Evolving Toward Peace

It was Saturday evening, and I still wanted to make time to do a meditation and channeling. I had just watched a bit of the evening news. Not a good choice as a prelude to a meditation. Over the last couple of days there had been more terrorist attacks in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, and there was a story of an electrician being shot and killed while he was restoring service to a power line in Iraq. I wondered to myself, what kind of person would kill someone who is trying to restore power to their country? This electrician is not in the military. He is a threat to no one, and he is defenseless. He is trying to help rebuild Iraq, and restore the utilities to provide a decent standard of living.

I thought to myself, these terrorists are pathetic cowards. These terrorists are not loved or respected by anyone, except perhaps by their fellow terrorists. They want Iraq for themselves, but all they do is bring terror and suppression to others. They are unable to make anything out of themselves, or their lives. The only way for them to feel powerful is to posses a gun and threaten and kill others. They are pathetic cowards.

On some level, they must really hate themselves. It felt to me like their killing is a mirror of their own self hatred, which is projected outward as hatred for others

I personally believe that within each human there is a desire to live a life of value, which is uniquely defined by each. There is the desire to be loved and love. There is the desire to pursue and realize our dreams and hopes. Those dreams and hopes are as diverse as humanity's imagination and desires. For some it may be art, for others a nomadic life. Whatever it is, there is room for all upon the planet without violating another.

I think the killing that the terrorists are enacting is a mirror of their hatred for a part of themselves, combined with their desperate need to be empowered. Having dreams and hopes has vulnerability to it. The terrorists hate their vulnerabilities, and not having the means-power-ability to realize any of their dreams and hopes.

When a person is unable to pursue their hopes and dreams, there is disappointment, sadness, frustration, and a sense of helplessness. On an unconscious level this may be followed by resentment of their own vulnerabilities and anger at their inability to make those dreams come true. This then gets projected outward. We all experience this script to greater or lesser degrees.

In both a literal and symbolic way, a gun gives a terrorist power. Literally, a gun gives the terrorist power over other, and the ability to kill. In some important ways, the child symbolizes innocence, and carries our hopes and dreams. By the terrorists striking out at the innocent, symbolically they are trying to kill the innocent vulnerable parts of themselves. It is better to kill that part than to experience all the feelings that accompany the loss of their hopes and dreams.

As I was attempting to meditate in preparation for a channeling session, these thoughts and feelings of anger directed at the terrorists were dominating my mind. Hardly the mental emotional state I prefer for a channeling session. However, knowing there is value and purpose to our feelings and thoughts, I let them go on until they had their say.

As the meditation went on, my consciousness shifted to another level, and the room and time disappeared. I was immersed in a wonderful light and energy, and it is easy for me to lose my waking consciousness in this heightened state. Coming back down a bit from the heights, I began the session. The session elaborated upon my process and my thoughts.

(transcription of the channeling)

Sounding...Let us begin then. Once again registering the heights...the mingling of energies. The blissful states are a gift from your waking consciousness' point of view, even though space and time can disappear.

You can sense that one could dwell within this state, and simultaneously be in the world. Your consciousness moves back and forth between the heights and your familiar waking consciousness. From that high consciousness' perspective, you as a personality are pulled in many directions and embody many energies, which take you down the path which they are.

Once again, this not wrong. It is as if those "many energies" don't enter your "heightened field". You do not experience those energies in the same way that you do when you are immersed in them. You can still have perception and feel them, but you are not immersed in them. You can hold the love-light in your consciousness, and all that is contained within the love-light is present for you also. You can remain in the love-light, and radiate that.

Before the gurus and masters are able to anchor their consciousness in the divine light love, there are many years of study and moving back and forth between the "heights" and their waking consciousness, and all the various levels in between.

Yes to your thought, and more. Your thought being, with the registering of the love-light in your being, your actions can then be qualified by love. And more, actions are expressed through Love, or Love finds an expression through you. Of course, your individuality is not negated in that expression. Your individuality is infinitely enhanced by being the Love that IS, and which you are a part of.

As you move through various states, there are various bodies of knowledge available, and various aspects of yourself that you are working on. Using a ladder as analogy, each rung of the ladder represents different aspects and different levels of your beingness. Each step of the ladder is of value, and each step is slightly different than the previous or the next. Each step of the ladder is unique to itself, and they are also related.

So you may work in one modality on one rung, then climb a few steps, and work on another aspect of your beingness from that rung. Up and down the ladder you go, gaining perspective and working at the level that you find yourself. It is all you. It is all of value. It is all part of healing.

As an example, your willingness to be aware of the energies that you started this evening's mediation with, and the judgments that you had against those thoughts and feelings, was from my perspective a fine piece of work. You realized part of the judgment which you hold. That judgment could be stated as: when you sit to do this work, you sit to escape the earthly plane and all its problems, and journey to the spiritual heights.

Watching a news clip earlier, you had many thoughts of anger toward the terrorist for striking out at the innocent. Your own thoughts were of violence toward the terrorist. You allowed and followed those thoughts, and as you did so, there was a psychological mapping of the dynamics of violence, power, victim, and the sense of being unempowered.

This was followed by an important question. If violence isn't met with violence, how does humanity stop these acts of terrorism? Now that is a spiritual question. It is a human question. It is a humanitarian question. Being spiritual is not escaping from earth, or from the tragedies and problems which humanity faces. Indeed, we here in the hierarchy are very much involved, in the ways which we can, in dealing with the problems of earth and humanity, and the various energies which are surrounding the earth.

You were pondering the question, How to stop the violence? You can feel from your heightened state, that if individuals were to dwell in this heightened state, none would choose to violate another, or choose violence as a means to resolve conflicts.

However, it does not seem likely that this will be the method at this time which stops violence. Not enough people will sit down and meditate upon Love, or right human relationship, and come to a unilateral humanitarian decision to end violence. We wish it were so. That would be a very speedy and radical transformation for the earth and for humanity.

What other means are available? (Even without the perception of the "heights") the path for change is through each individual's conscious choices and efforts. When enough people have chosen peace, there will be greater and greater rippling effects which will bring transformations for humanity.

Yet still, How do we stop the violence now? What steps can be taken? I do not believe there is one single answer. However, the answer that is most singular is for each to choose love, to choose peace, to choose harmony, and to choose respect for all life.

This works fine for those who are not in a war zone, or in a place where their physical being is endangered or threatened, or where life is impoverished to that degree. For those, the challenge is much greater and immediate to their survival. Therefore, siting down and praying for peace within themselves may seem an inadequate response to the immediate threat. It is a difficult question, with no simple answers.

For those of you who are able and willing, the work that you can do on yourself is of utmost significance, and does contribute to global consciousness. It may not be perceptible to you, say as a drop of water is to an ocean. And yet, the ocean is made up of countless drops of water. Healing yourselves and healing your reflections is the work that you can do, and that is a significant contribution to global healing..

Where the conflicts are more agitated to the degree that they are in Iraq, the process may not be completed in this round of events. As the current dramatic changes take hold, and as the tensions are diminished and the terrorists loose their grips on the nation, the following generations will not be as polarized and as hateful. This is a much longer and difficult evolution toward peace. It will most likely not be accomplished in one grand sweep, but it is hoped that the whole country will eventually be lifted up.

Peace is longed for. Perhaps, you may even say, over due. The human heart has suffered much. Your psyches are deeply wounded, and there is much fear, rage and anger. This manifests as terror and a quest for power...to be empowered and to end one's own suffering and limitation.

In order to change the dynamics that these countries and individuals are caught up in, the whole script needs transforming. These scripts are deeply felt within the individual. Ah, that is not adequate. These scripts make up their lives. It is where they live from within themselves. There is a lot of momentary glory in being powerful through the means of war, conflict, or contest. It can be tremendously enlivening and can give purpose to one's life. But underneath, there is a great deal of sadness and hopelessness.

The realization of peace will come bit by bit, and at the very costly price of human life and resources. It is a tragedy. However, with the continued global intention of valuing peace, of valuing life, and taking the steps that each can take to manifest peace within themselves and in relationship to other, that eventually, eventually, peace will be created.

May love transform us all.

With that let us say our three customary Oms together.

(end of channeling)

The following day, my significant other brought me a wonderful story about a boy from Afghanistan, which I feel illustrates this "gradual evolution toward peace". The name of the article is "They Found Hope In Art", by Tamim Ansary. The article appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 30, 2003. Paraphrasing the story:

The Hazaras were an ethnic group living in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban rulership, the Hazaras were victims of the Taliban's brutal ethnic cleansing. They fled to Pakistan and lived in a refugee camp, which has become a vast urban slum. Conditions are impoverished except for one unusual gift, art. Hazara Town, as the slum is called, has ten free art centers.

A young teenage boy who's name is Ahmad Shuja, loves art. One day he found an old magazine with an ad for an art contest in California. The ad was four years old, but he emailed the sponsors, River of Words, and inquired if the contest was still on. River of Words was still sponsoring the contest on a yearly basis.

Several of the boys, with the help of their art teacher, sent entries to the contest. Out of 11,000 entries, two of the boy's paintings finished in the top finals. An amazing accomplishment. Because of the boys success, other boys and girls wanted to send their work. All in all, 73 works from Hazra Town were sent to River of Words.

For me this was a heart warming story in many ways. The story illustrates the hope that we can have for future generations not carrying the badge of hatred. These boys and girls are victims of the Taliban regime, and not necessarily anti American. But they could just as well hate the Taliban, as the Iraqi terrorists hate Americans.

What is different is these children are being given an opportunity to realize their hopes and desires, instead of picking up a gun and being taught to hate. Through the medium of art, they are learning how to realize and empower themselves, rather than channeling their poverty into hatred of other.

I wonder if anyone has ever asked a terrorist: As a young boy, what did you want to be when you grow up? Has anyone ever answered, I want to be a terrorist? An attribute of being human is our desire and impulses toward becoming, fulfillment, and life; not impoverishment, destruction, and death. No child envisions or desires to be a killer. It is in our human nature to express and desire that which brings us joy. Our impulses of destruction are aimed at destroying that which limits, suppresses, and impoverishes us.

When one is living from an "unempowered script", there is the feeling of defeat. Second, there are the feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Third, there is a rebellion against these conditions, a striking out and becoming powerful in order to eliminate the suppression, which also gives purpose and meaning to one's life. Each of us experiences this scenario to various degrees, and we may not experience the whole script. Of course there are many other feelings and scripts involved as well.

These children are living in harsh and impoverished conditions. Their parents have seen the horrors of ethnic cleansing and persecution. Perhaps the children are too young to remember much, but their families have lost their homeland and their lives as they knew it. The opportunity for hatred is there. However, in the above story at least some of children are learning something different.

When our beingness is supported and finds expression, such as the opportunity these young children are being given through art, they are developing the skills to become self realizing and self empowering.

When our being is supported and finds expression, we can develop the skills to become self realizing and self empowering. Through art, these children are being given the opportunity to realize themselves. Hopefully with that self empowering, these children will never need to act out or project the "unempowered script" onto others.

I thought this story was an excellent example of the "next generations not being as polarized and hateful" toward their oppressors, and a beginning to change the scripts that have been so fundamental to our existence.

Raymond Wolf December 2003

Edited selection from November 2003