Peace: More than the Absence of War

Peace is more than the absence of conflict. It’s about engaging ourselves, heart, and soul in creativity and positive action.

When 9/11 happened, it disrupted my already precarious sense of peace and balance. When I watched Building 7 fall in on itself, I knew in an instant that it was deliberate. I watched a building being demolished in Winnipeg once. It was the exact same process at play. The building fell straight down on itself in a very short time. During 9/11 we were being lied to by the destroyers and by the news media. In that moment I knew of the monumental lie. I knew I could never trust a government again.

During the 9/11 event, people came into the office — where I was the hub of the wheel — and they would vent their distress. I didn’t know how to answer them then, I was yet in the process of escaping from a high religious control cult and I was working very hard to maintain a sense of balance. I was struggling to ward off fearful feelings and a sense of un-grounded-ness and loss of my own community. Feelings which are the direct result of leaving a cult, I learned later in therapy. Deliberate acts of terrorism in a land that I thought was safe and secure added to my sense of loss. I wondered how I would create peace in my life, or help a plaintive voice that came into the office, seeking solace — for that voice could be me.

My thinking leads me to believe that peace is a state of mind. I think if we consider peacefulness and meditate on peace and sense how we may be peaceful, it will translate into nothing less than peacefulness. Our peacefulness may influence others, and this is how it could potentially spread. This is how we empower peace. If we fret about war and violence and dis-ease, we give those things power. If we reflect and center ourselves in peace, we give power to the positives. And we will feel happier for it! And even be that desired peace!

Some of this sounds simplistic and idealistic, but I liked it. I felt peaceful when I thought this way. How could that translate as “bad”? I was feeling peaceful as I thought about my peaceful new insights.

Then I went a step further. I was meditating one day and got a sense about healing our earth. That is what the earth needs — a healing. So I pondered, how would I go about contributing to this grand project of healing the world? What if I found a little globe as a symbolism and performed Healing Touch on it? I thought about that idea for several weeks, wondering where I would get myself one of those little globes.

Then one day I was going for an extended walk before catching a bus home. I had just received a chiropractic treatment and a walk felt wonderful. I happened to see a sign. I did a double take. Did it say “Maps and Globes”??? Why — Yes! It was nothing less than a Maps and Globes store! Well, they certainly must have some globes! So I crossed the street and went inside. Sure enough, they had just what I was looking for…a small hand-sized globe that would be very well-suited to my “healing the earth” project!

My feet felt lighter as I left the store carrying the earth in my backpack. Okay, I’m carrying the whole world on my back and my load feels — lighter? Ahhh, I was carrying this load with purpose! I was going to heal the earth by meditating over it and setting my intention over it and spreading the word about my idea of helping our earth to achieve a peaceful balance! It would start with my own two small hands and spread to anyone who would listen. Our peaceful earth was becoming a reality just by thinking about it.

Rather than fighting about the earth like small boys fighting over toys, I am going to meditate with the earth for peacefulness.

How do others engage in peacefulness rather than conflict for a sense of vital well-being? Feel free to share your thoughts.