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Hi

I am never one to let go of an opportunity to ask questions. Is your generation contributing its mite towards world peace and greater understanding and how?

I think that the world is much more wonky that it ever was before.

I agree these are bad times,am not sure if these are the worst but I would presume so.
I would like to do my bit for world peace and understanding, but you have to admit it's an uphill challenge,and where to start with such things?
Trying to get people to understand themselves and the part they play is a hard enough challenge,let alone trying to get people to care what happens to the world we live in and its inhabitants.

Like everything in life...some get it...and others don/t.

There was definately a mass consiousness raising in the 60's, but when you see politicians who grew up in the 60's have to lie about smokin pot, you know that in most circles it just never took hold. The straights won!

...So you're right. Things are just as screwed now as ever.

What you don't probably see is the suttle changes that have happened.

In 1969 I was refused sevice in a restaurant in New Orleans because I was there with a black friend.

He told me, we wern't served,because they didn't serve hippies!.

I don't know...but that kind of thing atually used to happen.

I heard of 3 hippies being arrested for disturbing the peace...just for walking down a street in a small town north of New Orleans, [Northside of Lake Ponchatrain], because all the kids in a school house there, ran to the window to "see the hippies" as they were walking by! Can you imagine that?

So it seems folks are more tolerent of one another today...at least no one is gettin killed over it...any more???

Hi
I dont know, i think religious intolerance is growing, at least it is in my country. and the root cause is that while each religion has its own tenents of peace and harmony, a person belonging to another commnuity is not aware of it. perhaps there is a need for a global religion called humanity!
I know I am sounding depressed, so I shall promptly sign off
regards

How is it that different world religions can preach love and peace...but then exhibit hate to other religions who may have similar principals, but are from a differnt branch, on the tree of life?

The problem it turns out is that each person is a limited being...with limited life experience...limited knowledge...and a limited understanding of love.
But most importantly they share...a "limited belief" system.

Their awarenes is limited to "Me" or "Us" vs. the rest of the universe. They do not see the common denominator in all world religions...they only see the differences.

They only see themselves in each other, and have yet to find themself in "all" others.

Limited in this case to: "We believe we
are right...so everyone else must be wrong, or they would believe what we believe".

So...what follows..."Lets kill the infadels or pagans...or.....? and drive them from our midst!"

Until mankind sees the main intent for religion was, and is to create peace...love and acceptance of one another, which includes all of God's creation...we are doomed to live in a world where "limited belief" systems rule, and the highest truth: Simply...Love of God, [or love of all creation], is what binds us all, and emulating that love is what will set us all free

To counter balance these "limited belief" systems:

Surround yourself with many loved ones by first doing many loving deeds.Start with the love and nurture of your self.

Then use the power of this 'unlimited love' to attract the lonely...the outcast...

Simply meaning...Those that feel seperated or simply 'once removed' from the realization of the "unlimited truth".

I cannot agree with oldhippy more. With the Christian right saying that if you don't believe in Jesus you are going to h-ll and many other religions/ cults using similar doctrines to impress and ensnare lonely people who just want a chance to be loved and appreciated, the world has seemed to taken a plunge. I never could understand how a religion that says G-d is all loving could justify that not believing or giving yourself over to Jesus will mean you will be denied entry into heaven is hypocritical and an ugly abuse of what people like Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, etc. tried to teach the world. All messages get perverted over time and many feel that they need a crutch to live on so they do not feel ashamed for wrongs done and therefore pray to G-d for forgiveness. Queston is : Is G-d a reality (which in itself is not easily defined - read Cervanted Don Quixote for more on that -) or a creation that we humans made to justify and absolve us of our sins. To help us feel better about ourselves in our darkest hours. Yet, time and time again war arrives over religion and who has "the real" g-d. And it worries me that the time may be approaching when another holy war may be upon us. Far off perhaps but with the way things are going there is a growing chasm between the U.S. Christian majority (and Jewish minority) and Islam. Fighting will only end in bloodshed but sometimes there is little that can be done but hope that one rational person can intervene before all is lost. I fear for all of our safety now and know that I must do what I can to help others in need. Where, I do not know. There is no magic map showing me the way. I can only follow my gut. And now my gut is telling me it is time to leave this place and "friends", family and start anew. Hopefully there will be people along the way with the same beliefs and passions I have concerning living for others well being and betterment. My mind and heart are sending me to India and I cannot wait. I just hope that great philosophers like oldhippy are there for some intelligent conversation (from them at least)and a good heart to boot. I pray I can make a difference and that I can find an opportunity to offer whatever help I can. Pretensious ? probably. Way above my means ? Probably true as well. But I believe one person can make a difference. When I was a young kid I went on a field trip with my classmates into New York City. We were walking towards an art museum and I saw a homeless man on the street wearing tattered clothes looking despondent and alone. I took out a dollar , bent down and gave it to him. Stood up straight and a kid said to me "What are you trying to do, save the world or something ? ". My inner voice said "Why not. One step at a time". I am no hero or martyr or great person, Just a simple person who cannot stand the way most of the people in this world are treated. Life is not about power and money like many seem to think. It is about helping others and learning how to love one another. My doubts may drag me down before I do anything but I am worried that we are heading down paths parallel to history where things did not end well. I hope it is not too late to remember our pasts and not repeat our mistakes over and over again. If there is a g-d, IF, what must he/she/it be thinking ? Or is g-d simply a sixth sense that tells us to move out of the way when a car is coming or tells us in our dreams, through our subconscious, what lays ahead. And when we die perhaps a part of our brain keeps going and we enter an eternal dream state where we go to heaven if that is truly where we believe we belong or someone darker if we think we are going there. Or perhaps the mind creates another life for us...we could all be in a dream....or rebirth is real and/or heaven is real. No one knows for sure. But while I am living I want to truly live and stop dragging everyone down like many of us do. I just hope there is a place for me that I will one day find.

If only there was a real panel of people who could get together and talk about these issues on a regular basis. Imagine what could be achieved. Or even just a conference once in awhile.

Hi there

Belive me, I do not think that you will find any answers in any country including India.

There is no country on this earth which is today free of racial/religious/any other kind of prejudice.

You can only find the answers within your self and do your little bit towards making the world a better place.

dusty

[This message was edited by dustyshoes2002 on 25 December 2002 at 07:26.]

Hi Jxlot, Old Hippy and others who have shared their thoughts.

I was reading what Jxlot posted about one step at a time. This is a story which I heard and which really touched me. Incidentally, it was sent to us by a partner of a Big 4 accounting firm, where i used to work

It goes like this, a sage used to observe a child on the seashore everymorning. The child used to spend an hour throwing star fish (which were stranded on the sand) back in the sea.

It seemed a futile exercise, high tide kept flinging star fish on the sandy beach. The sage walked up to the child and explained the futility of it all.

The child looked at the sage straight in the eye, threw another star fish back into the sea, waved it good bye and turned again to the sage saying: Well, it mattered to this one.

So, I agree that in bits and pieces by contributing whatever little we can, by being more tolerant, by leading by example, we can try and make this world a better place.

Happy 2003
Peace
dusty

Helping In Producing Peace For Individual Exisitence thats a HIPPIE......

A quote from Joseph Campbell:
"When we talk about
settling the world's problems,
we're barking up the wrong tree.

The world is perfect. It's a mess.
It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out
our own lives."

What is this peace everyone is looking for? I am a little puzzled with all these discussions on world peace and the likes.Is it like "I will not rest easy till I rid each and every corner of this earth of the smallest kiddiefight".
Dont we understand that suffering is the one basic denominator of human existence.Life always lies elsewhere.If there no war (which is both mathematically and intuitively impossible) , trust me would find something else to be equally worried about.No amount of discussions in any forum in the world wil help this becuase the people who actually ought to get down to these discussions cant ,because they are too busy waging their wars.
As long as there exists "a need for power" in men accompanied by some intelligence,there will exist others who will follow them and be manipulated.These men will be manipulated into adopting the personal ambition of others(Bush?) as their personal war .Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and theres nothing anyone can do about it-thefamousgrouse
There does exist a peaceful solution to this tho,make it manadatory for everyone to smkoe up at least twice a day, with priority of implementation being given to strife torn areas.The only mathematical inconsistency here is that if everyone is smoking the weed, whos gonna grow it?

What's up TFG? It's good to have a different point of view here. I think(hope)the longer you're alive the more faith you'll have in humanity. People are good for the most part, and love is stronger than hate. You're probably right about war and all that, but the more we change(for the better)the more we change the world for the better. Just wanted to throw that in cause this is a great thread and I wanna keep it alive! Peace.

Coming to peace and understanding with suffering is one of our key purposes on why we are here.

To solve the riddle of suffering in our self... and to help/ assist others... gives meaning and purpose in a life of contradictions.

From understanding and accepting our purpose and meaning, comes peace of mind.

I had an interesting experience late last night...I fell asleep with the TV on, and when I awoke, a PBS-TV documentary was on, sharing the possibility of a theory that explained everything!

Well,...You can imagine my joy...for as a "true truth seeker" with over 3 decades dedicated to the search, I had come to know intuitively/spiritually that all things were connected, [were apart of God], yet only appeared separate [seemed a part from God], in this the "limited universe" ... and that there really is an order within, [and without], what seems like chaos or "no reason or meaning" in our universe.


The fact that this theory attempts to link the yin and the yang of the science world, [the two opposing poles of thought on energy & matter]...to begin to define, a whole new understanding of our universe...is the same thing to me as:

"The truth Shall be Known To You In This Lifetime!"

This theory has been explained mathematically, yet is beyond any current means of actually proving, absolutely and beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is, or is not true, scientifically.

There simply is no physical way of testing it!

["For...Thou shall not test God"!]

Imagine that...something so right on...so incredible, that just like the true nature of God itself..you cannot prove it one way or the other...for it is... always just beyond our "limitedness." ...[one step beyond!]

FYI...[keep this on the sly], We are only so limited while within this cycle...the"limited side" of life!

If you are interested in this, I'd be pleased to start a forum on "Understanding the true Nature of God"

I can tell you this...It is not anything like what they taught you in Sunday school!

But it is a total trip when you see that the truth has always been there... protected and passed down thru the ages...to bear witness to the day, when the truth is "truly there" for all who truly seek it.

Not the limited truths, passed off as " man's beliefs"...but the truth that exists beyond the limitedness of this, our life experience.