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July/August 2002 Spirituality
PeaceBringers,
A New Approach to Local and Global Peace

by R. L. Miller, Ph.D.

The tragedy of 9/11 evaporated many people’s hope for our planet’s future, and the continued fighting in the Middle East has shattered even more hopes. Humanity is beginning to realize that we no longer can trust the old "Wild West" style of dealing with conflicting needs and desires among nations. Traditional rules of diplomacy and war (e.g., "walk softly and carry a big stick") clearly no longer work.

Now, people around the world are beginning to realize that our best hope is a change in consciousness across the planet. We understand that were such a shift to happen, violence would be reduced, the hungry would be fed, and people would be healthy. People would have many of the same challenges, but we’d approach them differently: we would know there was a peaceful solution and we’d use it.

Fortunately, the past thirty years have seen some amazing strides in our understanding of consciousness and how to change it. Well-documented research has demonstrated that a few people can shift the consciousness of a community. Over 5000 studies with over fifty reports in scientific journals have made the point. Again and again, a few people committing to a daily practice in which they experience inner peace at least twice a day, for a total of 30-40 minutes a day, has led to reductions in violent behaviors in their community—and has several times been correlated with reductions in global violence. Many of these studies are described in Robert Oates’ new book, Permanent Peace: How to Stop Terrorism and War—Now and Forever.

We now know that our thoughts have power. Hundreds of experiments with thousands of subjects, using many forms of prayer for different medical problems, have been performed since 1986. They’ve demonstrated that even the weakest form of prayer, "holding positive regard for" someone without any belief in God or any form of higher power, has a measurable, positive effect on that person’s healing process. Larry Dossey, M.D., has documented many of these in his books and tapes and has said that "if any other form of treatment were as effective, practitioners would be screaming to get hold of it, and would be sued for malpractice if they didn’t use it."

Most of us haven’t heard about these studies and their results because it takes time for an idea to move from the scientific journals into the mainstream culture. Einstein’s ideas took nearly 40 years to be implemented by other scientists and another 30 to be taught in high school and college physics classes. Innovations in medicine—like the role of nutrition—typically take 50 years to be implemented by local doctors and health educators. (This delay process is described in Thomas Kuhn’s classic, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.)

PeaceBringers is a new grassroots organization building on the past thirty years of scientific research about consciousness and applying it to our world, today.

It’s really a simple thing. As individuals hold their consciousness in a state of peace, they, and the community around them, experience more indicators of peace—reduced violence, better health, etc. This is because each of us is constantly creating an electro-magnetic field around us (our "aura," or Walt Whitman’s "body electric," or Rupert Sheldrake’s "morphogenetic field"), and when we shift our consciousness by praying or meditating, that field expands to touch others. Then, as the field expands, it increases the probability of a similar state of consciousness in those others.

PeaceBringers is calling this process of shifting individual consciousness "The Peace Practice." It’s a synthesis of ancient and modern understandings about consciousness. It’s not about asking a divine entity for something. Rather, it’s a process of experiencing, of knowing, that the desired situation already exists in consciousness, and appreciating its existence, and so bringing it into our physical experience.

Anyone can participate as a PeaceBringer and shift the consciousness of our communities. Participants do the Peace Practice for 15-20 minutes morning and evening, for 6 months (remember you don’t have to ask for peace, simply experience it!). Some members host a presentation of these ideas for their friends and family. Most attend a weekly practice group to expand their understanding and capacity.

PeaceBringers offers training and support for anyone who wants to start a PeaceBringers group in his or her community, including weekly practice groups and monthly workshops. For more information on PeaceBringers, contact Nelson at 503-641-1204 or go on-line to www.peacebringers.net.

R. L. Miller is a writer/lecturer with degrees in anthropology, environmental science, cybernetics, and systems science. After a career as a futurist, community developer, and academic, Miller now works as a "circuit riding" minister, teaching people and organizations around the Pacific Northwest ways to expand their capacity for well-being. To look at some of Dr. Miller’s books and other writings, go to her website:
www.transformingbeing.com .