A few days after the attacks in New York and Washington D.C. last September, I was hungry for signs of the coming of peace and goodwill in the world. I found some at a community prayer and support meeting in our tidy little town north of San Francisco. No one there had lost family or friends in the attacks, and yet there was an intensity of longing that I hadn't felt in any group in quite some time.
People were looking for comfort and reassurance. Mainly, though, they wanted to understand things better, to see what we needed to do differently as individuals and, here in the United States at least, as a country. One woman remarked how kind people had been that week. Then, through tears of frustration, she said that just that day she'd gotten irritated at a slow driver. There were understanding nods around the room. It was a moment of selfknowledge, of humility. Miniscule in importance on a global scale, maybe, but still a birthing moment of peace.
At this time of the year, good will to everyone sounds so simple as a holiday slogan. But anyone who's been crossed in life knows how hard it is to practice consistently.
Thinking about this, I see a connection between humility and maintaining peace. I see how important it is to humbly honor God as supreme—as having no competitor equal in power to Himself. And that doesn't mean going into denial about evil. In fact, honoring God above all other powers is a way to fight evil. Evil can't be overcome by endowing it with the power that rightfully belongs to God. It can only be defeated through a growing understanding that, whether big or small, "evil" is always a deception. Ultimately, it will be seen for what it is—an empty assertion that God is not all-powerful.
Honoring God as supreme doesn't mean going into denial about evil.
To some degree, anyone can begin to prove that evil isn't power, as soon as he or she stops acting evilly. That's why we dearly need the kind of self-knowledge of that impatient driver I mentioned earlier. Even small faults like irritation can stem from larger evils, such as selfishness, pride, resentment. We have to really want to rid ourselves of those. Self-knowledge and willingness to change are first steps toward the coming of peace. Each time someone somewhere attains that inner peace, the world is helped.
In my own life, I'm learning that once the willingness to change is there, the next crucial step toward peace is to turn my attention away from my own or people's failings and to meditate on God's greatness. That can be hard to do. Often very hard. But one effect of this kind of God-centered prayer is that I find out again and again how much I love God. Prayer is easier when I rediscover that I love to do it.
A major help in learning how to keep my thoughts on God has been to study inspired writings that help me expand my concept of God. My major resources are the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. They give so many descriptions and names for God that enrich prayer—the creative Spirit, the I AM, omnipotent Truth, invariable Love, all-knowing Mind. And these books remind me every time I read them that the perfect Supreme Being made everyone and everything in the universe to reflect the divine nature.
Today, there's a growing recognition of and respect for inspired voices from all religious traditions. The old rigidity of thinking that there's only one true religion (and that's mine!) is lessening. Truth is being seen more and more to be universal.
Recently, I found deep insight regarding the coming of peace, in a Jewish sacred text called the Likutei Amarim, or Tanya. The Hebrew word shalom, or peace, means not just the absence of conflict, but wholeness. The Tanya speaks of the need to circumcise (remove) from the heart both "coarse" and "delicate" wrong desires that separate us from this wholeness. To me, coarse desires are the more obvious errors, such as outright bigotry, dishonesty, greed. "Delicate" wrongs are the kind that ordinary human beings and nations deal with every day—like putting self-interest above the larger welfare; or aggressiveness in getting one's own way; or focusing strictly on the acquiring of wealth rather than on the kind of philanthropy that works toward greater equity in the world.
The Tanya says that the removal of delicate desires "is a difficult matter for man." But then it points to what will accomplish this defeat of evil in ourselves. "... [W]ith the coming of the Messiah," the text says, "the L-rd, your G-d, will circumcise your heart etc. to love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and all your soul, for the sake of your life,' i.e., because the L-rd alone is literally your whole life." Commentary on Deut. 30:6 from the Tanya, Part four, by Rabbi Schneur Zalman (Brooklyn, NY: "Kehot" Publication Society, 1972), pp. 34–35 . (Out of respect for the holy name, many Jewish writings do not spell out the full name of God).
With the coming of the Messiah, or Christ, our hearts will be purified, and we will love God perfectly. Wholeness and peace will come, and division and strife will go. Mary Baker Eddy refers to Christ in wonderfully universal terms—"the divine image and likeness," "the true spiritual idea, the ideal of God now and forever," "the ideal man," "the spiritual man." Science and Health, pp. 332. 361 : Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 101. 162. Today, Christ doesn't come to a geographical place, or at only one time, for a select group. Christ comes in all times and places to individual consciousness. Christ is everyone's real, divine self that loves God supremely. It's the influence that makes us want to be Godlike.
No room for hate—a wonderful description of the Christ-ideal.
To love God with all one's heart is to lose fear and selfishness. It's to stop acting out anything unlike God. It is to find wholeness. Jesus honored God supremely in all his actions. He gave power to nothing else. And by his resurrection he proved God literally to be his whole life.
Crises sometimes underscore how hard it can be to follow Jesus' example of steadfast love and trust in God's direction. I appreciate the "What Would Jesus Do?" slogan for reminding me to question seriously my response to evil acts. What would Jesus do, for instance, if a good friend—even members of his own family—were violently killed?
We have one answer to that question in Jesus' response to the murder of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, the corrupt and tyrannical Roman governor of Palestine. A correction appeared in the February 2002 Journal: "On page 17 of the December Journal, the article identifies Herod Antipas as Roman governor of Palestine, whereas he was tetrarch of Galilee. We also apologize for the incorrect spelling of the name of the imam of the Islamic Society of California, Dr. Mehdi Khorasani." John had been Jesus' first supporter. Their mothers, Elisabeth and Mary, were cousins. John was the first to recognize in this meek country carpenter the Christ, the living representative of God's love and truth on earth.
According to the gospels, when Jesus heard about John's death, he went into the wilderness to seek solitude. Matt. 14 . John was a good friend, and it seems logical to assume that the Master needed to pray and to ask for God's direction. Yet very shortly after this tragedy, crowds of people came looking for Jesus because they needed help. And as he had done so many times before, he responded compassionately, teaching them about God and healing those who were sick. Then he went on to feed thousands. Hardly the reactions of an angry man!
People all over the world who forsake reaction and resentment and keep love in their hearts are evidence of the coming of Christ's peace on earth. Last September, as our local newspaper reported hate crimes against Muslims in the United States, it included an interview with the imam of the Islamic Society of California, Dr. Mehdi Korasani. The report said that Dr. Korsani works from a modest, barn-like building in the woods around Mt. Tamalpais in Marin county. He told the Pacific Sun, "I am not an Arab. I am not a Persian. I am not an American. I am just a humble man who has no room for hate. Through love, we can achieve anything.""A Muslim perspective," Pacific Sun, Sept. 19. 2001. p.5 .
No room for hate. It's a wonderful description of the Christ-ideal, the immortal self anyone can aspire to. Again, Mrs. Eddy's words come to mind: "Who wants to be mortal, or would not gain the true ideal of Life and recover his own individuality? I will love, if another hates. I will gain a balance on the side of good, my true being. This alone gives me the forces of God wherewith to overcome all error."Mis., p. 104.
The Prince of Peace is always here. The Christ is always showing us that divine Love is our whole life.
