What would it take to have peace on earth?

Kia ora koutou, I am going to ask you this question – What would it take to have peace on earth?

I bet 99 percent of you are thinking “Well, that’s not ever going to happen” or “That’s a nice thought but a bit un-realistic”.

Yes and I probably would have agreed with you but recently I’ve been contemplating this question and thinking to myself that in order to have peace on earth, we need to believe it is possible first. 

As in all things in life, I start with the small things

These are things I can control and have responsibility for, which is myself. I am a massage therapist, bodyworker and lightworker. It is my profession to help people to feel better, heal from trauma and feel lighter in their body, mind, heart and soul so they can live a happier life with more freedom. I think a lot about what it takes for us to heal from trauma and to find peace within ourselves. 

I am not religious but I have experienced a greater sense of something that I can turn towards in times of loss, need, desperation, pain etc and in those times I ask for help, support and solace. It is in those times of need I have always been shown love and support, compassion. That help is always there whenever I need it and I am never alone. It has cultivated in me a sense of a loving presence, a faith in good. 

To me, this world would be a dark sad place if I had never experienced love and kindness, companionship, connection. This comes from so many places, from my parents, my family, my friends, colleagues, community, animals, strangers…. I could go on. 

Basically in my lifetime I have experienced innumerable expressions of love, kindness and compassion. 

To have self-love and compassion

Coming back to the things I can change and have responsibility for – being myself. What would it take to have loving kindness towards myself and could I forgive myself for every thought and action that has led to feelings of guilt or shame in my life? Wow, this is a big task but yes I think I could do it. Step one complete – peace towards myself. 

I was walking in nature the other day and alone, up the grampians, enjoying the solitude and the sounds of the birds and patterns in the ferns, the sacred koru of new fronds emerging when I got this sense of nature loving me as much as I love nature. and the trees and birds and insects being like family – brothers and sisters. I had this overwhelmng feeling of love and oneness there and I thought that if I could treat nature like my family I would have a lot of respect and honour for every aspect of it. Kaitiakitanga, care and guardianship of the land and all of its inhabitants. 

Then my thoughts turned to even wider aspects of this. Could I extend that feeling of family, whanaunatanga to every person on this planet, as if they were my brothers and sisters? How would that change my attitude and behaviour towards them? 

Do you remember being told “Treat other people as you would like to be treated?” 

Well, I ask you “Could you love one another as you love yourself?”

To love is a big thing, to love and accept even if we don’t like or agree with something. We still choose to love because we trust and care for that person, and they are learning, having their own experience, working it out. 

In family, sometimes we fight and dis-agree and fall out, sometimes for a long time. Inevitably though, we are pulled back to forgive our differences and come together in love because that is the biggest thing. Even if it’s right before death, a family member saying sorry for their hurts caused in this life towards a loved one. In the end, love is what matters, and forgiveness wins. 

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to reach forgiveness, or sometimes many lifetimes. We might keep repeating the same lesson until we learn this. Either forgiveness for ourselves or others, but usually both. Even as I write this, tears come to my eyes because so much of life is tied up in this and I have witnessed firsthand the release of pain and trauma when forgiveness takes place and love can heal these wounds. 

Step two – love and forgiveness toward one another – complete.

So what is step three and what would that look like? 

I understand it like this. What is on the inside is reflected on the outside. If we were living in a way where we were treating ourselves with respect, love and kindness, with less judgement and more forgiveness, we would be seeing the world differently. We would see the love and goodness in people and experience this in the world around us. 

Sure bad things happen, hurt and trauma happens but love, understanding and forgiveness is more. It’s in my selfish interests that I want to live in a bright, loving and happy world therefore I am actively going to put love and goodness into it. 

And to contemplate a world of peace, means that I can believe we can cultivate a world where we treat each-other with love, respect, care and responsibility as if we were brothers and sisters in one family, doing the very best we can with what we have. 

Learning, making mistakes, picking ourselves and others up when we fall, holding eachother when we’re in pain, and ultimately trusting in the good of each-other. 

That is a world I want to live in. Will you join me?

by Marcia Montgomery