Gifts of the Spirit: Peace Galatians 5:22-23

A Story: An old person was reflecting on her life. She sat with friends in the tea shop telling her story. "When I was young, I was fiery. I wanted to change the world. I prayed to God to give me the strength I needed to change the world. In midlife I awoke one day and I realized my life was half over and I had changed no one. So I prayed to God to give me the strength to change those close to me who so much needed to be changed. Now, I am old. My prayer, I admit to you, is simpler. "Please God," I ask, "please give me the strength to at least change myself." *** The inner mirrors the outer. Those conditions that upset the equilibrium of the world - anger, aggression, discord - upset our inner peace as well. You need to deal with them on both levels. Encounters with violence - a contrast to peace - invariably demonstrate the importance of this practice. This is the basis of nonviolence, practiced by many of the world's greatest leaders. Feeling worried, upset, or "crazed" can also get you started doing peace. These states often signify that your emotions have gotten the best of you, and a practice to restore your equanimity is needed. Being even-tempered creates a feeling of serenity. And whereas being agitated can drain your energy, inner calm increases your stamina so that you can sustain your efforts to make the world a more peaceful place. This time the inner supports the outer. "War is not inevitable. The only thing in the universe that is inevitable is change." The spiritual practice of peacemaking involves letting go of preconceived ideas and answers, seeing places of great agony as places of great healing, ending all dualistic thinking, and steering one's life by the lights of empathy, compassion, openness, and zeal. These are the gifts of the Spirit. Practice peace-making. A story: "Jato, the instructor to the Emperor's sons, observed that the oldest boy was given to outbursts of anger, which could prove dangerous in later life because this prince stood as heir to his aging father's throne and armies. One day in the midst of the boy's tantrum, Jato dragged the youth to a flowering bush and thrust the prince's hand against a cluster of feeding bees until one bee stung the boy. "The prince was so surprised that anyone would treat him so roughly that he stopped his raging. Cradling his stinging hand he yelled at Jato, 'I am going to tell my father.' " 'When you tell your father, tell him this . . .' " 'What?' " 'Look at the bee.' "Together they studied the bee writhing on a leaf with its entrails torn out with the stinger. They watched the agonized insect until it died. " 'That is the price of anger,' said Jato. "That night the boy told his father, who gave Jato a gold piece. The boy, when he became emperor, was known for his quiet judgment and his unwillingness to be provoked. This latter trait proved invaluable during his long reign through turbulent times." To Practice: The next time your blood boils in anger; stop, take a deep breath, and consider the high price of your anger. Daring to create harmony in ourselves and in the world is a daunting challenge given the adversarial nature of our culture where conflict, debate, and competition are heralded as positive qualities. It is considered a sign of strength to debate, be strong, have the right words, and to think clearly. Yet these qualities are in contrast to the practice of peace, which may allow, show weakness, not know the answers, and seem to be unclear in its thinking. The practice of peace may not make sense. A quote from the Tao Te Ching. "There is no greater disaster / Than enemy-making. For then you lose your treasure, / Your peace." Badshah Khan (1890-1988) was a Muslim pioneer who created history's first nonviolent army of 100,000 men. His father was a Pathan leader of the people who inhabited the mountains around the strategic Khyber Pass - the entryway into the Indian subcontinent. In a society where vengeance was a cult and a code of honor, Badshah Khan practiced nonviolence as a way of life. "There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence," he said. "It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca." Badshah Khan handed his land over to his sons and dedicated himself to the service of God and his impoverished people. "This gentle giant of a man," as Easwaran calls the 6' 3" leader, was Mahatma Gandhi's devoted ally throughout the struggle for India's independence. The British rulers imprisoned both men - Khan spent thirty years behind bars - the equivalent of every third day of his life. But his army, "the Servants of God," had the discipline, faith, and patience to stand unarmed against injustice and tyranny. He never gave up his dream of peace. Near the end of his long life, Badshah Khan said, "No true effort is in vain. Look at the fields over there. The grain sown therein has to remain in the earth for a certain time, then it sprouts, and in due time yields hundreds of its kind. The same is the case with every effort in a good cause." This week, practice peace. Take a breath when something in you wants to cry out in anger. Take a breath when someone swerves in front of you on the freeway. Take a breath when your partner says the words that always set you off. Take a breath when you begin to be engaged in an argument, and surrender your need to be right, to know what is right, to have the right answer. There will be no peace on earth until ordinary people, people like you and me, practice peace. There will be no peace on earth until people of faith - people who are learning to trust that peace is within themselves - make the practice of peace more powerful than the practice of war and violence. There will be no peace until we find the peace within ourselves to change the world. --June 29th, 2008

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