WORLD PEACE NEWSLETTER . COM

There are many ways to promote peace in the world but perhaps the best way is to promote it within ourselves. World peace is a gradual and wonderful event that occurs because compassionate people are inspired to help others discover the joy of peace! This also has the direct effect of increasing our personal peace, but this is merely one of the many bonuses that come from sharing our kindness with our fellow human beings. We all know that it is better to give than to receive. (:
Peace, like reading, writing, mathematics, drawing and enlightenment, are learned skills that improve our knowledge, maturity, health, happiness and longevity. Peace is probably the most important lesson we should learn during our lives and the sooner the better. The advent of the world wide web may just be the boost in knowledge humankind has been waiting for. Through knowledge, Peace will evolve. Knowledge is power. Knowledge combined with emotional intelligence leads to wisdom. True and complete knowledge is Peace.

The main goal of World Peace Newsletter is to promote World Peace as a viable possibility by breaking it down into small steps (we realize that many people believe peace is impossible). Step 1: Find Peace within. Step 2: Teach others the ways of Peace. Step 3: Strive to Evolve.
The steps keep going until we reach paradise: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All!

* Enjoy the here and now. It is a gift called the present. (it is also a dominant aspect of enlightenment)

* People often talk about turning "knowledge" into "wisdom". What does this mean?
Does it mean that logic merges with emotion / humanism / intuition? Another thought : What is wisdom, and why do so few of us actually discover and utilize wisdom to the fullest extent?

* What is the tie that binds almost every human being on the planet? . . . . We all want peace.
We all have so many differences : race, religion, nationality, gender, height, weight, age, etc.
Maybe one of the key aspirations the majority of us share is the desire for peace and happiness (inner, local, and global)?

* Be mindful not to get so caught up in making a living that you forget to make a life.

* Try to put yourself into situations that evoke your higher nature, not your lower nature.

* Another key to enlightenment and happiness is keeping a "Gratitude Journal". Whether you write your daily blessings down or just record them in your mind, it is important to focus on positive events in your life. Most of us have many things we should be thankful for.

* Peace is not merely the absence of war and hatred (negative peace / cold war) but also the presence of cooperation, compassion and worldwide justice (positive peace / hot peace).

* Freedom and Peace. What is the relationship between these two conditions? Can you have one without the other?

* The means we use to reach our ends are extremely important. Hopefully your "means" are kindness-centered and non-destructive. Often (maybe always) being kind is more important than proving you are right. When it is critical that you prove your point, remember to intertwine wisdom with kindness.

* What is war? It is a state of hostility between nations (or within nations; or within individuals) characterised by fighting, destruction and bloodshed. Wars are often caused by real/perceived injustice, hatred, poverty, and the desire for power.

* What is perhaps the best way to prevent war? Conflict prevention and Conflict resolution/transformation requires that we eliminate the nature of the hostilities and attempt to create harmony and equality between the various parties. Restorative justice implies that the perceived injustices must be resolved through either negotiation, mediation, arbitration, community conferencing, community meditation, negotiated rulemaking, collaborative/international law, or as a last resort, military action. Trauma recovery / Indentity renewal can help prevent war torn areas from falling back into further fighting. Youth development strategies can help our future adults from repeating the mistakes we have made that have lead us to war. Philosophy suggests that nations that have found peace should help less peaceful nations by sharing knowledge, food and other resources. Our conscience teaches us that we should treat others the way we want to be treated, with dignity and respect.

* How can we achieve Peace on Earth? First and utmost, we must find it within ourselves. By sharing our inner peace with others, peace will spread. By raising our children properly and teaching them to respect and love their neighbors (didn't someone say this before? :) they will learn the joy of peace. The peace process should be a predominantly preventative measure (A gram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure). [conflict identification & prevention tips] Peace should likely start as a grassroots movement, thereby creating a "trickle-up" process. Not only can we teach others about peace but we can put pressure on governments and political candidates that continue to advocate war as the main solution to civil and international conflict. Along the way, some form of world "Planning and Lawmaking" committee probably needs to be established that includes all nations. One nation's problems are problems for all of us. We must learn to see ourselves as one small planet and not be so concerned with our nationality, race or religion. When it comes right down to it we are all human.
Think what we could accomplish if we all worked together to create a true world economy. We could end starvation, reduce poverty, create jobs and work towards common goals such as worldwide justice, peace education, pollution control and planet management.

* Finding peace is not just about learning how to obtain it, but also learning how to hold onto it without slipping back to angry ways.

* The farther we are from peace is proportional to our distance from happiness. The closer we are to hatred is proportional to our distance to ill-fortune.

* Evil is not conquered by just power (power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely) but rather evil is conquered by love and wisdom because through the combination of these two qualities, evil becomes exposed. Love is also very powerful.

* Links to interesting peace related papers - Peace & Non-violence, World Peace is a Possibility, The Nature of Peace and Its Implications for Peace Education , Education For Peace - (in action), Islam & World Peace, The Other Face of the Islamist Movement (.PDF file)

* Blessed are the peacemakers (those actively working to reconcile alienated persons) for they shall be called the children of God.

* An eye for an eye just makes for a world full of "blind" people.

* World peace (in our lifetime) may not mean that evil goes away, rather that good so overwhelms evil that evil cannot ruin the peace shared between all peaceloving beings.