Principle Study Center

We all proclaim we want world peace, and during holidays and hardships we do seem to unite more than usual- yet when the festivities are over and another piece of news is on the tube, we go back to our own ways, thus living separate lives. In order for humanity, races, and religions to come together, we must know that this world peace we all desire starts within ourselves; and that there is one vital step to achieving the dream that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of, the dream that we all share: we must divide the good and bad within ourselves, separate from our negativity and hatred, and strengthen our conscience.

When we look at the world and see others with a judgmental mindset or negative thoughts, stereotypes or concepts, we cannot see the goodness and beauty that abounds there. We have to check ourselves and stop our minds from accusing or blaming or judging others. Our thoughts become reality! Literally, either positive or negative energy is transmitted to others by our thoughts.

So if we truly want peace, we need to have a peaceful mindset and spread peace throughout our actions, words, and our gestures toward others. We each have a portion of responsibility to give and to love others. Even if we don’t feel accepted back or if we feel judged, by continuing to plant seeds of kindness we haven’t lost anything. Why? Because the reason to give kindness isn’t for ourselves- it’s for them, to live for the sake of others. And somewhere down the road, it will help them grow. It’ll also teach us patience, an aspect of love; and when practiced, deepens our love.

Someone once told me that we are afraid of the unknown, afraid how people really feel about what we say to them or what they think about us, and that we all live in fear because of this. We are afraid of being vulnerable and unable to truly surrender ourselves to others, to be able to really trust and love people because we might get hurt. We all have limitations, but let’s remember not to react to another person’s reactions and give people the benefit of the doubt. People are scared what we think about them, too.

Therefore, if our thoughts become reality, we must think peaceful thoughts; only then will our actions and positive energy inspire others. They’ll feel the love that we convey and want to show compassion and love to others as well. Those barriers we create based on skin pigment and worship traditions absolutely can be transcended by love, and if we all practice by checking ourselves and cutting our negative thoughts, our actions will elevate the human spirit as a whole.

Almost half a century ago, Dr. King shared his dream with the world that one day, “people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We can help keep the dream alive by doing our part to eliminate hate and racism from our communities starting within our own minds; by cutting the give and take process we create when relating with negativity. Practice thinking more peaceful, loving thoughts about others. We can create a better world if we do this, because love never ends! Take a risk. Give someone a chance. Open your heart to help them open theirs- and help them open yours, too.

So pass peace on. Start by sending a positive message through a smile, a warm greeting, or even an email forwarding a rare recording by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We owe Dr. King so much for the sacrifice he made when standing up for equal rights and for showing us how to love others beyond our differences. Yes, we can celebrate our diversity because we are different- each one of us is unique and each one of us has something special that no one else has. But let’s be creative! Let’s use our uniqueness to bring out the best in each other and to celebrate our similarities that we share as a human family, as children of God, and as brothers and sisters.

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Tags: 1 Corinthians 13, Bible, But If Not speech, character, civil rights, compassion, concepts, culture, Dr. King, dream, energy, equality, family, fear, free download, friends, give and take, God, Holidays, human rights, humanity, I Have A Dream speech, inspiration, kindness, life, Love, Martin Luther King Jr, mind and body unity, MLK, patience, peace, race, racism, relationships, religion, suffering, Truth

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 9:54 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.