"And I would like to see… World Peace…"
Many of us can recall the amount of times those words were uttered by beauty queens as they paraded to their interview slot on some of the most broadcast and well-known pageant stages. No-one ever asked them, "and how would you like to achieve that?" It was taken purely as a measure of their commitment to goodwill, but never furthered as a proactive intention to make change.
Are we all guilty of that? We may ponder upon the concept of world peace, but how many actually take action towards positive change and the creation of peace within peoples?
For the most part, our history has offered us the intelligence and courage of many activists who have striven for peace through political and governmental endeavours. The major political paths for peace activism have either been for the cessation of war and reduction in arms, or for gaining rights and equality. The strength of the words of Martin Luther King will echo through time and feed the souls of all those dedicated to equal rights. The power and dedication of a few great leaders may influence the minds of generations to come.
On other fronts of presence, we have many religious and spiritual leaders who endeavour to achieve peace through educating and informing the people on the ways of being compassionate with each other. To proffer kinship, kindness, tolerance and goodwill, such that we construct our lives in a more positive and serving manner. And so it renders the question necessary:
Is Global Peace a Spiritual endeavour... or a Political one?
The disturbance and tragic nature of the flow of our world has been impacting lives for centuries. Today's peacemakers and ambassadors for goodwill must wrestle with the potential within humanity to be a peaceful and tolerant species, against the clear evidence of war, harm and division. How do we create, or even envision, a path and process for world peace? We talk often about this key subject of peace and unity within peoples of the world. And we talk more, and then more.
We can consider these two parallel paths of intention - political endeavour and spiritual enfoldment - fuelled by the hope of the existence of peace, but they don’t appear to connect to each other. Is it true that there is no semblance of wholesomeness within endeavours towards peace?
Politicians and global leaders give appearance of working their way to a political peace solution. It doesn’t appear very successful. But for sure, not for a second, could anyone take their finger off the button of the diplomatic and political efforts that strive to keep the world stable.
The other visible pathway is that of the spiritual contribution towards peace. Can it be so that the presence of community togetherness and belief in a ‘God’ is not going to provide an overall solution to this disturbed and unsettled and often violent world?
We need the two paths to come together…
What we so clearly need, is a way to bring these two paths together – but in a neutral way. On the world stage, the spiritual element is primarily commanded by religious leaders. Religion of the modern-day world, by its very presence, creates differences and separation and often fuels the unrest rather than resolving it. It would be lovely to think that a major representative of one of the primary religious orders would be the bridge to global peace, but that is unlikely to happen. Sadly, religion tends to emphasize the differences, rather than the commonalities. And because it is personal and core to the human inner belief systems, challenging it creates defence and closure.
Peace can only truly exist in wholeness. For wholeness to exist the two paths of the spiritual and the political, need to come together in union. They need to merge into compassionate and wise unity to wholeheartedly serve common purpose. A defined religion cannot bring about peace among peoples. Neither will a single, nor a group, of defined government objectives, bring about world peace. My consideration is that:
...only a unified purpose of spiritual inclusion, within a fair and just political arena of governance, where each drives the momentum of the other, can hold the potential for the peaceful unification of humanity.
We each as individuals will hold our own light to the world. Our wishes and intentions play out in our daily lives and contribute to the global whole. But I consider that our individual sense or perception of ‘smallness’ negates our ability to contribute effectively to the global union. Not many of the population view themselves as a world leader. Even within our political parties, the majority see themselves as career politicians, not world leaders.
But we are all world leaders.
If we live a life, then we contribute to a community. And in contributing to a community, we add to the global union. We are all creative world leaders and if we were able to see ourselves as that, our responsibility, our goodwill responsiveness, and our creative endeavours for inclusion, justice and progression would become fully empowered.
Think about that now – each of us as a world leader. I can assure you, that somewhere in your ‘local’ world you are a leader - whether that is in your home, in your job, in your hobby, within your family or social circle, or in the place you share your knowledge.
In some aspect of your ‘local’ world, you are a leader.
And as leaders, we contribute and serve the welfare and betterment of others. So let’s scale that up. Let’s do that to the best of our ability, with awareness, with grace, fairness and tolerance. Let’s improve the quality of that aspect of the world in which we each lead. Let us evolve ourselves into inspirational, committed, loving contributors towards peace, wherever we may lead. Because in my view, peace begins one person at a time.
If, by way of our own unique peaceful contributions, we can evolve the nature and consciousness of our ‘local’ world, then we open the way to the same principles of living evolving into our ‘global’ world. If we each take our responsibility for this life we live and move it into virtuous service within the arena in which we lead, then we breathe life into the potential unification of humanity. And we live, in communion. And we live, in peace.
A 'Personal Peace Toolkit' is associated to this article and is also available in the Archive HERE
