learn from our experiences, and from those of others, so we can know peace. Through reason, the skill which distinguishes man from all other life forms on this planet, we are empowered to control our thoughts and actions. Through coupling command of reasoning with spiritual discernment, we grow from the past and divine our destiny. "We need to clarify the distinction between compassion and attachment, and between anger and hatred. Such clarity is useful in our daily life and in our effort toward world peace," counsels His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As a race of people -- the human race -- we can transcend our own ignorance and elevate the consciousness of mankind to a new benevolence. Peace will spread across the globe, one person at a time.

In the midst of the current problems arising from man's attachments, we must embrace the peace that wells up from within. Gandhi, great peacemaker of the 20th century, said "Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances." At first it may seem impossible to find peace, and once discovered, difficult to keep, but the effort itself bears the understanding that will produce permanence.

Once we experience inner peace, we can prolong its reality by expressing its power in our daily lives. "Undisturbed peace of mind is attained by the cultivation of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference in the evil," counseled the Hindu teacher Patanjali over 2500 years ago. His advice is just as timely today.

The enlightened mind does not rely on yesterday's perception of truth; living in the past is limiting for it denies the natural evolvement toward wisdom. The enlightened mind initiates ways of thinking that produce wholeness fostering soul progression and curing those ills that have always plagued mankind. Such visionary thought yields the love of companionship, the generosity of abundance, the attentiveness of the thoughtful, the tenderness of the humble, the adaptability of the obedient, and the wisdom of the merciful. The enlightened mind is ever perfecting understanding.

For peace to prevail on earth, you and I must be committed to our own enlightenment. We must be willing to think new thoughts, to behave in new ways, to initiate new understandings. As American First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt concisely stated after World War II, "It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." We must believe that we can transform the common into the uncommon. We must revive the essence of religion; its spiritual Truths. And we must, each in our own way, do this together.

The simple and universal Truth is living peaceably begins by thinking peacefully. For this reason we ask you to join people of all nations as we create a Universal Hour of Peace on January 1, 1998. We ask that you dedicate your thoughts and deeds to peace. For one this will mean an hour of prayer, for another an hour of meditation. One will choose solitude in nature's majesty, another communion with others in a beautiful temple. One will spend the time telling his family of his love, another laying down his weapon. The Universal Hour of Peace is a time to make peace with yourself, your neighbor, and your Maker.

Our vision is that every sentient being on Earth dedicate one hour to peace. The same hour. The universal time established for the Universal Hour of Peace is noon, Greenwich Mean Time. It is only now as we approach the third millennium that we can realistically envision everyone on the planet being informed of such an endeavor. It is only now with global communication that we can hope for this to be accomplished.

One of the most eloquent descriptions of what creates peace comes from Mother Teresa: "The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace."

As the Universal Hour of Peace manifests throughout our part of the Universe, the atmosphere of the planet will change by virtue of the refined quality of humanity's consciousness. Then in a few years we will, as English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson predicted, "Ring out the thousands wars of old. Ring in the thousands years of peace." And in making peace like the few, be they astronauts or Spiritual Masters, we will all become aware of "only one Earth".

Editor-in-chief of Thresholds Quarterly, Barbara Condron is chairman of the board of the School of Metaphysics, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) research and educational organization and the founding sponsor of the Universal Hour of Peace. For more information call 417-345-8411 or write to SOM National Headquarters, HCR 1 Box15, Windyville, Missouri 65783 USA. Or visit them on the Internet at http://www.som.org.