Spiritual Accord—The Basis of Peace
Conference Honoring the 10th Anniversary of the Forum of Spiritual Culture
Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan
Greetings of peace and gratitude. Peace, for that is the purpose of our gathering. Gratitude, for being with brothers and sisters who seek to uplift themselves and society to achieve harmony within their own hearts and amongst the peoples and nations of the world. And deep personal gratitude to our brother and visionary leader, Tolegan Mukamejanov, for responding to the call of the spirit of love to gather us together in this noble cause.
In the interest of time I will be brief and thus a bit sharp. I apologize.
The most important instrument in an orchestra is not the piano, the violin, the cello, the trumpet or the drum. It is smaller than any of these instruments and the audience never gets to hear it. It can be played by anyone and musical lessons are not required. Without it the orchestra cannot make music. Without it the orchestra makes merely sound. Music requires harmony. To achieve harmony the tuning fork is required.
To achieve harmony of an individual the tuning fork with the two prongs of wisdom and love are required.
Wisdom is that level of consciousness that can realize the luminosity of the soul, the nature of consciousness, the source of goodness, the resonance of God, and the purity of the heart. It is also capable of garnering the tools of intelligence and commitment to bring goodness into action. Wisdom is subtle and rare. Without it actions are often incoherent.
Love is another word the wise have used to refer to God. Love is not a noun and even describing it as a verb, or an action, is not sufficient. It is a mystery the boundaries of which do not exist. It is the power through which being arises and is sustained. Consciousness and awareness and the very journey of our life exist within its blessing.
We are guided to love’s power as the core principle by the wise of all traditions.
When the two prongs are struck, harmony is manifested and the instruments of the orchestra can tune. Each instrument plays its unique cadence, timbre, tone, and resonance. When they play together sound becomes music.
When the instruments of our mind, our thoughts, our intentions, our lives are attuned to the tuning fork of the heart our lives are beautiful. When individuals arise in a society so attuned, successful leadership can be achieved and policies in accord with the three principles below are practiced. The result is peace.
These principles apply both to our individual enrichment as well as within our families, communities, nations and the entire world. These principles are guideposts for the flourishing of spiritual culture. We hear so much about the bottom line. These principles provide stability for the bottom line, but also call us to grow upward without limit.
First Principle:
Treat others as one wants to be treated. Refrain from treating others as one does not want to be treated.
The application of the Golden Rule in intention, thought and deed is required for peace of mind. When ignored in individual relationships, communities, or international affairs, instability, discord, and suffering follow. When applied at all levels peace and justice result. Greater security is achieved. This principle is the road and foundation of peace. World War I ended with burdensome reparations placed on the German people. The chaos of Nazism was the result. World War II ended with the Marshall Plan to develop the economies, societies and democracies of Japan and Germany. Trading partners and development resulted.
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global plan in that wise tradition. Nuclear weapons, however, where nine nations say these horrific devices are good for them and not others cannot be sustained because it violates this rule. Nuclear weapons violate the second principle worthy of our attention.
Second Principle:
Love People, Use Things: Never Love Things and Use People.
Human beings have a sacred dimension, far more valuable than anything that can be measured by the intellect or the senses. When we love our own creations, things we create such as nations, ideologies, dogmas, and objects and forget the sanctity of individual lives, we go astray. We are in balance when we use things to serve people. If loving lives is the considered metric of success then nations would not squander intellectual and economic resources on pursuing security thorough militarism and fear. If we place this principle in our daily lives our relationships flourish.
We should always view how our actions and intentions impact real human lives. Thus, human relations must never be exploitative or oppressive and security must be focused on human security which cannot be obtained by military conquest. Think of nations where children are malnourished and weapons flourish. Human security is multidimensional, integral and rests on loving people and using our creations accordingly. The state thus serves the people and the people are not servants of the state. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights rests on this principle. Human Security is the logical outcome of this understanding.
Third Principle:
We must separate from ourselves that which separates us from other lives.
Anger, pride, jealousy, lust, hastiness, selfishness, greed, arrogance, and bigotry reinforce the illusion of separation and fragment our psychological peace and human solidarity while love, compassion, humility, justice, patience, and gratitude reinforce our unity with other lives as well as harmony deep inside us and awaken the capacity of wisdom to understand how to act and how to know. The same qualities that bring us together as individuals bring us into knowing and harmony with the soul and the mystery of the Creator of all and everything. The same qualities that separate us from one another reinforce an ignorance that forever feels unsatisfied and disconnected, essentially out of harmony. Mind and desire can separate us from our birthright of peace. Love can lead us to claim it and love brings us into harmony on all levels.
Wars are often fought invoking love of religion, nation, ethnicity. Let us invoke the power of love to bring harmony and peace within our hearts and amongst peoples, nations, religions, families and the entire wondrous web of life of which our human family is but one thread.
Let us explore what the wise have said: we are made in the image of God, the Creator, which has no image. We will discover that we are essentially spiritual beings, connected always to the Source of all being, living and learning through and in form. But the essence of every one of us is infinite, sacred and is worthy of profound, active, unconditional, powerful, courageous love and caring above all else. May we all realize the beautiful essence of our common humanity together.
Human Security is focused on meeting the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual needs of people. The predominant security paradigm of the world’s major nations is founded on an old Roman belief that preparing for preparing for war brings peace. This leads to the pursuit of military advantage, causing arms races. This results in today’s global arsenal with nine nations (US, UK, China, Russia, France, India, Pakistan, and Israel) threatening us all with over 13,000 nuclear weapons and failing to fully cooperate in addressing pressing threats such as climate change and pandemic diseases. Using less than 1% of this arsenal could produce sufficient soot in the stratosphere to destroy the agricultural base of civilization. The UN’s mission to end the scourge of war by diplomacy, law, dialogue, and negotiations based on the security of all states and the inherent dignity of each individual logically leads to another paradigm if followed—the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs represent a human security agenda that is practical, obtainable, and morally coherent. The SDGs require a cooperative approach to security based on obtaining the global public goods of health, well-being, and fundamental freedoms. The SDG’s human security agenda properly incorporates harmony with the natural world and the values and principles that define our humanity—compassionately and passionately working together to eliminate suffering. This paradigm is consistent with bringing love into action.
