What do we mean by the phrase peace
on earth when many places around us are at war? We may not be directly involved
in a war but are we not all involved in the terrible things that human beings
do to one another. All the time we take sides with our country, our religion,
our family, our beliefs are we not at war, with or without the actual killing
of another, with others?
Peace is not
about comfort in our cosy little
lives. How can we have peace when army's are killing one another even if it is
in far off lands? Can we be content that this is done in the nation's name, and
therefore our names if we perceive ourselves as belonging to that nation?
Can any
religion that has set humanity against humanity call it self peaceful. Why do
we join up to the various religions and their dogmas believing it to be the
only right one? As soon as we do that surely we are in conflict. Once we
have the feeling of righteousness filling our thoughts we are close to warring
with those who do not agree with us.
Is everybody
thinking they are right, whether it be the individual, the family, the
community, the nation, the religion? How do we learn from each other with open
and honest dialogue if we already have a conclusion to argue for or against?
Surely it
really doesn't matter whether I am a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or any
other religious group. Neither, does it matter if I am Chinese, Indian,
American, and African? Are we not all separating ourselves from each other with
my right beliefs so you must have the wrong beliefs and so I must protect my
religion and my nation from you so my beliefs stay firm? Are we then not all at
war with each other until we change that attitude?
This cannot
be done through religious dogma or national pride but only when the individual
is truly free from their conditioning from both within and without.
