World Events: Different Questions
and Different Answers

If you are not finding the answer you seek, as the Zen saying begins, try asking a different question. Just this week, we had an experience that made that saying very real. While talking about the current upsurge in conflict around the planet, a question came forward that led to a shift in the very nature of the conversation itself.

“I wonder what it is,” we were asking, “that is at the heart of this current increase in global conflict?” In an instant, the same answer came to us both—not to the question, but about the question. We smiled at each other, seeing that we were having the same inspiration at the same moment.

There is no heart in conflict. Literally. And that’s the challenge!

We realized that the greater opportunity is gained by turning the question on its head. Rather than asking what is at the heart of the conflict, how about asking what can we do to bring heart into areas of conflict?

How can we bring heart into a conflict: into a town; into a country; or into political, theological, or economic systems? It’s not something that we can drop from an airplane, impose through laws and resolutions, or sprinkle like magic dust. If only that were possible! We can’t even bring heart to people.

What can be done, however, is to assist people back inside, back into their own hearts. Home, as another saying goes, is where the heart is.

And that’s a huge part of the work we do here at USM. Over the course of 25 years, we have learned, as have the thousands of USM Graduates, that before any of us can even consider the possibility of leading others to make this journey home, we must first make that journey ourselves. It is only from the peaceful side of the mountain can we have any hope of influencing our warring neighbors that it is more profitable in every way to drop their arms and surrender, not to us, but to the peace that dwells within their own hearts.

At USM, we have recognized that outer experience is a reflection of inner reality. Therefore, the most effective place—in fact the only one where we truly have the dominion to leverage change—is within ourselves. Our work is to acknowledge, work with, and resolve any conflict that is present inside of us. Whether it’s with our selves, our family members, our co-workers, other drivers on the freeway, or an entire nation, change has to start with us.

The concept that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it, is not new. Nor is it accurate. History does not repeat itself. It is we who repeat ourselves, which is a rather accurate indicator that we have not learned from our past experience. Rather, we insist on making the same choices again and again while expecting a different result. Another word for that is “insanity.”

Now, more than ever, is the time for asking different questions and making different choices. Whether you are just learning about the University or if you are a USM Graduate or current student, the same opportunity is present: You can go inside right now and find one place where you harbor againstness pertaining to anything.

Dare to go inside and identify one area in your life where you are condemning someone or something, regardless of how righteous you think you are, and simply choose peace. It might sound something like this, “Regardless of how right I believe I am and how wrong I believe they are, I’m choosing to sacrifice my judgments and position. I’m choosing to give it up! I don’t need to hold onto it any more. I’m choosing peace over righteousness, and I forgive myself for judging those other people and situations.”

Global peace happens one person at a time. And it happens through the process of each of us letting go of pieces of againstness that we hold inside of ourselves. We literally restore ourselves to a place of peace through Compassionate Self-Forgiveness. And we do this important work one person and one piece (or peace) at a time.

While this is simple work, it is by no means easy. The hardest part is being willing to get off our position of righteousness. And it is not necessarily easy to learn how to do it consistently and to make that quality of commitment to yourself.

Yet this is the only path to peace. It is also the foundation of what students at USM learn to foster in the Master’s Program in Spiritual Psychology—and why it is a two-year Program. It takes that long to transform information into understanding through the crucible of experience.

Perhaps you would take a moment right now to answer a simple question. Before you answer, be careful that you are honest with yourself and consider that each and every thought you think is an energy transmission that goes out to the Universe. So taking your thoughts as well as your actions into consideration, here’s the question: “Are you adding to the sum total of peace or hostility on this our Earthly home?”

May blessings of peace, loving, and compassion enfold you,