Cause and Effect

Before we can have a meaningful conversation about peace, or anything for that matter, we have to first put the conversation into context.  In other words, we have to give ourselves a way to relate meaningfully ...so here are a few thoughts in that regard.

To understand what causes war, or anything else for that matter, it's helpful to have an understanding of the Law of Cause and Effect.  The Law of Cause and Effect states that ...all things in the world of form and phenomena have as their cause a corresponding thought at the creative or causative level of being. 

This can be a bit challenging to understand at first, but consider the following.  Do you know anyone who believes that things will always go wrong?  If you do, what seems to always happen to them?  Now consider, what happens when you proceed with conviction in your heart?  You have much greater success, right?  Or, talk to anybody who's ever been on a championship team?  If you do, they'll tell you that at some point the team, as a whole, became convinced it would win.  The idea that ...if you can conceive and believe you'll achieve... is based on the law of cause and effect.  Unswerving belief makes real. 

The downside of this is that unreal thoughts can be made real, for a time, if we invest our faith in them.  For example, war is caused by an unreal thought.  It is a temporary condition caused by a belief, or investment, in the idea of separation.  At its core, this belief reads ...I am a separate self, disconnected from my source ...and separate from all other selves.

If I believe that I am a separate self, disconnected from my source and separate from all other selves, I will also believe that...

I am alone

I have been abandoned

I have been betrayed

I am powerless

I am unloved
I am unlovable

I am unworthy

Scarcity and Lack must be real

I must compete to get what I want

I need.

These are just a few of the beliefs spawned by the idea of separation.  Most people, however, aren't even aware that they invest in this belief.  They will, in fact, vehemently deny it.  That's because these thoughts are held below the level of conscious awareness.  The effects they give rise to, however, are on display everywhere (i.e. wars and conflict) and they are reflected in our thinking, choices, communication, planning and action.

For example, look at the number of people who pursue money, power and control as a substitute for fulfillment and peace of mind.  Notice that we expect people to prove their value instead of naturally assuming they have intrinsic value.  Look at how we identify with our social, financial and emotional conditions and confuse who we are with what we have.  The world views things backwards.  Turn your vision around and you will see things clearly.

The belief in separation, by the way, is the ultimate divisive thought.  And, like all thoughts of division, it gives rise to conflict.  This one, however, is the root cause of all the pain and suffering we experience within our world.  It's the big daddy divisive thought of them all!  (By the way, I'm not saying that differences don't exist; they do.  Differences, however, don't divide; they create variety and diversity.  It's only when we use differences as a measuring stick to divide that conflict arises.)   

The remedy to all forms of conflict is to see past the myth of separation to the reality underlying it.  This reality, if it could be put in words, would read something like this.

"I am whole and complete, connected to my source and one with all of life." 

This is a unifying thought and, if I identify with it, I will believe that I am whole and complete, loved, lovable and connected to all of life.  And, of course, I will give rise to a much different reality.  The choice is mine.

Now, here's a key point.  Only one of these choices is real ...the other is merely a temporary condition born of misperception ...and here's what that means.

If you withdraw your belief in thoughts of separation, conflict will disappear.  On the other hand, your belief in peace is not required to make it real.  If you withdraw your belief in peace, it still remains.  You can test this out for yourself and here's how.

The next time you feel upset (conflicted) pause for a moment to interrupt your thoughts and then admit the obvious.  I don't have all the answers.  That's not too hard is it?  No one has all the answers.  Then, make peace with how you're feeling whether you like the way you feel or not.  By make peace with I mean ... acknowledge that that's how you feel and make it okay that you feel that way.  In other words, I feel angry, upset or whatever, and it's okay that I feel this way.  I'm not going to make myself right or wrong for feeling the way that I do.

Once you've come that far, take a moment to examine the judgments, demands and expectations you have of the person, place or situation and write them down.  Then look at them for a moment and ask the following four questions...

1. Is it true?  (Oh ...of course it is, right?)
2. Can I absolutely, positively know that this is true?  (Since you're not God, the answer always has to be an emphatic no!)  By the way, it's never people, places or things that bother us; rather, it's our thoughts about them that do!
3. How would I feel without this thought?   In every case the answer will be ...I'd feel better ...I'd feel at peace ...I'd be okay, etc.  The reason for this is that peace, well being and okay-ness are our natural states before we overlay our divisive stories.
4. Lastly, ask yourself ...Can I think of one good reason for holding onto this thought any longer?

(BTW, these questions are based on Byron Katie's, The Work.)

I'm providing this insight and background, by the way, to convey a very powerful understanding.  That understanding is this.

It does absolutely no good to look at the world of effects for understanding.   In other words, attempting to understand peace by examining war is ineffectual.  If you want to understand peace, go directly to it and become it.  Establish peace within your own mind first; then, look upon the world through its eyes.  If you do, the world will change and you with it.