PEACE POWER 
by Kurt A. Krueger

It is easy to be peaceful sitting on the soft forest floor, beneath the towering grandeur of the Gothic forest, breathing in the aromatic air, listening to the soft breeze in the trees with the birds and the bees flying by, watching a faun feeding on the blackberries with the mother by her side. Peace is easy in setting of pristine nature. 

Society presents us with another nature: strained relationships with others, stress at work, noise of the city, pollution in the air, disparities of health and wealth, disagreements between peoples and countries. How can we possibly bring peace to such a world? How can there be peace between countries when siblings and spouses have their fights? "How can we simultaneously prepare for war and peace at the same time," as Einstein once asked? Can we have peace officers rather than police officers? Will we begin spending the bulk of the world’s taxes for uplifting humankind rather than creating ways to destroy it? Should we support the family structure, the foundation for our society, or the military-industrial complex? 

Even when we do solve the problems of wars and hunger, the environment and relationships, without peace of mind we have achieved nothing. As the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, U-Thant said, "There is no peace in the world because there is no peace in the minds of men."  Illustrating this concept is a simple antidote. A man, Mr. Citizen, for lack of a better name, for years and years dedicated his life to his business. He spent little time with his family and friends, all his focus was to build the best business, achieve wealth and security for his family, then he would spend time with his friends and loved ones. In the living of this life, Mr. Citizen, lost his friends and divorced his wife. He did have a successful business - so prosperous, until the recession. His business faltered and so did he. Mr. Citizen had what is called a nervous breakdown - a mental collapse. His world had fallen apart because of a misplaced focus for his mind’s energy. 

Do our leaders of business and industry, education and politics find themselves following similar priorities as Mr. Citizen? If so, how do we break these destructive patterns and evolve into a truly great and harmonious world? I doubt that the women of the world will hold back making love with their men, as in the Greek Comedy, Lystrada, until total peace and disarmament. 

There seems to be two ways for solving the age old problem for accomplishing peace. The first and foremost is with oneself and therefore society, and the next is on an interpersonal and hence, an international level. 

According to psychologists, the nearest and most difficult thing to change is ourselves. We have old habits of eating, drinking and for some, smoking. Our conditioning includes how we react in certain circumstances and feel fears of heights or speaking in front of groups. Innumerable responses are ingrained upon us by our parents, teachers, TV, and society as a whole. People project upon

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the screen of their reality, the past memories of both good and bad experiences, and the desires for pleasures all color how we perceive reality. 

The most effective and time tested method for eliminating bad habits or conditioning is meditation. One may ask, What is meditation? The stilling of the mind to reach its source is meditation. It acts as a cosmic roto-rooter of past impressions in the subconscious mind. Meditation opens the mind up, allowing it to be unincumbered by weighty negatives. Historically, peace of mind is accomplished through meditation. It calms the mind from the savage waters of a uncontrolled thought. It brings peace to ‘my world.’

Who can stop their mind from thinking for just five minutes? Who has been taught to know and control their mind in school? Are we at the mercy of our mind and its past conditioning? Of course, unless we consistently practice the process of meditation.

Over the last ten years researchers have found that when one percent of a population in a town meditated, homicides, car accidents, and suicides all decreased. The crime rate went down. A controlled study was done in 24 cities with a population of about 100,000. In 12 of those cities, one percent of the population meditated.  In the other 12, they did not. The meditating cities showed a drop in crime of 16 percent. When the people stopped meditating, the crime rate climbed again. Meditation can therefore, bring peace to oneself and to our cities.

To shed light on this phenomenon, let us look at some other scientific studies.  The Hundredth Monkey, a stimulating book, describes a fascinating anthropological study of primates. Without contact, knowledge traveled from island to island. A breed of monkeys living on a chain of Japanese islands, ate sweet potatoes as a staple in their diet. They ate them straight from the ground - potatoes, soil and all. The sandy soil wasn’t good for their teeth and not so tasty either. Then a monkey took a sweet potato to the ocean, sloshed it around, and ate it. Great!  He had removed the soil and got a new taste added, salt. He was a smart animal and did this for all his future sweet potatoes. He shared his knowledge with his friends, the other simians, and they in turn began sharing this wonderful method with others. Soon, enough monkeys had learned this trick, that an astonishing occurrence came about - the idea jumped to the other islands with similar monkeys. 

Biology has something similar to the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon - the Morphogenic Field Theory of professor Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D. He explains,  much like quantum physics, that thought energies of enough people will form a field which can then transfer to others elsewhere, who have never been exposed to the particular thought pattern or information. It has been proven in a few independent studies. 

The morphogenic field created by enough people experiencing peace in their mind through meditation has the potential to change the negative mindset

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