The way of inner change to bring peace

Image by melolou via Flickr

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There are these movements in the world that speak about peace and they are holding big conferences about peace and make public statements to contribute to human rights and personal dignity. Sometimes it is impressive how many dignataries and celebrities they gather and one is tempted to believe that world peace finally is at hand.

Sometimes such conferences are attended by the very same people who in their political functions also contributed to wars, or they made friends with others who started wars and who are out to control and suppress human freedom.

These gathered people enjoying their conferences seem to be in high spirit and the pleasance and excitement of their being together in harmony makes them believe that they are the very figures who are at the center of a movement saving the world. It is as if they almost feel to be messiahs whose lives and thoughts are to be models for everyone else.

But let us inquire how peace really should come about. Peace is the opposite of conflict. Conflict arises whenever people are in disagreement. Conflicts also occur in ourselves, in our minds and in our bodies. When conflicts are present in the body, disease results. Enduring conflicts in the mind may lead to mental illness.

How do we go about in the right way to cure such diseases of mind and body? We can distinguish two different types of therapies. One is to cure the symptoms resulting from the disease or conflict. The other one is to find the core and causes of the disease and to try to solve the problems there, meanwhile also attempting to soothen the pains of the symptoms.

I would always choose for the second option, because when only the symptoms are being treated the causes of the illness remain unnoticed and will eventually burst out in untreatable ailments.

So what are the real causes of conflicts and disturbances of peace in the world? Some would say that the destruction of the family institution is the cause. Others believe that racism and lack of understanding between different religions are to blame.

Although i believe that it is commendable to advance the family institution and good understanding between the races and religions, i still believe that here are being addressed symptoms rather than causes.

Some diseases result from being infected with harmful bacteria or viruses. Other illnesses result from wrong habits of eating or lack of moving the body. Would it be wise to ignore these causes? Something has been done wrong on the level of the behavior of an individual. He or she may not always be responsible for attracting a disease, as it may be difficult to prevent coming in touch with viruses, and some illnesses are inherited from ancestors. Yet even in those cases, the way to go about is to first of all strengthen the body's immune system by eating and living and moving in the right way.

So what are the viruses and wrong habits of living on the level of societies? It may not be easy to track these down and people have different opinions on what are the evils that cause conflicts in society. But surely we can point out some dictatorial individuals and forces that always again have gotten the upperhand in history. So it would not be wise to make friends with such individuals or such kind of ideologies.

Peace cannot be reached by just making friends with everyone. Religion doesn't get better when people of different religions come together and make friends. Religion gets better by going to the core of what religion is. When people of different religions do this, they will automatically come together and recognize each other when they meet.

It is not a process of stating the unity of religions or the desire to not discriminate. Almost all of us know that it is wrong to hate and discriminate. The problem is not that we don't know it, the problem is that we don't know how to overcome hatred in ourselves.

This is why each individual needs to live a true life of religion or spirituality, not the type that is organized from above by great movements, but the kind that is practiced in stillness, in a true desire to be good, in a personal relationship with the Creator and in awareness of the spiritual dimension of life.

Massive peace movements carry in them the danger that their participants believe they are doing so much for peace in the world that they ignore the task to really work on perfection of their own inner self.

How to recognize a false ideal?

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There are true and original ideals and there are false ideals. It isn't easy to point out the differences between these, as you will see in the article below. When we study history we realize that many evil rulers got their power over people because they were able to inspire common citizens with ideals. At the end of this article i shall come to the question how it is possible to differentiate between true and false ideals.

Let us first examine some viewpoints that have made part of the philosophy of Adolf Hitler. All the quotes below are from Adolf Hitler.

Image via Wikipedia

Warning for sexual liberties

We might think that it is a good ideal to warn for free sex, but see what Hitler said (i found these and all other quotes from Hitler here).

"Parallel to the training of the body a struggle against the poisoning of the soul must begin. Our whole public life today is like a hothouse for sexual ideas and simulations. Just look at the bill of fare served up in our movies, vaudeville and theaters, and you will hardly be able to deny that this is not the right kind of food, particularly for the youth...

Theater, art, literature, cinema, press, posters, and window displays must be cleansed of all manifestations of our rotting world and placed in the service of a moral, political, and cultural idea."

Desire for purified blood

Hitler wanted people with 'purified blood' and also thought that his ideals were coming from the Creator of the universe.

"What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purity of our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe."

References to God

Here is more proof that Hitler was not an atheist but thought himself to be a believer in God.

"...we must pray to the Almighty not to refuse His blessing to this change and not to abandon our people in the times to come."

And:

"Even today I am not ashamed to say that, overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time."

All those fighting for a good cause are persecuted

Hitler uses the argument that those who do great work for the future will have to fight very hard and will go through persecution.

"For the greater a man's works for the future, the less the present can comprehend them; the harder his fight, and the rarer success."

The emphasis on religion

Hitler worked as a politician but he believed that religion was more important to reach his goals than politics.

"Verily a man cannot serve two masters. And I consider the foundation or destruction of a religion far greater than the foundation or destruction of a state, let alone a party."

Faith and strong determination is needed

"A man does not die for something which he himself does not believe in."

"Thus my faith grew that my beautiful dream for the future would become reality after all, even though this might require long years."

The importance of the spoken word

"But the power which has always started the greatest religious and political avalanches in history rolling has from time to immemorial been the magic of power of the spoken word, and that alone.

Particularly the broad masses of the people can be moved only by the power of speech."

What characterizes a false ideal?

Jim Walker, the writer of the article from which i quoted Hitler, emphasizes that Hitler could only come in power because of the support of Christian churches. Hitler spoke a language that was based on Christian thought.

So many times in history, evil rules who brought great empires under them wished two things: peace and unification. I mention only two examples from the many that could be given.

The Roman Empire was known for its Pax Romana, which was a period of relative peace established by Ceasar Augustus. It lasted from 27 BC to 180 AD. Of course, the peace of the Roman Empire could only be established after a period of military conquest that destroyed the overeignties of tribes and nations that were taken over by the Romans.

Also the Mongol Empire was known for the peace it brought after a period of conquest.

Most evil empires brought peace by unifying tribes and nations after having conquered them first. These tribes and nations often had ceased to exist.

So are peace and unification marks of a good ideal?

I doubt it very much. Peace and unification should be reached in complete freedom. Complete freedom can only be acquired when each individual can have an individual relationship to the Creator. Individuals should not be required to worship or submit to rulers above them. It is the individual conscience, the heart of love in each person that comes from having a personal relationship to God that must guide their actions.

When peace is reached by making friendship with evil governors, that kind of peace will not be lasting. Peace and unification always require that the ones who have evil aspirations must bow down or be defeated. They are not the ones to make friendship with.

When a powerful figure wants people to bow down for him, when he wants to be king or emperor over many or all, it shows that the ideals of such a person should not be trusted.

See also

• Hitler's religious beliefs and fanaticism

Rev. Moon's Bering Strait Peace King Tunnel Project

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Sun Myung Moon and his Universal Peace Federation have planned to make a tunnel and bridge crossing the Bering Strait to directly connect Russia and the US and to strengthen the ties between two former enemies. A video on the site of Universal Peace Television shows some of their ideas. To watch the video please click here or on the picture below. On the site, scroll down in the right box under the tab 'shows' until you find the video 'Peace King Tunnel Project.'

Screenshot, use Ctr+ to enlarge picture

The video shows a special forum held at the US Capitol Hill Building on May 17, 2006, promoting US and Russian relations and a bridge across the Bering Strait. The forum wanted Russia and the US to develop better relations in order to counter problems in the world such as posed by North Korea and Iran.

Some of the attendees shown in the video

• Thomas Pickering, former US ambassador to Russia, declaring that global actions must come to link the world closer then ever before.
• Dr. Thomas Walsh, Secretary-General of UPF, who at the forum stated his vision of humanity as one global family and that the project is high in significance of symbolic value for the sake of peace between two former enemies, Russia and the US.
• Joseph R. Henri, former Commissioner Office of Budget & Mgmt., State of Alaska
• George Koumal, President Bering Strait Tunnel & Railroad Group, saying that we should open the door wide in the West for our Russian neighbor.
• Edward D. Lozansky, President Russia House / Kontinent USA, who spoke about making a good business plan for the tunnel and then to lobby Congress.
• Robert Corbisier, State of Alaska, Governor's Office.

What to think about the plan

Screenshot from the video

While the desire for good relations between the US and Russia and for global peace may seem a noble motive, questions should be asked whether now is the time for the West to promote more cooperation with Russia. The West and Russia, and also China to an extent, are increasingly working together to counter perceived enemies such as North Korea and Iran.

For example, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III told Congress on June 16, 2009 that the Obama administration is exploring ways to involve two Russian radar installations in a missile-defense system for Central Europe to defend against an Iranian missile threat.

Recently China and Russia backed the US adopting a UN resolution to put sanctions on North Korea after its president Kim Jong Il threatened the West with nuclear attacks.

Now this may all seem fair and reasonable in light of the threats or perceived threats posed by Iran and North Korea, but according to this German magazine Spiegel article of December 14, 2006, the Kremlin is riddled with former KGB agents. The magazine quotes a study that suggests that 78 percent of the elite in Putin's Russia have a KGB background.

China of course also is still a socialist republic, or a people's democratic dictatorship according to its constitution, ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system (see this Wikipedia article).

Russia, according to Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, is still ruled by communists. In an article published on www.frontpagemag.com Bukovsky argues that the West rather than having won the Cold War, has lost it.

Already in 1984, Anatoliy Golitsyn, a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership, warned the world of KGB plans to lull the West into a false sense of security. In 1995 he stated that the power of the KGB remains as great as ever. (see this Wikipedia article about Golitsyn)

See also

• Bering Strait Crossing (Wikipedia)
• News article about Bering Strait crossing dated 1910!!! (New York Times)
  
• U.S.: New Sanctions on N. Korea, Iran (abcnews.go.com)
• US 'Fully Prepared' For N.Korea Missile Test (news.sky.com)
• US links North Korea to Iran firm (news.bbc.co.uk)

One world of peace under Rev. Moon?

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Last night i watched a video on the site of Universal Peace Television. This is of course another one of Sun Myung Moon's organizations. They don't allow embedding the videos and there's not even a url for single videos. To watch the video yourself, please click here or on the picture below. It leads you to the page of that i took the screenshot. Scroll down in the right box under the tab 'shows' until you find the video 'Mongolian Federation for World Peace.'

Screenshot, use Ctr+ to enlarge picture

The video shows a meeting held in Seoul, South Korea, April 9-12, 2006. The conference was called "Mongolian Peoples' Federation for World Peace Assembly III and had the theme 'The Core Values of Mongolian Civilization and their Relevance to World Peace.'

To see the video was rather shocking to me. On the one hand, the Unificationists managed to get together representatives from over 70 countries, several of them having important political or other influential positions in society. But when i hear speaking Mr. Chung Hwan Kwak, one of Moon's elder disciples, about the need to bring all the people of the world together in one global unity, it is where it's getting creepy. Because i also saw videos in which Rev. Moon declared himself the 'emperor of the universe' and the 'king of the world.'

So all people of the world have to come together, become one race under their father Sun Myung Moon? What about cultural diversity? What about all those beautiful indigenous traditions from which we can learn and acquire wisdom? Is that all meant to disappear?

Rev. Moon is a grandiose marriage broker who matched tens of thousands of couples, often bringing together spouses of different skin colors. It's beautiful when a black person marries someone white, but should this be programmed from above?

I have often seen documentaries of Mongolia and through that came to love their original people. However, when speakers testify of the greatness of the Mongolian people in relation to bringing world peace, i cannot but be reminded of that terrifying Mongolian Djengis Khan, who wanted to rule the world and who trained his armies to invade other countries to build the largest land empire that ever existed. At its greatest extent, the Mongolian Empire comprised almost exactly the territory that was occupied by communist countries such as the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe in the 20th century.



















The orange line shows the extent of the Mongol Empire in the late 13th century. The red areas are the places dominated by ethnic Mongols. From Wikipedia

A portion of Mongolian society still highly reveres Djengis Khan. I don't like to think of Sun Myung Moon ruling over a world empire. Of course, Moon's methods to gain control are not through military means, but once the Khans had control over their empire also they were known for having brought peace to all the peoples they controlled.

Viewing the video really was something close to a nightmare. Here are all these people thinking they could impose peace upon us from above. This isn't a grass root movement. The Unificiationists focus heavily on witnessing to those with powerful positions in society. The conference as shown in the video seems to have much resemblance to Bilderberg meetings and personally, i am more scared of what the open Moon meetings are capable of than what the Bilderberg Group might do to the world.

Looking at the people in the video, it occurs to me that there are three categories of people attending conferences organized by Sun Myung Moon's followers. First there are the organizers like Mr. Chung Hwan Kwak. At the conference he is a main speaker and his way of speaking gives me the creeps. These organizers seem to be very well in control of what they are doing. The second category are the members of Moon's organizations who have learned to serve the invitees and who were conditioned to all speak with one voice. The third category of course are the guests, who give me the impression to believe they are doing a good thing, but i cannot get rid of the thought that at least part of their friendliness toward Moon comes from having their travel, hotel and dinner expenses being paid for by the Unificationists.

See also

• Mongolian Empire biggest land empire in history
• The historical Mongol Empire