Inner Peace

Our struggles, successes, failures and daily doings keep us occupied and often distracted from the real purpose of our being. We all seek an inner peace which will give us solace, rest and serenity. We long for the ramblings and ragings in our heads to quiet themselves yet continue to strive forward in search of some external goal that will bring us happiness. There never seems to be enough time. And that is the illusion that drives us. There is time if we decide to make it. All we have to do is make peace within a priority.

The difficulty we find in making time to do the work necessary for inner peace is just that.  Making time.  The difficulty in making peace a priority is similiar.  We don't make time or make peace a priority because there is an inner voice hidden deep in our minds that tells us that we are somehow not worthy of the effort.  Everything else is more important.  The result is a frantic lifestyle that causes inner and outer conflict, compromised physical health, regrets and resentments.  We can always take care of our aching selves later.  Maybe on vacation or when we retire.  The truth is that we need to start right now if we are ever to find peace.

Peace Pilgrim taught that there is a criterion by which we can judge whether the thoughts that we are thinking and the things that we are doing are right for us. The criterion is: Have they brought us inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them…so keep seeking! If what we do has brought us inner peace, stay with what we believe is right. This is a key to finding the answers that we seek. We can make time every morning or every night to spend in quiet contemplation of our lives. We can choose to simplify. We can choose to love. We can choose peace within and peace with others.

International Day of Peace

September 21 has been celebrated as The International Day of Peace since 1981. This year, the Secretary General of The United Nations has called for disarmament and an end to the stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction. His 100 day worldwide campaign ends on Monday, September 21 with a loud and clear statement, “We must disarm! We must have peace!”

Violent conflict continues to rage throughout the world. There are wars from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka to Sudan. Our focus on the loss of soldiers and their injuries reveals only part of the tragedy. Innocent civilians, the elderly, men, women and children are the most common victims. Boys and girls continue to be recruited as child soldiers. Rape is used as a way of destroying communities. These people cry out for our protection. They have no hope for an escape from poverty and no way of improving their lives until we rise up to the challenge of peace.

This year is the seventieth anniversary of the start of World War II. We said “Never Again” in 1945. It is the ninetieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. We proclaimed that it was the “war to end all wars”. Now is the time to recommit to those ideals and promises. Twenty-one white doves were released into the sky at the Kabul headquarters of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday. The Peace Bell is ringing at the UN in New York. My hope is that these symbols of our resolution to change might send out the message that it is time to stop the violence and bloodshed. The time is now.

Waging Peace

Our national and international attention has been on war for the past four years. It has been said that everyone desires peace. I am not sure that the evidence would support such a claim. The war that we wage in Iraq has resulted in so many negative outcomes. We have given up freedoms in hope of greater security. This hope has evaporated as The Patriot Act has stripped us of civil liberties and violent attacks and threats have increased around the world. We have believed that our show of force in Iraq would stabilize the Middle East. Instead, we have enraged the Islamic world and created instability throughout the region. We were told that we would liberate the powerless. Rather, our show of force and violence has only unmasked US as the powerful against the powerless. We were told that a limited amount of national treasury would be used to overthrow our “enemy”. The monetary price tag has almost reached a trillion dollars. The price tag in human life is staggering. More than 600,000 civilians have been killed. As many as 200 Iraqis die every day. More than 3,000 American soldiers have given their lives. The number of our wounded men and women is far more than the official 24,000 reported to us. There are no numbers to estimate the number of wounded Iraqis. It is time to abandon the violence. We do not have the right to continue. We do not have the right to kill. Easter is approaching. It is time to listen to the words of the one who said "How blessed are the peacemakers". We are called to bring harmony and reconciliation between those who are estranged. We must seek to create understanding and produce loving relationships where there was hatred.

It is time to wage peace.