IAAP Newsletter:The Unified Field
Volume 4, Number 2
Christine Kenyon
PEACE MAKING
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” —Jesus
“You must be the change you want to see in the world” —Gandhi
“We have met the enemy, and they is us” —Pogo (Walt Kelly)
As I write this, the Pentagon has announced that the “major combat” portion of the U.S.–Iraq war is over, and the terror threat level in the U.S. has been reduced to “yellow”. Theoretically at least, this reflects a positive shift in world affairs. In Kansas City, we have regular gatherings of Attunement practitioners during which we can focus an intensified group current into several world situations, including the Iraqi conflict. We are able to hold an agreement to bring Attunement into that situation, even though various members of the group have different opinions about what a peaceful resolution would look like.
I like what Uranda had to say about peace, how he emphasized the difference between being a peacemaker or a peace-seeker. Being a peace-seeker is easy. One takes the attitude that if only “they” would do/feel/act/think the way I think they should, there would be peace in the home, in the neighborhood, in the world. If only everyone would behave in a liberal/conservative/centrist/ rational/spiritual (fill in the blank) manner (i.e., like me), there would be peace. The trouble is, there are about 6 billion me’s on earth, who all have their own ideas about what everyone else should be doing to make peace happen. This is what Uranda called peace-seeking, and even if it was achievable, it can never be more than a temporary solution. Peace that happens from the outside in is a fraud.
It is possible for human beings to develop a pattern or concept which…makes the human being feel, for the moment at least, that he is at peace with God… But once the pressure of circumstance begins to be felt, once external things are imposed upon the individual in some ill or unsatisfactory pattern, we begin to find out whether there is peace within or not; in other words, we begin to find out what it takes to remove peace from the human heart. How stable is that peace? How enduring? How deep? How meaningful? What does it take to remove peace from you, from your heart? If someone else can say something or do something which takes away your peace, then that someone else has power over you. —Uranda: The Beatitudes, Vol. 4
I feel that living in the Attunement current calls me to a higher challenge. As long as I am peace-seeking, I am automatically operating under the assumption that peace does not exist where I am, here and now. After all, you don’t have to go after or seek what is already present.
It is in giving peace that you begin to have it…Once we begin to realize that this elusive thing called ‘peace’ is something which can be known, experienced, only as we let our own feeling natures, our own hearts, be purified, so that there is no turmoil within, so that we have found the peace of the kingdom of heaven that is at hand, we can begin to convey that peace to others, we can begin to create conditions which produce peace and give others an opportunity of finding it, of sharing it. The peacemaker is one who devotes his thoughts, his words, his acts, to making conditions which promote peace for others. You cannot force peace upon anyone, but you can help to produce the conditions which will make peace available to others… —Uranda: The Beatitudes, Volume 4.
These are remarkable words, and a remarkable call to action. And that action, consistent with the words of Gandhi quoted above, is for me to become the peace I want to see in the world.
- CK
David Coleman
REVIEWING THE BASICS
On April 19, Andrew Shier offered an Attunement Initiation to six participants here in Taos, New Mexico. The event went well, but for me the real event was the opportunity for my wife Athena and I to share our home with Andrew and his wife, Peri Chickering. They are such a wonderful couple. We really enjoyed their individual spirits, as well as their spirit as a couple.
Athena and I are currently part of a couples group that meets twice a month to consider the dynamics of an ongoing committed relationship, and the impact that it has on the world that we are responsible for. One of the couples who participated in the Initiation, along with Athena and I, came from this group.
The Attunement Initiation itself was great! For me, it was good to go through the basics again. They are always new in the moment. And it was especially meaningful to share this experience with the other couples, because we already share a deep friendship together. Andrew had even suggested that I might use the Attunement with Life and The Way to Mastery courses that Sunrise Ranch supplies, as there are several others who have indicated they would like to be part of the circle in the future. These courses would serve as additional materials to acquaint them with the Attunement process.
Overall, the experience with Andrew has me looking forward to further Attunement gatherings on a monthly basis here in Taos, where we can come together with these couples, and others, to offer a blessing into the world.
—DC
