"I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace."
Helen Keller
People are stupid. By saying that people are stupid I mean that they are unaware.
Most people don't understand their own functioning, their own motivations, their own intentions, and they certainly have no sense about how their functioning affects other people. And so they blunder and do stupid things and then blame others and rationalize their behavior often in the name of God.
This blaming their functioning on God is a huge sin against the first commandment; it is the sin of idolatry which is the placement of one's own desires, preferences, judgment ahead of God's will or the Spirit of Life if you prefer.
And so the key to peace as Helen Keller points out is self understanding and the understanding of others.
George W. Bush thought God wanted him to be President and to lead a holy war against the axis of evil and he and his ego have brought about huge devastation domestic and foreign. At PMUC a vote to call a part time consulting minister was negative canceling the will of the majority (it required a 2/3rds vote) and negating 2 1/2 years of work leading to schism and the probable death of a congregation.
It is a sad thing when a lack of understanding brings conflict and the death of relationships and sometimes even life itself.
I wish I could end this reflection on a happy, cheerful note, but just as the unaware killed Jesus of Nazareth, they lead nations to unnecessary war, perpetrate policies of torture, greed, oppression, and injustice rationalizing this as the way to freedom, democracy, and peace. It is lunacy of the highest order and what peace there is, is more likely to come from meditation and the cultivation of self awareness and the development of right relationship than in more weapons or hoarding a plummeting stock portfolio.
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