PP 297537/00068
PO Box 627
Caringbah NSW 1495
Tel: (02) 9540 2391
Fax: (02) 9524 0025
www.sydneygoodwill.org.au

No 194 /February 2003

Dear Friends,

This is the last newsletter before the Peace Summit, before we meet together (some in physical form and some in spirit) as part of the living flow as we Share the Spirit of Peace entering our world. We are part of a great outflow as peace summits and other events for knowing, creating, experiencing and celebrating peace unfold around the world with the new realisation sweeping the planet. This can no longer be dismissed as the stuff of dreams and the prerogative of philosophers but is becoming anchored into our daily activity as a reality requiring only the world's whole and interconnected realisation of its joyous inevitability.

We find that as the Spirit of Peace comes nearer into expression we can see, in its clarifying light, all that stands in its way and all that would hold us blind and imprisoned by the demands of conflict. We can then begin to see the possible achievements of harmony. We still occasionally hear that "it's only human" to be combative; that "the law of the jungle" rules; that "the only language evil understands is aggressive force". And, when we have given in to those ideas, what have we achieved? A solution? or more of the same problem spread further?

The "solutions" that conflict presents take us back to the Dark Ages where leeches and blood-letting were applied in the mistaken belief that the poison could be leeched from the sick and the weak when in fact their systems needed strengthening with healthy sustenance to help resist sickness. Blood-letting has never solved any problem permanently and at best merely draws attention to it so that real solutions can be applied - a call for help. But what's the point if we have no time, energy and resources left to create the real and lasting solutions?

Not only does the end not justify the means but the very means we use actually create their own outcomes. If these means are not aligned to the purpose and the goal we affirm then the energy of that purpose cannot express and guide us. It becomes imperative then, if we would have our future be a culture of peace, that we use all our wonderful capacity to create peaceful solutions, to apply peace - essentially to live peace.

Peace is that point of perfect stillness and poise which is the heart of power behind the whole of existence. It is not the peripheral gaps between the chaos of war. It is the ordering power behind a manifestation of wholeness with all interconnected parts in right relation within that whole - the whole of life. The vision of the true nature of that whole and all it contains is not the prerogative of any exclusive or specific individual or group at the expense of any other - but is only perceived at the heart of life and of the universe in which we live and move and have our being. Our younger minds have yet to grasp what the "Ancient of Days" sees, knows and is - yet we are part of that great system and have the capacity to share that vision if we loose the habitual blinkers and bonds that custom and authority would apply. This is the view from the summit or peak of our being. This is the power of freedom.

True freedom is the powerful energy that drives human aspiration and is the motivating impulse behind the expression of life itself, as it cannot be contained by any one form at the expense of others but only truly expresses the whole of life. When our scope of vision and then of thought and action orbits that centre rather than our own separate one then we share life, power, freedom and the loving strands that express it through right relationship of all parts within our glorious planet. How can we help others towards this if we deny it - if we do not live it, think it, feel it, act it?

There have been many great empires and nations in the past who had much to give the world yet who failed ultimately when they ceased to evolve and imposed a static system and specific viewpoint on all and when the existing forms of life rather than the vision of its possibilities dictated action. And yet what wonderful new human experiments and nations are created when we allow the emerging life to inspire newer modes, ever more inclusive solutions in pace with the unfolding life of the planet. The vision on which nations like Australia, the USA, the UK and all other nations were founded is alive and well and living in the hearts of their citizens. May governments listen to that heart-song and interpret it at its highest and best expression at each unfolding moment. Then may that flow into the common cause and purpose of our world and our planet - peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

Evil must not be allowed to hold sway but if we combat it on its own terms we feed its power and allow it entry into our own hearts. This is the canker that destroys from within. Protection against its onslaught may not be through taking up arms - we are a brilliant and creative species and there are far more powerful and effective means. We also have the resources to apply them. The points of connection - our similarity, our common goals, our common purpose bring us nearer to the purpose of the world and to the heart of its life. Our differences are then correctly placed as the rich diversity of the expression of the one world. The following lines from an Invocation for Peace point to the source of peace in the world:

Gratitude - from all the other co-workers for the Peace Summit to all the wonderful and generous souls who have donated time, services and money to this almost total volunteer effort. Your service brings such an energy of goodwill and a sense of that dynamic peace that together we are anchoring in the world. If others would like to support the Peace Summit offers or donations to the Share the Spirit of Peace - Peace Summit may be directed to the Sydney Goodwill Office at the above address.