Don’t Pray for World Peace? A Contemplation on Human Evolution
Several months ago, I heard something that required contemplation. One of my Lakota teachers said, “Don’t pray for world peace because right now, given our current state of consciousness, world peace is only possible if the entire human race was annihilated.”
The more I reflected upon this radical advice, the more I understood what he was saying. Of course, to my Lakota elders, world peace extends beyond peace amongst cultures and religions. Peace also includes bringing back greater harmony to the earth and all of its inhabitants. Peace is not merely the absence of war, rather, peace is a state of consciousness that if honest, most of us struggle experiencing in a consistent and embodied way within ourselves, let alone towards others.
Peace is not simply how things look on the outside. True peace is internal to the mind and spirit of each individual. Because much of the disharmony we experience is sourced in the consciousness of our own minds, and the beliefs and perspectives that determine whether we judge something (or someone) as “right” or “wrong,” “good” or “bad,” “holy” or “unholy,” I began to ask some deeper questions.
The first question I began to ask was, “Why, in spite of the progress made in human consciousness, do poverty, conflict and war still exist?”
I received two responses.
1. We have not cultivated enough compassion within ourselves.
2. We are entrenched in a story of “not enough.”
For the sake of not writing a book here, I will go deeper into the second point today and reserve the first for later discussion.
The Not Enough Story
We live in an abundant universe with more than enough to feed, care, and bring vitality and prosperity to all peoples on the planet. Supply is not the problem. Distribution, fear, greed, (which comes from not enoughness), judgment, and unworthiness are the main issues contributing to the experience – or perception – of lack that so many of us are experiencing.
As a human race, we have not yet reached the level of mass consciousness that says, without condition, that all human life is valuable (all life, even those you don’t like or agree with) and worth honoring, even at our own sacrifice.
We detach from the unseen and the seemingly impersonal – meaning, we detach from those people and issues who we do not see as personally impacting our own lives. This can become an issue in some new age spiritualist circles who encourage complete detachment from watching the news, or entertaining anything remotely negative.
Personally, I want to know what and who to pray for. I want to understand what “is alive in me” that is contributing to the challenges faced by my own brothers, sisters and cousins around the globe. I want to understand how I can better serve – sometimes by coming out of my own judgment, ignorance, misinformation, or illusionary separation from what exists for so many others.
Playing God
As much as I believe we carry within us an aspect of Divinity, I also believe that our image of God has been tainted by lesser evolved human teachings that have defined God according to the human proclivity to judge, punish, and fear others. Our religious teachings have been polluted by ideas that God favors only portions of its creations – and only if they look or think a certain way. For many, judgment of others is ordained by their religious understandings – and therefore it is believed to be their duty. We dismiss the fact that we have all been created from the same Source – one who loves all equally and completely. Religion was born to create unity – not destruction and division.
We resist the fact that our sacred texts, the bible included, were written during a time when we were not nearly as conscious and open to loving and caring for people who are different from we are. Much of the conflict in the world remains religiously justified. Political agendas attempt to legislate morality – a morality that has yet to fully embody compassion, love and forgiveness. And, the economy is largely influenced by our current morality that is in need of a deep sense of brotherhood that opens us to a shared responsibility to care for one another, absent of conditions.
Simply put, because of one’s beliefs, the color of their skin, their religion, nationality, or their sexual and other lifestyle preferences, we make determinations of their worthiness to receive equal rights – including the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Worthiness and Compassion
Thoughts of unworthiness (conscious or unconscious) greatly impact what we welcome (or don’t) into our lives – and what we have come to accept. Feeling worthy is also connected to the flow of ease and grace we experience, how supported we feel, and, most importantly, what we are willing to ask for and receive.
Until we reach a critical mass of people who embody compassion for self and others—and who commit to taking 100% responsibility for our own judgments and prejudices—no matter how big or seemingly trivial, we will not see true harmony and thriving amongst all of our people.
Until we move beyond a consciousness of lack and open to the reality of unlimited abundance, the greed and fighting that comes from believing in “not enough” will continue its territorial warring at many levels – our minds and hearts included.
Conduct an Experiment
Become an observer of your own thoughts for one full day. Each time judgment, criticism, prejudice, or thoughts of “not enough” come into your awareness, affirm the TRUTH of sameness and abundance that is currently escaping your reality.
Become conscious of where you withhold from fear or insecurity. Maybe you withhold love, or the spontaneous forgiveness that comes with deep and Divine compassion. Maybe you withhold generosity of your time, money or talents; because you have temporarily forgotten that you are here to be a vehicle for the words and works of the Divine Source that has created us all. Maybe you are withholding your self from the growth and healing that is necessary (and was agreed upon) for your own personal evolution.
Or, maybe you are making decisions—or backing out of previously made commitments that are in your highest good—because you are feeling lack in your life and are afraid about security, money or approval from others.
Become conscious of the thoughts that are merely the ego’s way of distracting you from the truth of your soul. Observe the running thoughts (of judgment, doubt, fear, envy, resentment, unworthiness, and guilt) that distract you from traveling into a rich inner world. In the intimacy of communion with ourselves and our Source, we find the heavenly landscape hidden behind the illusions that prevent us from being truly present to a greater reality of perfection, beauty and abundance in our lives.
When we begin to observe the vast inconsistencies and irrelevancies of our own thoughts, we become aptly aware of where to begin our work in cultivating compassion and peace within ourselves.
To quiet the voice of doubt is to clear room for the grace of a steady faith.
And, compassion, faith, and inner peace are truly the pathways to co-creating peace and abundance at the collective level.
It begins first within ourselves and then is easily extended to others. This is the true and only path to peace and an abundant existence for all. So, pray for inner peace and begin cultivating that which will contribute to harmony within yourself, your relationships and the circles in which you travel. Know, without a doubt, that this is your part in the collective need for healing that will foster harmony at the global level.
Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, Ani
Rev. Anita Pathik Law is the author of The Power of Our Way; A Path to a Collective Consciousness, a 31 day journey into inknown wisdom and imminent healing and abundance. Visit www.powerofourway.com and join us for the next 6 week teleclass that supports personal and global evolution - beginning July 28!
You may also join her for the next 2 hour Awakening the Healer Within teleclass at www.powerofmyway.com/awakeningthehealer.html
Visit www.divinitymovie.com and www.thepowerofmywaymovie.com for inspirational messages from Anita and Brent Law.
Although there is an emphasis on physical "not enoughness" in society, the true task is "being enough" on the inside. I wonder if our spirit felt whole and complete, would we feel more whole and complete physically, which would lead to a general knowing of our wholeness and "enoughness" in society?
Posted by: Cindy K | July 24, 2009 at 10:33 PM