“Let There Be Peace On Earth and Let It Begin With Me”
“Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on Earth, the peace that was meant to be…”
Growing up, this was always one of my favorite hymns to sing in church. I still feel bolstered and uplifted when I sing it for myself today.
Peace can appear to be an elusive state. Wars seem to abound. Knowing and perceiving this can quickly deflate that sense of uplift and hope.
Some may claim that conflict is inevitable. Others may insist that human beings are self-centered and territorial and that, with a scarcity of resources, there is bound to be aggression and wars.
At the same time, I hear and read about people asking– begging– for peace in their lives (and world) over and over again.
If we want peace so badly, why haven’t we managed to make it happen? Is the innate pull to be combative so huge that it overrides our desires for peace?
I don’t think so.
I actually don’t even believe that we humans have an unstoppable or innate propensity for conflict or that we live in an environment of scarcity.
What I do believe is that, as the hymn says, peace begins with me. Each one us absolutely, positively MUST learn how to cultivate inner peace if we want to live in peaceful families, communities and a peaceful world.
This is not just pie in the sky dreaming. You might not hear much about it in the news, but the translation of inner peace to outer peace does work and it does occur.
Think about Nelson Mandela’s perseverance in the face of South Africa’s apartheid system and being imprisoned for 28 years. He ended up leader of that country and leader of a shift that unified formerly divided peoples of all skin colors as South Africans.
Think about the Muslim and Christian women of Liberia who, only a few years ago, organized and collaborated their peaceful actions to send a loud and clear message to the men in their lives that the fighting must stop. This led to the ousting of a dictator and warlords.
Peace is transformative. Peace allows each of us to live to our fullest potentials in supportive local and global environments.
Peace truly does begin with-in ME.
It all starts with me and with you. The way to community and world peace is only through the channel of inner peace. This makes sense, yet it can feel impossible to actually do.
After all, it can seem easier to come up with slogans, sign petitions and attend rallies that focus on ending the wars in the Middle East than to love one’s self. It can feel somehow more doable to protest the human rights and animal rights violations that occur than to appreciate our own perceived faults.
While ending Middle East wars and stopping cruelty toward humans and animals are important, to truly effect positive change anywhere, we have to be at peace with our own selves first.
When you are alone with yourself, do you feel a sense of peace with what you see?
Just about all of us don’t.
There are varying degrees of self-loathing and self-criticism that go on, but most people are at war with their own selves most, if not all, of the time.
This will always stand in the way of peace on the inside and the outside too.
Find ways to receive ALL of you.
Yes, of course, none of us are without flaws– nobody is perfect. Yet, to make both the internal and external improvements we seek, we have got to find a way to be at peace with what is and where you are.
In fact, even if none of us made any strides in changing those unwanted habits that we all have, improvements would happen anyway…when we come to a sense of peace with ourselves.
This has nothing to do with complacency, passivity or denial.
This is about ceasing the war with ourselves which will almost always help us to cease the wars that we wage with loved ones, acquaintances, strangers, our own government, other nations and so on.
To stop the conflict, stop being at war with yourself.
One way to begin to do this is to invite yourself to receive all of you. A friend and teacher of mine recently offered this wise advice to me.
I was having a difficult time accepting a particular aspect of my current personality– forget about me actually loving that part of me. I had become very good at pushing away and even denying that I react from this ugly place more often I ever wanted to admit.
At the same time, I knew that in order for me to develop more peace with who I am, I had to find a way to move closer to this ugly aspect. When this friend suggested that I simply receive this part of me, it became easier.
If the word “receive” doesn’t resonate for you, go to a thesaurus and find some other word.
Find ways to open up more fully to every single part of you…even those that you might call “ugly,” “bad,” “wrong,” etc.
This is a key to inner peace.
Make it a priority to cultivate more peace within yourself and then watch what happens in your relationships and interactions with other people. Watch the ripples of peace radiate out to others and your world.
Comment from Aris@Personal Growth Guides
Time November 26, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Yes! You are right. Peace begins with me. If I will demonstrate peace within myself, I will be able to spread it to the world. How will I be able to promote peace within me? This is the question I was asking myself a year ago. After contemplating on the subject, I’ve realized that the only key to achieve this is to first – “know yourself,” second – “accept yourself,” and lastly – “be true to yourself.” Thank you for sharing this. I really love reading your Personal Growth-related articles! More Power!