Fairies, Trolls and Hobgoblins

World peace must develop from inner peace.

Peace is not just the absence violence.

Peace is the manifestation of human compassion. - HH Dalai Lama

The war on drugs.

The war on poverty.

The war on terrorism.

The war against obesity.

The war to end all wars.

The war against ...............................

Our proposed wars are nothing more than hopeful myths and fairy tales that accomplish very little of what they have set out to do.

War is hell.

And I am not proposing any concrete answer to war. Too often we seek to attach ourselves to a war, or a creed, or a doctrine or religion that neatly defines for us what we believe we must do. Many a wise man has declared that the more they learn, the more it is that they realize how little it is that they do know. And this is the point: I do not propose to you some neatly wrapped package. In point of fact, many of you will simply dismiss the idea of dedicating a piece of your day to too simple a meditation. Its too easy. Not mystical enough. Its not in the Bible. What a waste of time.

But I challenge you.

The answer to conflict lies in flowing through your battles like water.

Huh?

The highest good is like water.

Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.

It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.

In dwelling, be close to the land.

In meditation, go deep in the heart.

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

In speech, be true.

In ruling, be just.

In business, be competent.

In action, watch the timing.

No fight: No blame.

Do you do this through adherence to a belief or creed, or through a transformation from within?

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world."

Tao Te Ching

"Happiness is like a butterfly;

the more you chase it,

the more it will elude you,

but if you turn your attention

to other things,

it will come and sit

softly on your shoulder..."

Thoreau

...."apparently intelligent people often make the equally ridiculous mistake of identifying a philosophical system, a dogma, a creed, with Ultimate Truth, imagining that they have found that Truth embraced in a set of propositions which appeals to their reason. There are thousands of men and woman searching through volume after volume, visiting religious societies, and attending the lectures of famous teachers in the vain hope that they will one day come upon some explanation of the mysteries of life: some saying, some idea, which will contain the solution to the Infinite riddle. Some continue the search until they die, others imagine that in various ideologies they have found what they desire, and a few penetrate beyond ideas about Truth to Truth itself." - Watts

All that I am trying to introduce is the ancient and ageless idea of building Wisdom & Compassion from the inside out.

Concentrating on the breath,

Centering myself,

The warmth and power

of a smile

heals me:

and thus,

heals the world.

Concentrating on the breath,

Centering myself,

May all beings

Be Happy,

Be Well,

Be Free from Suffering.

"If you want others to be happy

practice compassion.

If you want to be happy,

practice compassion."

Dalai Lama