Today I choose to be a peacemaker. If I am experiencing disharmony within myself or with another, I affirm this simple, yet powerful. statement. Let us then consider this statement in light of four roads to peace that have been suggested by the Bible.

First, The Damascus Road. Paul was traveling this road with the intention to completely destroy the Christian movement. He was on his way to Damascus on this militant mission when he was struck blind in a spiritual experience, and when several days later the “scales fell from his eyes,” he began to see for the first time in the light of Truth.

It was not just a changing of sides or a switch from one persuasion to another. It was an awakening to a new level of consciousness on which he began to perceive things from an entirely new frame of reference. Paul had been sure of his rightness in his devotion to the destruction of the Christian movement which was to him the road to peace. But the true road to peace for him was an awakening, a change, a conversion. This was symbolized in the change of names, from Saul to Paul; there had likewise to be a change of nature.

We must understand this, that we cannot find peace in a fast-changing world by the methods and concepts applied in the past. As Jesus said, “Except you be born anew, you shall not see the Kingdom.” There must be an awakening, a new birth, a new view, an enlargement of the concept. Paul thus revealed a spiritual inroad to peace, the Truth with a capital “T” which urges us to follow the divinity within ourselves. He knew that only by doing so could the new heaven and the new earth come into manifestation.

Second, The Emmaus Road. Two of the disciples were on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, and along the way the resurrected Christ appeared to them. On the Emmaus Road a new concept was born: “Immanuel,” God with us, for here was the demonstration of the ever-living Christ, the Christ of every road.

The Emmaus Road is the revelation of the Christ within, the rediscovery of what Jesus had in mind, the divinity of humankind, the realization that worship is not a performance but an inner experience. This leads to a road to peace that is a road of love and understanding, of believing in the inherent divinity in all persons, of seeing the Truth of the Christ in ourselves and working to deal with people everywhere on the level of the Christ in them. The Road to Emmaus leads us to a new level of consciousness on which we can be honest with ourselves and others as we recognize the Truth of being and sense the non-material “peace that passes understanding.”

Third, The Road to Jericho. We are all familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan who helped the man who had been injured and robbed by thieves then left to die by the side of the road. The Samaritan treated his wounds and took him to the inn and cared for him. The priest and the Levite who passed by on the other side were religious and had the means to help, but they did not do so. They represent ignorance and indifference to the spiritual dimension of life. The Samaritan had the courage and the strength and the power to help, but he had one thing more – he had the compassion to act.

The story points up an important realization, not that I am my brother’s keeper, but that I am my brother’s brother. Even more, as Emerson puts it, “The heart and soul of all men being one, this bitterness of his and mine ceases; he is mine – I am my brother and my brother is me.” There is thus the compassion to act.

The Jericho Road to peace starts with the compassion to act with one person, in the recognition that we are all one; it begins with a commitment to do what we can with what we have for whom we are able.

Finally, The Road to Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Road is that of commitment to goals higher than personal. It is the victory of the divine over the human. Jesus knew what was ahead, but to be lifted up he had to go to Jerusalem, to “lose his life so that he could find it.”

So it is with us; we must be willing to let go much of what we hold on to in consciousness in order that we may find the peace and freedom so deeply desired by us. As has been said, everyone wants peace but not many are willing to do that which makes for peace. Are we willing to walk the Jerusalem Road, the road to true peace? Are we willing to renounce our warlike nature and everything based on fighting and violence? For there will be no peace until we have peaceful hearts and a loving consciousness. Peace begins with you. This is the Jerusalem Road to peace. Are you ready to be a peacemaker?

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

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In the Matthew Arnold poem, Empedocles on Etna, he says, “We would have inward peace, but we will not look within.”

We are spiritual beings, bringing with us a life to unfold, power to release, love to express, and a pool of peaceful serenity at the heart of it. The root of reality is really within. It is the core of our being. Living life at the circumference, living superficially, we get all caught up in tension and hurry and rush . . . and in emptiness.

A key to serenity is the word “surrender.” In Semitic languages the word “shalom” means peace, or surrender, and there is no more appropriate form of greeting than “I surrender to you.” We have thought of surrender as coming at the close of a struggle, but the idea of “shalom” is a spiritual state that promotes brotherhood, and thus it comes first. Shalom!

True serenity is manifest in the person who has surrendered to life, not in the sense of being defeated by life and thus imbued with futility, but rather someone who has let life happen, who does not try to “unhappen” it. Then he or she can deal with a happening at the level of his or her own need, and find a growth experience through it.

Another important requisite to serenity, to inner peace, is the determination of each person to live his or her own life. When a person conceives life as seeking in the world that which will fill his or her emptiness, (s)he becomes totally “other-directed;” then the person is happy and serene when people and circumstances seem to suggest these conditions, and unhappy when the world is in confusion.

One’s moods and feelings and sensations – one’s total consciousness – may be likened to a barometer that simply records atmospheric conditions. You could say that one has an antennae out, to inform one what is happening and how one is supposed to act and react; and he or she rarely feels composed and peaceful and serene. The need is to change the other-directed pattern to one that is inner-directed. One must cultivate the “Silence,” take time at the start of each day to meditate, to get in tune, to feel the inner guidance working.

In the Bhagavad-Gita we are told: “The man of unstable mind hath no knowledge of the self, nor hath he an insight of meditation. To him who hath no inner vision there is no peace, and without peace, whence comes joy?”

The art of peace and serenity is the art of being before doing. Doing can be truly successful and personally enriching only if it is built on being. Develop the art of doing nothing, in a sense. This is the art of being. Joseph Pieper once said, “Leisure is not only the occasion, but also the capacity, for steeping oneself in the whole of creation.” Many of us feel insecure because we have not cultivated the art of being, the art of knowing oneness with the whole of life, the art of being simply in the flow of life.

For many of us, doing is totally other-directed. We do what we are expected to do, that which outer experiences call upon us to do. When we have nothing to do, we can feel secure only if we are inner-directed. A useful test is to take time to turn off your television, your radio, your cell phone, your computer, close the doors and windows, get away from other people, and just sit alone, for perhaps ten minutes. Now, how do you feel? Serene and peaceful? Often the busy, busy person is really running away from inner emptiness.

Robert Louis Stevenson once observed: “Extreme busy-ness – whether in school, college, church, or market – is a symbol of deficient vitality. It is no good speaking to such folk, for they cannot be idle; their nature is not generous enough.”

When we know that life is an inward-out process, we know in times of challenge that the need is to get turned on from within. Instead of rushing and fuming and fretting, or resisting and fighting, the need is to be still and meditate on the Source of all good. This kind of meditation is not a prayer to do something, to achieve something, or even to think something. The Infinity of good is always where we are; we need simply to discover it, to establish a unity of consciousness with it, to get into the flow of it, and to let it turn us on. A person who begins his or her day with this kind of meditation-preparation, this inward stillness, is going to have a happy, profitable, orderly, and inner-directed day.

The key to serenity and power is the awareness of that Source of light and power within us; it is our own Divinity. So take time to meditate, to be. Then you will do things effectively, in peace and serenity.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now,

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com

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Today, Wednesday, April 6, is the twenty-fifth day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 

Assignment 25
 
Peace is a word that is passed back and forth on the tongue of man without meaning. To some people peace means the end of war, but peace is much more than this. Peace is not an end attained on command, not the result of any outer decree.
 
Peace is an individual responsibility and an individual opportunity. Peace without is impossible unless we have peace within. This is true with the individual or with nations. The power of thought and feeling combined is the power of the world. Peace is not outer demeanor, not a face turned to the world. Peace is a state of abiding, a living in an awareness that never wearies, questions, never strains for results.
 
Peace is belief in a power that never wavers. Peace must be great thought waves set in action by deep thinkers. Peace is the understanding of spiritual realities. It is the result of believing without a doubt in your heart that all that concerns you is in the safe keeping of the power that created you and also sustains you.
 
We must become like the little child, playing on the deck of a ship alone. A passenger questioned him, “Aren’t you afraid to be playing out here?” The child answered, “No, I’m not afraid, my father is captain of this ship.” Just such a simple attitude of thinking and feeling could be the answer to this complicated world of ours.
 
Peace can be brought forth by education to the young and old alike. Education must be in trust and honor among human beings. Trustworthiness is a rare commodity in our modern world; perhaps it can be found among a chosen few in close relationships but not among people as a whole. The only reason this condition of separateness exists is because we do not know each other.
 
If we could become aware that we are all One in an invisible way, beyond ordinary human conception, then we would find in ourselves a counterpart of every other human being.
 
Real peace is finding the counterpart of every person within your own self. Peace in its fullest would be to be unable to do anything against another living soul without cognizance of our own relationship and involvement. Peace is an inside job; it is never achieved by changing others or the world!
 
 
(This series of Lenten messages was first developed by Unity minister Dr. Sue Sikking, founder of Unity-by-the-Sea, Santa Monica, California, author of God Always Says Yes and Seed of the New Age.)
 
 
God is Blessing You, Right Now!
 
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
 
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
 
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PEACE

25th Day, Wednesday. Read Matthew 5:14-40.

“Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: Let all
the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s and
truth’s.” – Shakespeare

The great thought waves that move the world are set into action by deep thinkers.

Peace and understanding of spiritual realities arise in the mind when it has made the inner contact. When we know the work of Spirit in transforming mind and body, we shall see that the crushing of personal ambitions releases spiritual ideas of far-reaching influence.

Jesus went back to the very source of all discord, and showed how all resistance and antagonism must cease. He did not stop to argue whether the cause was just or not, but He said, “Agree with thine adversary quickly”; “If any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” To the mortal mind this seems like foolishness, but Jesus spoke out of the inner wisdom that knows that it is dangerous to allow any kind of opposing thoughts to form in consciousness. He knew that the universal law of justice would adjust all matters, if men would trust it and cease fighting mentally for their rights. This is accomplished by bringing the Christ, the Prince of Peace, to bear in all our affairs. “My peace I give unto you.”

I praise God for the peace of my own higher self. I rejoice and am glad in the possession of the Holy City within. With my inner vision I see the gates open wide, and holy peace pervades my consciousness.

I affirm: “My mind is stayed on Thee, and I rest in Thy peace and power.”

Questions:

1. What releases spiritual ideas of far-reaching influence?

2. How did Jesus handle antagonism?

3. What did Jesus know in regard to the universal law of justice?

4. How is justice established in our affairs?

My mind is stayed on Thee, O Lord. I place myself and all that concerns me trustingly in Thy care. I rest in Thy peace and power.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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 Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

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What do you most want?

You might say, “I want money, success, health, power, friends, and love, all of those things the average person wants. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I want. I want so many and such varied things.” Well, you are like most of us.

Deep down inside ourselves we all want to be useful, to contribute something to the general good, to be accepted, important. But our ideas of importance are so many-sided that they always seem to fail to materialize.

It’s not easy to stand at the beginning or at the middle of our careers and choose what is our calling, our special talent, our true vocation, the inner urge at which we can be great, and determine to follow that choice to its consummation. We feel suddenly helpless, confused, and uncertain; maybe fear a disastrous mistake. What we really want first, then, is some kind of guidance.

So what do we really want? Isn’t it the guidance of God, and how can we get it? Well, by realizing that it is a divine force within us, by accepting it, by tuning in on it. In the first chapter of James we read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting .  .”

There is only one way to ask God for wisdom. It is the same way you ask electricity to give you light – by turning on the switch, by accepting it, by taking the time to be still and to listen, to let it happen, to surrender and trust.

Surely, if we know what we want and need, this is to have God’s guidance and the gifts of Himself as life, love, wisdom, and power, and nothing is too much for us to expect.

If you know what you want, you will be able to accomplish great things and you will have health of body, peace of mind, success, happiness and true fulfillment.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions or go directly to the Spiritual Solutions Blog

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There is possibly no more important work we can do than soul work. Iyanla Vanzant gives us in the following excerpt from her book, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, a powerful example of soul work that can make a difference in your own life experience today. Enjoy!

The woman’s eyes flew open. There were at least twenty birds sitting around her, screeching at each other. She looked around, and the rest of the park was empty. Halfheartedly, with a flinging gesture of her hands, the woman shooed the birds away. Some left. Some remained. Those who remained became very quiet, until she closed her eyes.

It seemed as if the second she closed her eyes, the birds started screeching again. Quite annoyed, the woman got up and moved. The birds flew away. Upon finding another prime spot of grass, the woman sat down to begin the process all over again. As soon as she did, the birds came back.

“This is ridiculous!” the woman said to the birds. “Shoo! Shoo! Go on! Get out of here!” The birds flew a little higher, but in a seeming act of defiance, they continued to squawk. Totally pissed off with the birds for disturbing her peace, the woman stood up and began to chase the birds. She would run to the left, and fling her blanket at them. The birds would fly away, but they wouldn’t shut up. As soon as she cleared those on the left, a new crew arrived to her right. Changing directions, she would shoo them away. They would circle her, squawking, and swoop down a few feet away.

Within moments, the woman was flinging her arms around like a lunatic, screaming at the birds who were squawking back at her. Realizing how crazy she must have looked, she snatched her blanket from the ground and stormed out of the park.

Later that evening the woman had an opportunity to relate her experience in the park to her guru, her teacher. Her exasperation returned even in the midst of telling the story. The guru smiled and asked, “Why did you not welcome them to join you?” “How was I supposed to do that?” she asked. “Om Nama Shiva,” the Guru responded, “which means, ‘I surrender to Shiva (meaning the God) within me.’”

A few days later the woman went back to the park. She went through the entire process again. The moment she became still, the birds began to sing. As soon as she heard them, she mentally affirmed, “Om Nama Shiva.” The birds began to squawk. “Om Nama Shiva.” It began to sound as if every bird in the state had converged on the very spot where she was sitting.

She never opened her eyes. She continued to breathe deeply, affirming louder and louder in her mind, “Om Nama Shiva. Om Nama Shiva! OM NAMA SHIVA!” She thought the words faster and louder. So fast and loud in fact that she became so mentally exhilarated that she stopped. It was then that she noticed the silence. Either the birds had flown away or simply shut up. She did not open her eyes to determine which had occurred.

Why is it that we will walk into a room of screaming children and yell at the top of our lungs, “BE QUIET!”? If you want peace, be peace. My grandson Oluwa, age five, is afflicted with a common childhood ailment. He cannot speak below 100 decibels. He yells as if he secretly believes that everyone in the room is hard of hearing.

One day someone in the family (due to threats of being sued for slander, I cannot reveal who) became so frustrated with him that they yelled, “Will you please be quiet!” Other people present in the room chimed in by screaming, “Thank you!” His silence lasted for about three minutes. His next comment was made at the usual ear-piercing level.

If you want peace, be peaceful. Because I am the wise old granny, I have learned to take a completely different approach. When Oluwa screams at me, I crouch down to his level, put my nose directly up against his nose, smile, and whisper, “I can’t hear you. You are talking too loud.” He didn’t get it at first, but I would stay there, staring at him eyeball to eyeball, until he lowered his voice. Now when Oluwa approaches me, he usually whispers so softly I must ask him to repeat himself. He and everyone else in the family still seem to have a problem hearing one another. I watch them, and I smile.

If you want to experience peacefulness, you must begin from a posture of peace. One word of caution: Be prepared to stay in that posture for as long as it takes.
 

About the Author:
 Iyanla Vanzant is an ordained minister, an internationally recognized spiritual teacher, and a best-selling author. As chief executive officer of Inner Visions Worldwide at the Spiritual Life Maintenance Center in Maryland, she conducts workshops and gives over 100 public lectures annually. Iyanla also heads a nationwide correspondence prison ministry with more than 1,500 members. She lives near Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband Adeyemi. http://www.innervisionsworldwide.com/

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For an audio message on the subject of soul work, compliments of Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, go to the Unity Word for the Week at www.alanrowbotham.com

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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