Students and teachers from 15 cities are living and breathing this truth at the College of Metaphysics during our annual Peace Ambassador Conference this weekend, July 16 – 18.  The Peace Ambassadors act as messengers, bringing to their communities the truth that “World peace begins within ourselves.”

All students of the school practice daily disciplines of concentration, meditation, and visualization.  This brings about peace of mind.  As we each think peacefully, we can be a force for good.  We influence our families, our neighbors, our colleagues, and ultimately, our community, nation, and the world.

We planned for the peace ambassadors to meet this weekend before discovering the synchronicity of timing it with the Conscious Convergence.  The Conscious Convergence, July 17 and 18, begins a quantum shift in humanity’s consciousness.  According to the ancient Maya, the creation of the universe occurs in waves.   According to Carl Johan Calleman, the Conscious Convergence is for those willing to set the intention to manifest unity consciousness in themselves and among others.  This is not a one-time event or celebration; rather, it is the ending of the “lone wolf” state of mind and the start of a new paradigm – alignment with the highest wave or universal “enlightened unity consciousness.”

Thought is cause.  Intention creates.  We live in a connected universe.  We have a responsibility to one another to practice and radiate this unity.  The School of Metaphysics teaches this, students practice it through individual progression and group creations.  We are leaders in bringing about the unity consciousness the Mayan calendar predicts.

Calleman says, “My own view is that this is the last chance that human beings will have to truly align themselves with the cosmic plan.”  I don’t know if I agree it is our last chance, although I do believe that the time is now.  We do not have time to waste.  When we can identify a need, it means it is up to us to do something about it.  The SOM’s purpose is thus to accelerate the evolution of humanity by ushering in Intuitive, Spiritual Man.  This IS unity consciousness.

International Secretary Ambassador to China

Our Peace Ambassador weekend began with Amy Pawlus, International Secretary of the Board of Directors, sharing with the group her recent trip to China.  Amy read the Universal Peace Covenant at the Great Wall of China and received a stone for the Peace Dome’s Healing Wall from Peking University in Beijing.  She expressed her gratitude for the welcoming presence of the Chinese people and the grace with which she and her companions were treated.

Amy described some of the cultural differences in the way health care is delivered and the philosophy of life in China.  I was struck by the way she described the family values and reverence for caring for the elderly in that country.  Some of her stories stimulated in many of us a great respect for the freedoms we have in the United States.  She also entreated us to be aware of the messages we put forth in the media.  Some of her new Chinese friends were surprised to learn that American women are not all like the characters in the television series, “Sex and the City”!

Learning from and with other people is an important element of being a peace ambassador.  As one develops a still mind, he or she can listen to others.  Identifying needs in other people and in the world is a first step in being able to fulfill them.  All of the peace ambassadors spoke of their desire to bring about a more peaceful world.  Communication begins the process.

Receiving from the Divine

A morning meditation in the Peace Dome on the campus of the College of Metaphysics set the tone for all of us to amplify our understanding of the Universal Peace Covenant, and then to receive divine insight into its meaning.  I experienced this group meditation as very heart-centered and spiritually pure.

The Universal Peace Covenant is a document penned by two dozen spiritual teachers in 1996-1997.  It contains beautiful seed-thoughts for contemplation and meditation.  Reading the covenant fills the mind with ideals that are universal and practical ways to apply those ideals.

At one point during Amy’s discussion, I was reminded of a doctor of Chinese medicine who told a story of being imprisoned and tortured in China during the cultural revolution.  At that time, many of the educated people had their books taken away, and any Christians were persescuted.  Prior to his imprisonment, this man had read the Bible and memorized many of its passages.  He said that reciting these Bible verses kept him alive in prison, giving him hope through his connection with the Divine.

I am very grateful to live in a country where there is freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  It is fairly easy for us to have access to idealistic and spiritual literature.  When I recite the Universal Peace Covenant, it is like reading a Holy Work because the thoughts bring about wholeness and healing.

Practicing Peace

Aligning one’s own mind with universal mind makes it easier to learn, to understand, and to resolve any kind of challenge.  Some of the ambassadors spoke of situations occurring throughout the day that brought to their attention the need to harmonize.  For example, a group that was writing an article together came face to face with their own attitudes about self-importance, cooperation, humbleness, and belonging.  They each had their own ideas for the article.  They wanted to cooperate and write a collective piece; yet, each had attachments to particular ideas.  Some wanted to continue brainstorming and bringing in new ideas when it was time to contract and commit to a particular focus for the article.

Learning how to be centered and secure in themselves, to listen to one another, to identify the universal elements among the group, to contribute in individual and related ways, resulted in an article that expresses the universal elements that apply to the whole group.  Several of the people commented that this process of relating the individual to the whole is something they can apply in other situations in their lives. 

At the same time, other groups were creating other projects that benefit the whole peace mission.  These included sending electronic communications to invite world ambassadors to contribute stones to the healing wall, cataloguing two volumes of journals with thoughts of peace from those who have laid tiles in the peace mandala, collaborating to produce a book on the Healing Wall, and reporting the work of the peace ambassadors on video.

The activities were themselves peace laboratories.  One of the verses in the Universal Peace Covenant is “We call upon each individual to create and foster a personal vision for peace.”  As the ambassadors spoke of their experiences during the day, each one described how their understanding of this vision is evolving.  One woman had the opportunity to read letters of support for the Universal Hour of Peace.  She commented that in our Peace Dome, we have a letter from His Majesty King Hussein I of Jordan and one from former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Jerusalem, Israel. “I was struck by the fact that right here in our Peace Dome we have letters from a Muslim and a Jew, both leaders, who desired to bring about peace,” she said.  “This shows that all people desire peace.”

Global Healing

The Conscious Convergence energy is about setting an intention into motion to manifest unity consciousness.  Prayer is the highest intention we can imagine, thoughts deemed worthy to send to God.  All of us at the peace conference participated in a blessing in front of the Healing Wall to heal the waters of the Earth.

Not long ago, a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico polluted the water and sea life on a mass scale.  This has brought to our attention the real need to be responsible for our influence, to recognize that all life on the planet is connected.  Dr. Masaru Emoto, an internationally renowned Japanese researcher, has conducted studies showing that thought has immediate and dramatic effects on the structure of water.

Dr. Emoto sent out an appeal with a prayer for healing that we received at our World Headquarters.  We conducted a sacred ceremony to pray with Dr. Emoto and people around for healing of the water and all its creatures.  This is the prayer:

“I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings.  To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures … I am sorry.  Please forgive me.  Thank you.  I love you.”

With song and prayer, the healing was powerful.  One woman told me afterwards that she saw an audience of devas or spirits who joined with us.  Several people concluded the ceremony by offering stones for the healing wall which were given from China, Ireland, Tibet, Italy, North Carolina, Ohio, and New York.  We are asking permission from the stones, and these stones want to be a part of the wall.  Everyone sealed their prayers by laying a tile in the mandala in the center of the dome, with a thought of peace recorded in the continuing peace journal.

The Peace Ambassadors will be convening again tomorrow, beginning with a sunrise meditation in the Peace Dome followed by sacred service in the College of Metaphysics biodynamic organic garden and orchard, and concluding with commitment to action.

May peace be with all ways.

Laurel Clark, SOM President