Peace Is Here

Adryan Russ

Description

Living in a peaceful world is what most of us crave. To get a good start, read through this handbook, think about its proposed questions, and start making your own personal progress toward living a peaceful, non-violent life. Wars on country battlefields do not begin with governments; they begin on the playground. What we learned from our upbringing and what we teach our children can change the world in a positive way, if we open our hearts and minds to make this a reality.

Sujets

• Social Science
• Philosophie et théologie
• Sociology
• Philosophy
• Social sciences
• Peace
• Psychology
• Earth
• Paix

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 16 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823003124
• Langue: English

Extrait

PEACE IS HERE
 
UNWRAP YOUR CONFLICTS AND YOU'LL FIND IT
 
 
 
ADRYAN RUSS
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Adryan Russ. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 04/13/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0313-1 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-0312-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023904538
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Dedication
I’m grateful to those who have taught me about peace.
My fellow Peace Corps Volunteers
Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle
Jean Webster-Doyle
Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1What You Believe
Chapter 2The Differences We See
Chapter 3Recognizing Fear
Chapter 4The Overview Effect
Chapter 5Thinking In The Moment
Chapter 6How We Get The News
Chapter 7We Create Our World
Chapter 8Be A Scientist
Chapter 9There Is Beauty In Diversity
Chapter 10The Barriers Of Tradition
Chapter 11The Need For Identification
Chapter 12The Importance Of Truth
Chapter 13A Common Purpose
Chapter 14Preventing Conflict
Chapter 15Keeping The Faith
Chapter 16Developing How We Think
Chapter 17Listening Is Seeing
Chapter 18Our Oxymoron Lives
Chapter 19Educating Ourselves
Chapter 20Peace Exists
Epilogue
Prologue
The photo on the cover is quite amazing, isn’t it? It’s a perspective we don’t often get about where we live. When you look at it, does it make you think new thoughts? If so, good. This book’s goal is to help you open your heart and mind to new thinking – to help you achieve peace in your life.
The photo shows a lineup of round objects of different sizes we call planets which exist together in what we call the Solar System, likely because these are planets – the ones we know about – that float in space around the sun. We’ve given them names: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. There are a few smaller ones, and likely others that are as yet undiscovered. Some are named after Greek gods and goddesses. That tiny planet, third from the left, is Earth, which simply means “ground”. That’s where you and I live.
In the neighborhood of the other planets, we’ve grown into a world of billions of people. We are people who live, work, share, love, hate, and fight wars that wind up creating country borders that divide us. When seen from space, Earth has no borders – only continents surrounded by water. Despite the fact that we speak a variety of languages, we are all one people who need to live together — with or without borders — in peace.
How do we achieve this – everyone, everywhere living in peace? It can happen in a number of ways. For example, we can achieve personal peace when we think for ourselves, outside the strongbox of things we’ve been taught and perhaps have believed for a long time that actually are not true. Yes, really, not true. Achieving peace can begin when we talk with other people – some who think as we do, and with others who do not – and have discussions, conversations, a meaningful exchange of thoughts and ideas. It’s amazing what discoveries are made when we talk and share information.
We don’t know if there are living beings on other planets – at least not yet. If we are the only planet with living beings, what does that say about Earth? Is it possible other planets had living beings that didn’t make it, so some Force started over on Earth? That would take a very long time. It would begin with microscopic organisms that perhaps left signs of their presence in rocks that are more than three billion years old. Then, more than 500 million years ago, multicellular life forms began to multiply from falling stardust, and that stardust eventually became all living things on the planet – including us. Hard to believe, perhaps.
1 What You Believe
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
~ Robertson Da vies
Belief is the acceptance that a statement is true, or that something exists. An “acceptance” is not the truth itself – acceptance is a personal trust, a confidence or approval of something, whether or not there’s proof of its existence. Beliefs are perceptions, opinions, and perhaps predictions about the future. The beliefs we collect in our lives come together to form our “belief system” and are rooted in what we learn — from our parents, our teachers, the news media, our culture and society along with our personal experiences.
As children we often blindly accept what we’re taught and grow up continuing to believe those lessons. Instead of questioning our beliefs and taking the time to consider other beliefs in the world, we sit securely in what we’ve always done and thought. It’s like looking at one’s self as a computer with a hard drive full of customary programs of opinions and points of view. What we believe is based on what’s been downloaded to us and programmed inside us.
There are many kinds of beliefs – religious, political, societal, philosophical and spiritual – some true, some not. False beliefs lead us to incorrect conclusions. That’s why it’s important to question our beliefs – to challenge them on an ongoing basis.
Let’s start with a known difference in belief.
Creation: Do you believe in the creation legend that God created Adam and Eve, who were the first man and woman, in the Garden of Eden? And, therefore, that all of humanity descended from this single pair of original ancestors?
Evolution: Do you believe in the evolution of organisms over the course of generations that led from the earliest organism to fish and sharks, amphibians, terrestrial reptiles, birds, mammal-like reptiles, dinosaurs, eventually primates – and then human beings?
How does one evaluate these two concepts to discover “the truth”? Further, if I believe in one of those concepts and you believe the other, does that make us enemies? Is there proof that you are right, and I am wrong? Or vice-versa?
There is a common belief that stems from the Middle Ages – that our planet is flat. We’ve actually known for thousands of years that Earth is round. When Christopher Columbus took his famous voyage, there was fear – not that he’d fall off the face of the planet, but that the oceans would be too large for him to navigate. So even then, most people believed that Earth is round. An even more common belief is that the world is a perfect celestial sphere. In truth, our North and South Poles are slightly flattened, although they don’t look that way to us.
Flat-Earthers are still around today – lots of them. They aren’t necessarily people who don’t believe in science. It’s really about their distrust of authorities and institutions, based on a conspiracy mentality and a deeply held belief that looks a lot like a strong religious belief, but isn’t necessarily tied to a religion.
A Critical Thinking Break
The following questions are designed to help you think – really think – not just read them and turn the page – because thinking is the key to our awareness and our ability to make good decisions that help us live our lives in a healthy way.
Take a minute or two to consider truthful and meaningful questions about life. There are no right or wrong answers – only your answers. Say them out loud, write them down, or share with a friend or family member.
1. Is there something you always believed was true – and you later learned is not?