HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST PEOPLE-

HOW TO DEAL WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

By Leonard Burg

The following is a talk given by Leonard Burg at a 2007 Bioethics Forum at Pace University.

If we find peace within ourselves then we begin to reflect it in the world outside of us.

Violence in others and the upset of the environment reveal a disharmony extant within human beings.

This upset is epitomized in conflict among religious factions of the world. A Centre for the World Religions (ACWR), a Non-Governmental Organization in consultative status with ECOSOC of the United Nations, tackles interfaith discord as a major source of war on the planet.

Through meditation, dialogue and comparative analysis of the world’s scriptures, ACWR has experienced that we can individually, and as a culture, discover and share peace, irrespective of our religious affiliations. This peace is rooted in the universal principles underlying all religions.

“Universities” (like houses of worship) are theoretically ideal places in which to pursue universal truths. And no truths can be more important today than learning what it will take to experience peace on this planet. In this context, “education” and “religion” 1 have much in common. Both compel us to go within. Education, in its essence, is an inner journey --- the process of “educare” (L.) --- to ‘bring out’ that which is already inside of a human being.

Religion, too, is an inner journey --- the process of “religare” (F.) ‘to bind fast’ or bind back the soul to God2 Whose essential qualities are peace, love, and harmony, or eternity/immortality in the form of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.

So, peace starts inside, not outside; to find peace we must go within, increasingly realize God and strive to become Godmen or Godwomen --- conscious co-creators with the Divine.

Peace or “pax” (L.) is to ‘fasten’ --- to bind to or stand fast in our true identity as immortal souls imbued with the essential qualities of God. How to practically achieve this without getting entangled in the snares of religious zealousness, rivalry, factionalism, proselytizing, imposing, intolerance, sectarianism, cultism, etc. is the subject of this offering.

1

Here is not referring to organized religions, sects, denominations or various peculiar rites, rituals and ceremonies that vary by culture, race, or nationality. It is referring to a universal process in which any human being can engage, irrespective of conventional religious affiliation.

2

Refers here to whatever your notion is of a Higher Power or Intelligence which creates and sustains you and this universe.

Violence begins with thoughts and words that engage the animal part of our being, that make the soul a servant of the mind and body, and that aid and abet acts or “deeds� of violence in the world.

Through the law of attraction thoughts and words carry an energy which attracts, compounds or ignites energy of a similar vibration.

We need to decide whether we shall be part of the problem or the solution; whether we are game to acknowledge the part we play in the violence of the world; whether we are ready to allow the spirit in us to rule rather than the ego/mind; whether we are committed to be the spirits we truly are and thus transform our world into an oasis of peace.

Mr. Burg is available for lecture/demonstrations in meditation, or Soul Therapy. To contact Mr. Burg call 212-283-7569; email Lburg@CentreWorldReligions.org or Lburg.SoulTherapist@gmail.com; or write to 626, Riverside Dr., # 4-O, New York, NY 10031.