
Yesterday some guests visited the University of Peace in San Jose Costa Rica. The woman created a program for peace in an inner city school in California and wanted to see what they were doing at the University. Chatting about it she told me that, as she suspected, they focus on peace at an international level just like other programs in the US. She said she has come across very few programs that focus on peace in cities or communities and even fewer that actually integrate internal peace at the individual level. This really got me thinking about my own studies and how I felt so overwhelmed by international environmental problems until I began working on a very limited local level.
Also yesterday, I was speaking with a friend about a liver cleanse I just finished. We began questioning the capability of the body to rid itself of gallstones without doing a physical cleanse. He told me that the best cleanse one can do is to eat with peace – peace can move the biggest stones.
These two back to back events unfolded an understanding within me that the only PEACE ON EARTH possible is the internal peace that each individual must birth and nourish on a daily basis. If I cultivate peace within myself through meditation, prayer, time in nature, etc, I radiate that peace out into my family, community, country and the world. Peace is not so much about finding a place without problems and frustrations; it’s about living surrounded by normal life events and maintaining a serene state of mind, heart and soul.