Peace always begins with each one of us.

Here is a part of my speech, the same speech is given to all audiences, this one was tailored to a Muslim gathering.

Would you pledge to yourselves, that when some one highlights the differences, you would say, ” the differences are God given” so is the “free will” and as an individual I am committed to peace for myself and peace for all, that is what religion is all about.

God guides me to know each other, so together we can create a kingdom of peace for all the 6.6 billion of us. I understand that my safety hinges on safety of others that surround me, and I cannot have peace when others around me aren’t peaceful.

Would you further pledge that, ” I would resist all temptations to mis-represent the otherness of other traditions. No matter what any one tries to get me to say negatively about other traditions or faith for that matter. I will refrain from talking ill about others, as I do not know the whole truth” If I do talk about other traditions, I will put my own integrity on line, and present them as though they would present it, I will resist the temptation to make their tradition look bad and mine look better.

No matter where I go, I want people to see me as a peace maker, a religious woman or a man, some one who is bent on mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. I don’t want people to be afraid of a Muslim or his beard or her Hijab, instead they should say OMG, here comes a Muslim, a peace maker, the truthful, the trustworthy and the Amin.” This was the model of peace created by the Prophet and I will do my best to follow that model.

When you are at peace, you don’t keep scores on what good others are doing, you just do your dharma and leave the fruit to the creator, when you are at peace, your anxiety to have, to know, to see results deadens, but hope emerges instead without anxiety.

Mike Ghouse.a conflict mitigator and goodwill nurturer.

As humans we feel good when we have choices. On the other hand, we feel trapped when we have to live with what is dished out. Freedom is another word for choices. Freedom is the most precious aspect of life, can we achieve that?

Here are a few freedoms,
you can add what you’d like to be free from:

1. Freedom from the societal compulsions to conform
2. Freedom from the need to have things
3. Freedom from the traps of greed, anger, ill-will and malice
4. Freedom from the desperate wants of life
5. Freedom from the temptation to feel and act superior
6. Freedom from the need to be secure
7. Freedom from the anxieties of life

Do I have to be dead to be free?
Sure, but if you can imagine that you have just one day to live,
you probably will discard a whole lot of desire and focus on what you
can do in the next 24 hours.

What if we don’t have 24 hours?

Mike Ghouse

Dharma, righteousness – Balance conscience are the internalized values of the society around, and it certainly varies to a smaller degree from culture to culture (culture differs from home to home and is not bound by geography).

In a few cultures, the parents may feel bad, but it may not bother them to spank their child in the name of discipline bordering on abuse, the child may accept that to be a norm, even though he or she may resent the parent for it and perhaps want to beat them up too.

An imbalance is created in both psyche – they may not have the time, or knowledge to come out of it. In societies where children are aware of abuse laws they have no hesitation calling the police, but there are those who suppress it out of fear….

What you see in every case is an imbalance in the spiritual plane, each one has a threshold, beyond which it triggers an action. But no matter what culture, society or faith we follow, the basic is same. There is God given balance in each one of us, a child is born with a zero balance on both the right side and wrong sides, we keep adding to both sides as we develop.

In Islam, the idea of Munkir- Nakir, the angels who register your bad and good karma exists; signifying the freedom one has to pile up either side and live with its consequences in terms of anguish (Hell fire) and serenity (Jannah).

There is one essence, and one singular cause gave birth to the universe and it all emanated from one source.

– The purpose of all religions is to bring a balance to an individual and what surrounds him/her; life and environment. Whether it is Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Bahai, Zoroastrianism or the native traditions, the unintended goal is same – peaceful co-existence.

Thanks for sharing the four elements of living a balanced (righteous) life;

Wisdom emanates from all sources, in different places and different formats; the bottom line is to create co-existence and harmony. … See More

The teachings of Zarthustra, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus, Muhammad, Nanak and all the great teachers are universal, and no one should own them nor should they confine it to a group, they never had a patent or copyright to be used exclusively, indeed their teachings belong to all of us and can be used in any proportion that works.

True Nirvana, Mukti, Moksha, Salvation, Nijaat or freedom comes when one is in full balance; physical, mental, and spiritual, and one is completely free and independent of external stimuli. I can clearly see how it works in each faith, let me give the Islamic perspective – After defending and stopping the aggressors from offensive destruction, Prophet Muhammad responded to his associates to the question, what next? He said the greater Jihad begins now. That is greater striving to reign in one’s temptation for revenging, anger, hate, malice and ill-will. Once conquer the base animal within, you would earn the title of “Ashraful Mukhlookhat” meaning honored creatures, the ones who have mastered their instincts.

What makes a thought, an act or a word right? Life is all about balance; justice is the ultimate in balance where no one feels insecure, unsafe and bonded. Indeed, Dharma is dynamic; righteousness can also be likened to peacefulness.

The ultimate responsibility to extricate oneself from fear and other enemies (anger, hate, ill-will etc) rests with the individual. No one but us is responsible for our thoughts, actions and words and we face it in our solitude.

Notes from my postings at Face Book on Arbania Fitrianis wall.
http://www.facebook.com/friends/?filter=flp_108944915248#!/notes/arbania-fitriani/new-meaning-of-dharma-artha-kaama-and-moksha/326442142387

!!!!!

Mitigating communal ( Religious in Indian context) conflicts ; the discussion started with a simple post from a concerned Swamiji and we expect this to blossom into exploring the wisdom of religions to find solutions. You are welcome to contribute your ideas.

Please do not blame the religion, instead find solutions that religion offers without belittling the other and without score keeping. If you can do this, you have stepped on to becoming a peace maker which you want to be deep down in your heart. This thread is dedicated to finding solutions and not flaring up the conflicts, each one of us can share with others.

It is our duty to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is our responsibility to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it. We have an obligation to maintain a balance in the society. When we are at peace, we can generate peace and we can expect peace around us. Our words and actions should mitigate conflicts and nurture reconciliation and goodwill.

CAUTION
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE POSTS THAT BLAME OTHERS OR RIDICULE OTHERS WILL BE DELETED. THIS IS AN EXCERCISE IN OUR POTENTIAL TO WALK THE SOLUTION PATH. LET’S BECOME COMMITTED CONTRIBUTORS TO PEACE MAKING.

Mike Ghouse
Mitigating conflicts and nurturing good will.
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dear soul,blessings
how cammunal war controle in our area &universe tell me easy method we are accepting all valuable opinion it is more help full for universal peace activity
yours truely – shree c k p swami

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MIKE GHOUSE RESPONDS;

Swamiji,

Thanks for taking this initiative, it is a need of the day in the state of Karnataka for that matter, India and every place in the world.

First Analyze the conflict – whether it is Budangiri, vandalizing public property in protest of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons, bashing the girls in bars in Managalore or or vandalizing at the Valentine day’s party, throwing rocks at a diety or buring a Quraan, monopolizing God’s name exclusively, torching the church, destroying the mosque, desecrating a temple or writing swastika on a Synagogue or any such event that disturbs peace in the community. We have to determine the source and motivation for such conflict.

Was the conflict real or imaginary?

REAL CONFLICTS : Real conflicts involves affecting any one or all of the three elements; 1) one’s space 2) one’s sustenance [food and water] and 3) nurturance (loved ones who give us reason to live).

IMAGINARY CONFLICTS: Let’s make it ridiculous, let’s say we work together in an office, you are a Muslim and go to the bathroom and I am a Hindu and I go to the bathroom, when we meet back in hallway, do we talk about the bathroom experience? Does it bring conflict? That was a private matter between you and the commode.

Like wise, when you pray in a corner and I pray in the other, how does it affect either one of us? If both of us are women and you wear a Hijab and I wear a blouse with big time cleavage, how does it matter to either one of us?

A dilogue is necessary.

You have got to get the parties to sit down face to face and have a heart to heart talk…. its amazing what you find out in a majority of the cases. It usually is based on imaginary fears and phobias.

Our role, the role of religous people is to bring peace to humanity, it is achieved through mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. We have to have the guts, to speak the truth and lead the people in the right direction – and not succumb to people who fund us or those few who scream at us.

Best wishes, I will be happy to talk with you about the process in a particular situation

Mike Ghouse

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Great insights Mike!
Blessings – Doug
Rev. Doug Walker

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FROM GRAEME SHARROCK

I am following with interest the discussion regarding the conflict in Karnataka and appreciate Mike Ghouse’s analysis of the situation. He points to three dimensions of potential conflict: space, material resources, and social nurturance. All other reasons for conflict, Mike suggests, is imaginary–as if the imaginary is not to be taken seriously. It is true, that often conflict is based on unreal (as opposed to imaginary) thoughts or feelings.

There is, however, another important dimension –the symbolic — that plays an important part in inter-religious and other kinds of conflict. Symbols are valuable to communities, in that they structure the order of the community and give meaning to its members. Conflict is sometimes stirred when believers of different faiths challenge, ridicule, or commit sacrilege against symbols of faith. Symbols are “real” in that they form an integral part of a community’s structure of reality. To attack a church, synagogue or mosque, to require or not require a woman to wear a birkha, to force one to work on the sabbath, to eat certain kinds of foods, to mock the eucharist, to disparage another’s scriptures, etc. are examples of largely symbolic violence–real, not imaginary. (Of course, a burned-down synagogue is also a material and social loss.)

I do not think inter-religious conflict can be resolved unless there is respect for the symbols of another’s faith. To say it positively, we need to have a model of conflict resolution that includes the power of symbols, and understand that much of inter-religious conflict is over the meaning and value of such symbols for the social health of a community. (To read more on religion as a symbol system, I refer to the work of Clifford Geertz in The Interpretation of Cultures.)

I hope this note is helpful to readers here…. please give us examples from your communities of faith and also post your stories of inter-religious conflict and resolution to the Parliament Media page.

Love, joy, peace

Graeme Sharrock
Parliament Media Group

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FROM MIKE GHOUSE

Dear Graeme,

I appreciate your notes focusing on conflict resolution. This site is very productive and am glad to see every one genuinely adding and enhancing to bring peace within their communities.

Indeed, symbols are real and a comprehensive understanding must be developed from a co-existence point of view. Every example you have given must be addressed.

One cog in the wheel of solutions was differentiating between real and imaginary conflicts; as they say reduce it to the ridiculous to convey a message. All of us tune into WFIM Radio (what’ in for me).

Let’s look at this example to understand the difference in a real stories;

Four individuals working together in an office have become friendly over a period of time, and one day they decide to go for lunch. The food is ordered and they are chattering away the things that are common to them; football.

The food arrives on the table; every one is grim looking at each others plate. The Jain friend says shakes his head with frustration, “you guys don’t care about my sensitivity, you know I am a strict vegetarian, and despite that you have the dead animal on your plate, it is simply disgusting,” to this grim scene the Muslim/Jew fellow adds, “you know John, I don’t eat pork, how can you order this pig? “ And on and on… every one is concerned about his/her own feeling and sentiments and goes back to the office brooding over the insensitivity of the friends”.

This was an example of conflict resulting in tension.

On the other hand, look at the same scenario on the next table. The Muslim girl says to her Christian co-worker, “You have been talking about the pork chops for a while, I hope this gives you the pleasure you are looking for” and the Hindu chap looks at the Jewish girl and says, “I am glad you were able to order what you wanted to eat, I hope you enjoy that beef steak”. And the Christian turns to the Jain, and say, hey, hope this food is as good as your mom’s”.

What is the difference? It simply is an attitude! An attitude of respecting the otherness of other and accepting that his taste, clothes, worship is divine to him/her as mine is to me. An attitude that recognizes that what goes in your stomach is your business and should not bother me.

It is from this point of view I suggested that we tune into WFIM Radio and see if the conflict is real or imaginary. We have to incorporate recognizing and appreciating the symbolism of others as well.

I hope this adds to the idea of differentiating between real and imaginary conflicts.

Mike Ghouse
A goodwill nurturer and a conflict mitigator

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continued on face book: http://www.facebook.com/MikeGhouse#/notes/mike-ghouse/india-communal-conflicts-and-solutions/308694532773

Pratibha: I am interested or to know how to live peacefully with the corrupt dominating people in a society. They influenced everything/. In this situation what to do , Please suggest me

Dear Pratibha,

The Physical or the metaphysical world is structured to have positive, negative and neutral charges in it ,and every structure is constantly seeking its own equilibrium through a variety of combinations and permutations.

Living with corrupt people is part of existence, not that we have to agree with the ills of corruption, but we can be a part of it and effect changes in our own way. Non-Violent way is sustainable, where as the violent way is destructive for the time, but it is a part of the system.

Lord Krishna was clear when he said, whenever and wherever there is adharma, I will appear and restore the righteousness back to the society. It is not necessarily him in reality, but the spirituality is built on balance and justice and it works on an auto-pilot. Qur’aan says, to every nation, every tribe, God sends a peacemaker, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, Rama, Nanak, Buddha, Mahavir, Confucius, Zarthustra…. and numerous others in native traditions have precisely done that; restore the society back to normalcy.

From a political point of view, the colonial masters in most every colony were un-just, when the adharma and injustice reached a point of no-return; there was Gandhi, to restore it. When the American society was forced upon by a few masters to mistreat the African Americans, there was Lincoln and MLK to restore justness and morality.

Medha Parker stood up in defense of the villagers that were going to be affected by urbanization, there was Shabana Azmi fighting for the slum dwellers…Seshan fought the corrupt election system.

Justice and fairness is the ultimate of a balanced society, and every one including you and I are part of the solutions while some others may be doing the opposite of it.

Prophet Muhammad said, when you see injustice, the least you can do is to speak up. Martin Neimoller in his poem wrote, first they came for Jews and I did nothing about it, as I was not a Jew, then they came after Communists….. and finally when they came for me, there was no one to speak for me.

Pratibha, the least we can do is to speak up and if we have the energy and passion, apply it and build a momentum in the society. Yes, you can make the difference and you will, as you have the concern that is the first step. Co-existence must be at the bottom of every thing.

God bless you.

Mike Ghouse
www.FoundationforPluralism.com

I am trying to grasp the thought; “diversity is ignorance.” in Swami Vivekanand’s quote below, while I am in tune with the ideas that we are destined to have salvation.

Diversity is nature, it is how we are created, and it is a reflection of freedom. On the other hand conformity kills freedom, non-diversity is non-freedom.

Each human and each life is made differently through the permutations and combinations of DNA, there is nothing alike. In plant world, each plant is different than the other, and there is nothing alike.

On the matter side, each piece of matter is unique, there are zillions of stars and planets in the universe and each one is different, there is nothing alike.

Diversity gaurantees continuum of life, if all the species is same, our immunity to diseace would wipe us all out of existence. Diversity of thought gaurantees use of mind and wisdom, when there is no diversity, life would be a bore, and our mental faculties could be lost for lack of using them.

It is the co-existence with differences that religion teaches, religion is a formula to bind us together and not slap us together to abandon our uniqueness.

I am in tune with the statement, “we are all destined to have salvation, whether
we will have it or not. You have to attain it in the long run and
become free, because it is your nature to be free.” Each one of us is built to seek our own balance, even the pain level is a balance that one can endure.

~~ ~~
Unity is Knowledge, diversity is ignorance. This knowledge is your
birthright. I have not to teach it to you. There never were different
religions in the world. We are all destined to have salvation, whether
we will have it or not. You have to attain it in the long run and
become free, because it is your nature to be free

– Swami Vivekananda

Monday, Jan 18

Held myself from Crying seeing the devastation in Haiti, watching USS Navy’s Comfort sail, brought tears to me. Thank God, we are doing all we can to give them the help needed. thank God. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9579182

~~~

Sunday, Jan 17, 2010
CarrolltonSpoke at Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, Jan 17, 2010, Carrollton, Texas. Pastor Dennis Hamilton invited me to speak about Pluralism along with his Sunday Sermon at the New Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church in Carrollton.

It’s like home coming to me. I have been taking quizzes on Belief-net for about four years, and the results are consistently pointing that I am 100% Unitarian Universalist in my overall scheme of belief. Here is the survey result

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (93%)
3. Mahayana Buddhism (79%)
4. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (78%)
5. Neo-Pagan (78%)
6. Reform Judaism (76%)
7. New Age (73%)
8. Bahá’í Faith (72%)
9. Sikhism (68%)
10. Hinduism (68%)

Today, I found a confirmation to it after listening to Dennis about UU. I am in tune with their philosophy, rather 100% in tune with them for four years in a row. It is their focus on peace, love, forgiveness, compassion and service to humanity.

My talk mirrored Dennis Hamilton’s talk and I could not resist commenting on it. I will post his talk and my outlines in a few days with the same heading. The congregation and sermon felt like home.

On the question of faith, I shared my thought that it would be sheer arrogance to claim my faith is superior to others. It is a new paradigm in religious thinking, and will take time for people to see the value. Religion is about humility and not arrogance. Indeed, all religions are beautiful formulae to live a life of balance and harmony.

I am a Muslim and my faith serves me well, as other faiths serve others. No one need to change their religion buds, they are home to whatever they have grown to. Spend the time on your own faith to find the beauty and wisdom in it and I assure you, every faith is beautiful.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=380211&id=851280248&l=e4b2e85c1d

Mike Ghouse

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Mike Ghouse (214) 325-1916,
email: MikeGhouse@aol.com
event email: HolocaustandGenocides@gmail.com
Website: http://www.holocaustandgenocides.com/

III ANNUAL REFELCTIONS ON THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDES

DALLAS – (January 15, 2010) –The Foundation for Pluralism announces the 7/7 speakers Panel to reflect upon the Holocaust and Genocides event at 5:00 PM on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at the Center for Spiritual Center, 4801 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, TX. 75244.

Each individual in the seven member panel would acknowledge the inhumanity in each one of us and reflect upon the solutions for co-existence. It is a purposeful event to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things, that we humans have inflicted upon each other.

What can you do as individual?

Continued: http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2010/01/press-release-on-holocaust-and.html

~~~