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The New Peace Report, #3
By Louise Diamond, Ph.D.
Welcome to The New Peace Report, an occasional set of reflections on world and national affairs in these times of change and challenge, as seen through the lens of a global shift toward Deep Peace. I define Deep Peace as a living experience of the interconnectedness of all being. It brings Spirit and consciousness into the conversation, as well as speaks to the relationship of peace to all the critical issues of today (injustice, poverty, environment, health, economy, etc.)
 Tearing Away the Veil
We do indeed live in interesting times. The Shift is happening faster and faster, from a world of separation to one of unity consciousness.
Three things in recent world news have removed the screens we have used to hide from ourselves some of the deep wounds in our global life, opening profound opportunities for healing and transformation:
- Barack Obama’s speech on racism
- The economic crisis in the U.S.
- The Tibetan demonstrations against China
Let’s explore them one by one.
Racism
‘The Speech,’ as it has come to be called, was an unprecedented and quite elegant exposure of the racial divide in the U.S. By naming slavery the ‘original sin’ of America (though the European conquest and genocide of the Native Americans also needs to be recognized as such), and by acknowledging ‘what is’ – the pain in the black community (historically and in the present), and also the resentment and fear in the white community – Obama put directly before us a truth about our society that we all know is there but have carefully chosen to gloss over.
Had he stopped there, it would in itself have been powerful. One of the dynamics of deeply-embedded conflict patterns is that each side is aware of its own suffering, but pays little attention to that of the other, so naming the pain on both sides was important.
But what he did next was truly transformative for our discourse: he invited us into the ‘third way.’ The ‘third way’ is when adversaries decide that rather than continuing to define each other as ‘the problem,’ they come together to solve their shared problems, thus launching a totally different kind of journey.
The legacy of slavery that continues to fester in our society will not go away by wishing, or by the passage of time. If we are to create a new world of Deep Peace, we must consciously heal this wound, which is a major crack in the foundation of our promised ‘more perfect union.’ Obama opened the door for us, invited us in, and asked, simply, ‘Are we ready?’ The answer is not in the hands of any president; it is in the hands of the people, and he made that clear. Whether the American people will take advantage of this incredible opportunity to have the necessary ‘honest conversation on race’ so we can truly hear and heal each other remains uncertain. What is certain is that now we know we have this choice, and the responsibility is on us.
Economic Crisis
The failing economy in the U.S. is another case of revealing to us what we already knew but didn’t really want to see: the fragility of an economic system based on the mindset of separation, speculation, and greed. As the sub-prime mortgage industry falls, and takes with it hundreds of thousands of homeowners, we begin to see the cascading effect on other areas of economic life and financial institutions, many of which are completely unregulated.
There is an arcane (to most of us) world of investment instruments carefully designed to benefit a few at the expense of many, and based on a foundation that is essentially one of gambling, debt, and high-stakes risk-taking. Because of the interconnectedness of our lives together, the fall-out from the failure of one such part is now spiraling through our whole economic structure, and we can barely begin to understand the degree of harm this can cause, not just here but globally.
This snowball continues to roll through our society, gathering momentum and mass as it goes. Meanwhile, we argue about whether or not we’re actually in a Recession, while only occasionally allowing the words ‘Depression,’ and ‘Crisis’ to surface briefly, then quickly disappear. The truth is, we can pass new laws regulating the investment industry (and should), and we can tinker at the margins with trade policy, interest rates, and stimulus packages, but until we address the underlying assumptions of our entire economic infrastructure, and move from a mindset of individualist gain to one of caring for the well-being of all, we will not be able to advance to our next chapter of evolutionary presence in Deep Peace.
The good news is, now we know. Again, the mirror is held to our faces, and we see what was always there. The question, again, is, ‘What will we do about it?’
Tibet
The uprising in Tibet shows us that we cannot any longer pretend that China is a benign giant whose misdeeds we can conveniently ignore because of its financial clout as the largest market in the world (and now a major holder of U.S. national debt). And beyond that, it rips away the veil on the whole murky issue of self-determination and national sovereignty.
China invaded Tibet in 1949, and has maintained a brutal repression of Tibetans (especially of their religion) ever since, based on their (refutable) claim that Tibet is an inseparable part of their historic Motherland. Over a million Tibetans have been killed, and who knows how many others jailed, tortured, or fled, and the world has chosen to look away.
Meanwhile, China seeks to control and manipulate the information about its military crackdown on the current protests – protests which erupted after decades of hard-line rule and subjugation – for both the outside world and for its own people. And it patently exposes the ridiculous nature of its propaganda machine by insisting that His Holiness the Dalai Lama, one of the truest saints of nonviolence this world has ever known, has planned the violent uprising of his people.
In the history of human life, there is hardly any part of this world’s geography that has not changed hands of ‘ownership’ over time, so for one people to claim another land is ‘theirs’ because it once was, is a recipe for chaos. Further confusing the issue is the fact that there are between 5,000 and 10,000 distinct peoples on this planet, but less than 200 nation states. The principles of self-determination mixed with the ‘sanctity’ of national sovereignty, therefore, are clearly unworkable across the board, and yet we have never figured out how to manage this challenge with any kind of equity.
By exposing these complex issues, the Tibetans have done us all a great favor, unfortunately at their own expense, at least for now. For once again, when we know something to be true, we know we have the opportunity to act on it.
Altogether, these three news items are a remarkable wake-up call to humanity, coming as they do so closely together. Put simply, we are reminded that our old ways of doing things, based on a mindset of separation and entitlement, power over, and the well-being of the few at the expense of the many, are not viable. The pain thus exposed is not pleasant, yet the opportunity to see the pathways for transformation is invaluable.
At least one leader, Barack Obama, has stepped forward to open the door and invited us in to a world based on unity, cooperation, and the well-being of all. We know that one person cannot do it alone; actualizing this shift in worldview – in all our institutions, policies, and lifestyles – is both the duty and the joy of a collective endeavor.
Those of us who can see the spiral of possible futures call out with the prophetic voice of invitation: Which way will we go? What will you do about it? What will I do about it? What will we do about it? The moment of choice cannot be hidden away any longer, and for this I am grateful, even as I grieve for those who suffer as these issues come to the surface.
Good News from Unlikely Places…
 We do indeed live in interesting times. Change, deep change, transformative change, is possible, and it often comes from the most unexpected sources. Think for a moment of what you know, or think you know, about Saudi Arabia. Is that a place you would guess would become a beacon of change for our world in these times? And yet, two news stories out of Saudi Arabia show us how the hope for new possibilities can and does manifest when the will is engaged.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to re-train 40,000 prayer leaders to combat militant Islam and encourage moderation and tolerance. This is a powerful step to insure that respected religious leaders are not teaching and preaching divisive and hateful views in the Mosques and Madrasses, and a significant contribution to fostering a Deep Peace mindset in that country and elsewhere.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has also called for a major dialogue between religious leaders of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. I have long believed that if the United States had done exactly that on September 12, 2001, we would currently live in a very different world. These three religions have a long history of conflict which must, ultimately, be addressed if they are to find a way to live together peacefully on this earth. Although the King made clear that this dialogue was only to address religious and ethical issues, and not political ones (equally important), nonetheless this is a significant opening to the larger discourse.
What makes both these initiatives so incredibly stunning is that they come from Saudi Arabia, where there is no freedom of religion, where one of the most rigid forms of Islam is the state religion, and where many of the 9/11 hijackers, plus Osama Bin Laden, were from. Both symbolically and actually, this step is a major opening to a new way of being together in our shared global home.
And finally, out of WalMart comes equally exciting news. The WalMart store brand milk will no longer come from cows treated with artificial growth hormones. Already the largest retailer of organic milk, the company says this additional step was driven by customer demand. This shows that people are waking up to increasing consciousness about where our food comes from and its effect on our well-being (as well, perhaps, about humane treatment of animals). When such elements of Deep Peace become mainstream, as in this case, we can sense the growing momentum toward the tipping point to the larger view of our interconnected world.
Thank you, Saudi Arabia and WalMart, for taking these steps beyond your comfort zones and into a new paradigm!
Last Call to Study ‘Power’
The second term of the How to Change the World course will begin on April 11. Even if you didn’t take the first term, in which we studied Systems, the Way of the One, you can still join this incredibly exciting Learning Community as we explore together Power, the Way of Right Relationship.
Transformative leaders and change agents in every field need to understand the dynamics of power as currently practiced, and the possibilities of a different kind of power accessible to the human family, in order to help the Shift we are birthing. To learn more about this course and to register four the four-day Intensive and/or the Home Study option, go to www.louisediamond.com/training.html.
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