The whole point of this web site is really to achieve world peace.
I guess the title is a bit of a giveaway there. But rather than try to change
the world (which is the aim) I prefer to change the individual which then leads
to the changing of the world.
To quote the Dalai Lama:
"Without inner peace, it is impossible to have world peace."
His Holiness Dalai Lama
Or - as the motto of this site says - a peaceful world will only ever come from
peaceful people.
Unless you populate the world with a people that have only love and peace in their
hearts then the only alternative to war that you will get is ’interlude’. In other
words, until we are a peaceful race then wars will keep happening - even if we do
get brief respites of calm. A calm, by the way, that is usually only achieved
through violence and oppression.
Now I don’t care if you believe in God or you don’t. While, as a Christian oriented site,
this can be a useful advantage, it is not necessary for peace. Buddhists know that
you cannot achieve enlightenment with a heart full of hatred (or any mental negativity).
This site uses prayers that sometimes relate to God, sometimes to Jesus. If you find
this difficult or even offensive, then check out a different prayer, story, poem or
whatever. I have tried to take value from many traditions - I do not see them
as competing but - if followed with a good heart - complimentary. Check out the
story on Religious Tolerance
as an example of what I mean.
My old grandma used to say ’Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves". This
is essentially the truth. A world full of compassionate, patient and loving people
does not engage in war. Even if our world leaders all got together to drive forward
policies of peace, even if the U.S. spent hundreds of billions of dollars on peace rather than
on war, we’d still have war until each and every one of us took on the
peaceable challenge personally. If not strictly war between countries, we’d still
have civil war, or criminal war (which could be a mugging, a domestic, or a burgulary).
This web site goes only a tiny way towards the creation of a peaceful world. Maybe
it might lead only one or two down the right track. But at least it is a start, a start
down a road that can only lead to greater joy and happiness.
Read the prayers, the stories, the plays and the poetry. Consider the meditations,
buy the gifts (if you feel like it). Follow the links. It is a journey that our world
must take if it aims to be here in a hundred years time.
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