Peter’s Day — June 29 — Peace Day
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Spirit,
Getting rid of militarism and war should be of central concern to all of us as humans, just as cannibalism and slavery have officially been abolished years back. Nonkilling should be the legacy of ourselves, our children and their children.
The idea of killing another member of our species is contrary to everything that we have been taught by all religions. The Commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' and the Golden Rule of doing unto others what we wish them to do unto us, are the standard rules of the road of how we ought to behave in our family, in our community and in the wider world.
In my youth, my mother used to say to me and my friends, 'Do not point a gun at another person because it is wrong to hurt another human being.' My mother believed that a future based on nonkilling was possible.
Our ancestors the Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors said 'Get rid of all guns!' On midnight of June 28-29, 1895 (Old Calendar), some 7,000 Russian activists in three districts of the Caucasus (between the Black and Caspian Seas) burnt their weapons that they had accumulated over the years. Their voice was loud and clear: get rid of the institution of violence and wars and instead choose the human path of cooperation, compassion and love.
As we commemorate this memorable historic event, let's remind ourselves and our children about the message of helping to create a culture of peace in our midst. Remember that we all have the spirit of beauty and love in each of us; therefore it is wrong to kill another human being.
Let's support the creation of Departments of Peace in the world. In Canada, for example, let's write our Parliamentarians to support the Private Member's Bill C-373 designed to create a cabinet level Department of Peace in Canada's Parliament. Let's cease to be slaves of killing and instead add our weight to being creative peace-making pioneers as have Lev Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and other Masters of human behaviour have done in their time. Let's believe that the military industrial complex is on the way out and that a new era of human development is on the way in. Let's make real history happen by giving hope to civilization. Act now!
Koozma J. Tarasoff
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Thank you very much for your Petrov Dien message Koozma,but there was one important omission, you forgot to mention Peter V. Verigin who was instrimental in organizing The Burning of the Arms.
ReplyDeleteAlex Ewashen Creston BC
Dear Alex. Indeed, Peter V. Verigin, the leader of the Large Party, advised his followers to burn their guns in the Caucasus. At this time, Verigin was in exile many thousands of kilometres away from the action. His 'directives' were largely influenced by Tolstoyan literature and thinking. However, the actual organizing was done by local people. The real hero of the day was Matvey Lebedev and 11 other Russian Doukhobors who on Easter Sunday 1895 threw down their guns while training in Elizavetpol reserve battalion, stating that war and Christianity were incompatible. The result was that these conscientious objectors were sent to disciplinary battalions and exiled along with 60 other Doukhobor young men in active serve who followed their example. These were the brave people who really suffered as did those who were later beaten following the actual arms burning in June. In contrast, Verigin, in exile, was living in relative comfort in a Russian house and as 'philosopher king' he eventually learned the drastic result of his advice -- resulting in one-third of the Russian dissidents being exiled to Canada in 1899.
DeleteThe real meaning of the 2013 commemoration of the arms burning, as I see it, is that peace is a message for everyone (not just for Doukhobors). That is why I pitched the message to all of humanity. We all need to lobby against militarism and wars as well as to actively work to set up a suitable nonviolent architecture that will bring about the desired goal of creating a culture of peace on Planet Earth.
Hi Koozma,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your emails and encouragement. Much appreciative.
The 1895 burning of the arms was an amazing act driven by Spirit. Without censorship by the rational, conditioned mind (Ego), or inspired by it, thousands of souls were moved to make a statement about their desire to live peacefully. They were not deterred by their fear of reprisals from authorities. Reprisals which turned out to be inhumane, brutal, and murderous.
I completely agree with you about taking action on nonkilling and contributing to the global peace movement. There are many people around the world who have a passion to support this goal of nonviolence, and ask the questions, "Why can't we just get along and live peacefully with one another? Why can't we love our neighbour as we love ourself, and do not do unto another what you don't want done to you? Why can't we?"
I think why it is so difficult to be peaceful with one another is because we, as individuals haven't learned first, how to be peaceful within ourselves. We have not overcome the individual struggle between mind and soul, and, without harmony and teamwork within, it is almost impossible to contribute to harmony in our environment.
Our Egos, who have "hijacked" (to use a word borrowed from you) our bodies from our souls and manifest their rational, conditioned images throughout us, are inconsistent, prone to corruption, influenced by desires and driven by the pleasure-pain principle. One moment we are preaching the need for brotherly and sisterly love, and the next, we are arguing with our mothers about some opinion we hold and are too attached to drop.
One moment we decide to abstain from eating meat, drinking alcohol and caffeine and eating sugar because we want to have a healthy body and mind, and the next moment we are sharing a meal with a friend and deciding to start our new resolution tomorrow.
Taking social action, like the burning of arms, having group discussions and rallies in order to raise awareness and writing to those in power at government levels is important. What is even more important, is for individuals to take responsibility and be accountable for their inner harmony, and for the actions they take as a result of where their motivation to act is centred from: their brain or their heart (i.e. their mind or their soul). Most of us think that we are our mind ("I think, therefor I am"). Before we can identify from where our motivations come, we must first learn Who We are. This is not an easy task. And its an ongoing evolution of our awareness. Taking action on a global scale, without paying attention to the need for individual growth and development, may stunt this growth as one's attention is turned outward. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that this is a one way or the other kind of approach. Both, in harmony, work well.
I suspect that many of our ancestors first felt spirit move them from within, realized that the chatter in their mind was not who they were, identified with the spark of God, and then took action using their mind as the tool it is, to create social change.
In response to your encouragement to take action for world peace, today, I have made a conscious decision to drop my ego mind into my heart and observe how I live moment to moment today. (I may need to remind myself of this tomorrow) From this expansive space of inner God, I will be mindful of how I act, ensuring that I treat everyone I meet with kindness, and do no harm.
I think if each individual took their responsibility for inner peacefulness seriously and "toiled" for inner peaceful life, the outer reflection would be a peaceful life for all.
In peace and light to you,