Living in Peace on the Vedic Path
click for more discussions fromThe Vedic View thru the eyes of Arci Edwards
We are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. We have committees and coalitions, treaties and embargoes, peacekeeping missions outfitted with the best military gear, barbed-wire fences and high cement walls - and still, since the beginning of man, was there ever a time when there was peace on earth? History has proven that there is no material arrangement that can bring about lasting peace. It cannot - for the source of our disharmony exists on the spiritual plane and that is where we must look for a solution to restore balance individually and collectively.
It is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, 5.29:
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
If we want shanti, peace, then we must know three things - God is the proprietor, God is the enjoyer, and He is the real friend.
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It is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, 5.29:
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
If we want shanti, peace, then we must know three things - God is the proprietor, God is the enjoyer, and He is the real friend.
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Living in Peace on the Pagan Path
click for more discussions fromThe Pagan View thru the eyes of RavenHarte
How do we cultivate a climate of peace? It’s obvious that the masses want it. Go into any clothing or accessories store of late and you will feel thrown back into the 60's with the myriad day-glow colored peace signs and symbols of love. Our society is SICK TO DEATH of war, of anger, of the energy it’s taking us to keep up this big bully attitude when none of us really wanted to be the big bully anyway. So how do we change that? Well, Gandhi says that “we must be the change we want to see in the world”. So the first step is you…. Me….. all of us. In Wiccan traditions there is a poem called “The Charge of the Goddess” by Doreen Valiente which contains a profound line: “If that which thou seekest thou not findest within thee, thou will never find it without thee”. This means to me in this context that if you don’t already have the peace you seek within you, you can’t possible see it outside of you, can’t cultivate it from others, can’t bring it about in the world. One cannot give what they don’t already have.
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Living in Peace on the Universal Spirit Path
click for more discussions fromThe Universal Spirit View thru the eyes of Wilda Spalding
ETERNAL NECTAR OF THE GREAT ONENESS: PEACE
Breathing life-giving Prana, imbibing the balanced sweetness of your hand-sculpted Mudras; running tiny Mother of Pearl Rosary Beads clicking through your fingers; wrapped in the ancient’s Prayer Shawl; burning with love, lying prostrate on craggy, ancient, stonebuilt floors worn almost soft with prayers for peace, praise, and surrender; calling out from the heights of a delicate, lace-like minaret’s tower; immersed in the silence of lighting and Eagle-fanning a sage bundle-offering; bathed deep within the mayyim hayyim (living waters) of a Mikvah, or being lovingly submerged backwards at Calvary Baptist Church; ears drenched in sparkling alpine bells or warmed by a much-used, chant-filled wooden harmonium; swirling with Sufi brothers or standing balanced, in the complete stillness between monastic prayers with ones Ethiopic Sisters; blending into the harmonics of the Divinity School choir; jingling your tambourine with the Praise Team in Apostolic joy; being the breath passing through the shofar or conch; emboldened by the thunderous sounds rising through the freshly pungent wafting of Island flowers swathed around the neck of the Kupuna chanting an oli or the snowy mountain Elder’s words accompanied by the savory perfumes of a crackling campfire.
Peace always is…Peace is a “right-now” Reality.
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Breathing life-giving Prana, imbibing the balanced sweetness of your hand-sculpted Mudras; running tiny Mother of Pearl Rosary Beads clicking through your fingers; wrapped in the ancient’s Prayer Shawl; burning with love, lying prostrate on craggy, ancient, stonebuilt floors worn almost soft with prayers for peace, praise, and surrender; calling out from the heights of a delicate, lace-like minaret’s tower; immersed in the silence of lighting and Eagle-fanning a sage bundle-offering; bathed deep within the mayyim hayyim (living waters) of a Mikvah, or being lovingly submerged backwards at Calvary Baptist Church; ears drenched in sparkling alpine bells or warmed by a much-used, chant-filled wooden harmonium; swirling with Sufi brothers or standing balanced, in the complete stillness between monastic prayers with ones Ethiopic Sisters; blending into the harmonics of the Divinity School choir; jingling your tambourine with the Praise Team in Apostolic joy; being the breath passing through the shofar or conch; emboldened by the thunderous sounds rising through the freshly pungent wafting of Island flowers swathed around the neck of the Kupuna chanting an oli or the snowy mountain Elder’s words accompanied by the savory perfumes of a crackling campfire.
Peace always is…Peace is a “right-now” Reality.
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Living in Peace on the Unitarian Universalist Path
click for more discussions fromThe Unitarian Universalist View thru the eyes of Rev. Charles Davis
We pledge our commitment to peace in the following ways.
Inward Peacemaking
We pledge to continue to learn as a community to create deeper peace within ourselves as individuals. In building our own inner harmony, self-acceptance, compassionate understanding of our own needs and feelings, we increase our capacity to provide that to others. Inner peace empowers us to build outward peace.
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Inward Peacemaking
We pledge to continue to learn as a community to create deeper peace within ourselves as individuals. In building our own inner harmony, self-acceptance, compassionate understanding of our own needs and feelings, we increase our capacity to provide that to others. Inner peace empowers us to build outward peace.
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Living in Peace on the Beauty Way Path
click for more discussions fromThe Beauty Way View thru the eyes of Robin Lynn Rainbowfeather
This is the Year of Living in Peace and to do that we need to look at the ways we are violent with ourselves. When my teacher, Will Rockingbear (Cherokee) first told me I was violent, I have to admit I was bewildered - I wasn't a violent person. I didn't go around hitting people or shouting obsenities to their face, I didn't hurt animals or suddenly lash out in anger without provocation. But I did say things to myself like, "you are so stupid," or "can't you do anything right" or "what's wrong with me?" or . . . the list could go on and on. And yes, I did curse people in the privacy of my own car, or in my mind. I did make scathing remarks under my breath to make myself feel better in my perceived helpless, hopeless situations. I did hurt myself and others with my thoughts, words and actions of feeling like a victim or silently standing by while someone else was seen as a victim. I did sometimes feel lesser than, unworthy, not enough, stupid, arrogant, intolerant, fearful, shameful and guilty. I never thought all these things made for violence but now I see it's the small violent words and acts against myself that erode my inner peace, my equanimity, my connection to myself.. I made an agreement with myself that whenever I make a disparaging remark about myself or someone else, I restate that thought to be one without judgment, without prejudice, without malice. Whenever I separate myself from others, lose my connection to myself, temporarily forget who I truly am, aren't true to myself or "fall asleep" in my life, I notice that I did that, and then recommit myself to not doing that again. In this way, I forgive myself and move on.
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