Jiwa Damai - organic garden & retreat center

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Yearning for peace

Most people I know, and those I meet yearn for peace. They deeply desire to live in peace. Yet in spite of all yearning, peace seems to retreat more and more to an unreachable distance.

Is peace an unattainable goal?

Peace is the goal of many people and nations. It is often spoken off, thought about and desired; however, it is very rarely experienced directly by individuals and nations.

In some Buddhist countries, like Bhutan in the Himalayas, where the population has lived in peace for many years, it seems that living in peace is only possible when controlled, limited access to the Western technology and its values is allowed.

The Aborigines of Australia lived in deep harmony and peace with each other and the earth when the mostly Western settlers took their lands and repressed their culture.

Why is peace such a distant goal?

Our society thrives on conflict - inner conflicts, conflict with others, with family and at work. We are in conflict with the earth, treating her as an enemy, abusing her. It seems that conflict is an integral part of our Western society and make-up, inherent in our cultural Christian heritage, possibly of humanity as a whole.

The dynamics of conflict, real or projected, lead to to a winner and loser concept and eventually to wars. Conflict is the result of one party's wanting to be right and believing that the other is wrong and should take on the perspective of the first party. If the second party refuses, a conflict ensues.

Personally, I believe that both participants in the conflict are losers, wasting their creative energy. Conflict is the precurser of violence and war, which, on a collective level, may lead to the death of many.

Is it possible to guide one's life energy into working creatively with others, into cooperation? In order to do this, a 180 degree turn and a conscious choice to let go of old habits are needed. Such a change would imply that both participants can be winners.

Ending a conflict and a war does not automatically bring about peace. These acts represent the end of a battle and killing. To live peace requires a deep change of inner attitude and awareness of the unconsciously held beliefs that lead to conflict. Through conscious choice I can allow one's life energy to flow into a dynamic cooperative interaction with others, into life-giving actions. Then I begin to live peace.

Living peace is not possible without inner peace. How can I learn to deal with my own inner conflicts? My change of attitude toward myself and my inner conflicts will allow the peace within to emerge.

Each human being carries the power of peace within. Access to this power, however, seems buried. Peace is carried by the strength of the heart. Peace unfolds and grows where love flows. The time to learn again to listen to the voice of the heart, to turn toward this inner voice of love and wisdom, is now. I can thank the heart for its daily work, pumping the lifegiving blood through the complex system of the body, and thus learn to love myself again. I can also express gratitude to my body as a gift and to the lifegiving earth for bringing it forth and nurturing it.

To live peace is a conscious choice of each human being and needs to be modelled. The unconscious collective belief that conflict is an integral part of our existence, which has been passed on through the generations, prevents lasting peace .

The creation of our inner peace will unfold out of a deep respect for one's self, nurtured by the flow of loving heart energy. It will extend and expand into the outer world, family, work, environment and be manifested in interactions with others. I will begin to honor and respect myself, others and creation. The winner-loser dynamics will become less important and will no longer determine my actions and life. Conflicts will be recognized as a waste of my precious creative energy.

My relationship to the earth as an enemy to be conquered will change. Exploitation and abuse will transform into alignment with the earth's deep nurturing life energy. I will be able to return once more to love her, to honour and respect her as a lifegiving planetary being.

This inner attitude fosters peace. Peace includes all the above. Peace is a process of growth, a state of dynamic cooperation, a vibrational frequency that calms and soothes the many pains and wounds suffered by humans and the earth. This vibration can weave through all beings and allows pain to relax and calm down.

In looking at the recent movements and shaking of the earth, the resulting tsunami and its effects, from this perspective, one can assume that we are in a continuous state of conflict with that which gives us life and nourishment. Wars, atomic explosions and the continuous exploitation of resources and destruction of the earth's atmosphere are abuses that cause major upheavals in the earth's innermost being. Long ago, major upheavals, which made continents move and gave birth to mountain ranges, took place on earth. Most of those changes were caused by the impact of outside shocks, such as meteorites, comets, and possibly small asteroids. Traces of metals foreign to earth have been found on land and in the oceans. The Himalayan mountains contain rudiments of shells from oceans, implying that they were once covered by water.

This time it is different. It is we humans who accelerate the changes and movements of the earth. When a child or an adult is having an emotional outbreak, a catharsis, one holds the person gently in one's arms, soothes him or her until he or she calms down. Yet, the earth, undergoing her process of change, is beaten and punished. Our fear of her declares her the enemy. She does not want to kill her children, and convulses in pain.

Can we, in spite of the many deaths that are a symptom of her pain, turn toward her? Initiate a deep peace with her by aligning with her process? This is what is needed to help her through her process of growth and transformation - to begin to return the love she gave and still gives in form of atmosphere, earth, food and nurturing.

Am I aware of her efforts and pains, when she moves the tectonic plates through earth and I see quakes, followed by volcanic activities which take many human lives? Can I finally learn to turn toward her lovingly, attune to her needs, align with her, and know when she has to move next, as the animals that sense her movements in advance and retreat to a safer place can do?

Can I love her again deeply, with her movements and changes? Peace, within and without, this dynamic state of cooperation, creates a frequency in which the earth can relax. The key to true peace within and without is to nourish the earth with my love, to thank her for her lifegiving nurturing and to be lovingly present throughout her transformation and changes.

Dr. Margret Rueffler

Transpersonal psychologist, internationally known teacher, workshop facilitator and consultant, has published several books and has researched The Psychology of Nations for the past twenty years. She is the founder of the PsychoPolitical Peace Institute, both in New York and Switzerland.

www.pppi.net

PsychoPolitical Peace Institute and Foundation
www.pppi
PsychoPolitical Peace Institute and Foundation
www.pppi.net

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