By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

“Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all,
I should know what God is and man is.”
Alfred Lord Tennyson

“With malice toward no-one, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us ... achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."
Abraham Lincoln
Second Innaugural Address
March 4, 1865

“If ever there is peace on earth, goodwill to men, it will be because of women like Mother Theresa. Peace is not something you wish for. It’s something you make, something you do, something you are and something you give away."
Robert Fulghum
All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten

Power: Great or marked ability to do or to act; energy,
force, strength, might, originating from within one’s self.

Peace: State of mutual harmony between people, groups,
and nations characterized by tranquility, mutual respect
and ultimately acceptance of others as they are.

In an increasingly complex world with a confusing array of forces clamoring for acknowledgment or attention via force, military might and violence as well as others attempting to negotiate to find a reasonable solution to conflict, the way of peace is strewn with suffering, death and loss...often of a magnitude we individually, and I suspect collectively, cannot even begin to imagine.

Why is power so feared, yet so avidly sought? Why do we give over our lives to gain control over others, groups, organizations, communities, even a country or a nation?

The reasons I suspect are as complex as the question!

In a certain sense, very very early in life we slowly, albeit essentially unconsciously, seek to understand our environment and our relationship to it. When a child cries for food, he is influencing the attendant parent(s) to provide the necessary nourishment. If the parent is inattentive or busy or has attention focused on other matters, the child simply cries louder and more constantly. It’s not a conscious matter of control over the parent. It’s more merely a demonstration of how the innate power of the being, (the child) is called into action to survive.

The survival instinct is undoubtedly one of the single most significant drives in a human being to maintain the incarnation, to live, to stay alive. As the child begins his journey toward adulthood, he grows more conscious and gradually learns how he best functions. Each soul discovers the ways that work to get his/her needs met.

I believe this behavior is familiar to all incarnated beings. And it is the place within us where we deeply learn about our personal relationship to power. Power in this sense is the internal energy that we access to accomplish goals we have intentioned, such as playing a sport, going to school, learning a craft, or skill, becoming trained as a professional, taking a trip, creating art, music, singing, dancing, or expressing ourselves in literally many thousands of forms in a lifetime.

When we get sidetracked, lose our way, fail at accomplishing a desired goal, of whatever magnitude or importance, we ostensibly lose our power. At deeper levels of the being, we really do not lose it. We doubt its’ presence. If we focus on passing a test in an academic setting and discover later that we failed the test, we often can and do doubt ourselves. We say, “I failed. I’m stupid, or dumb. I missed the goal. I messed up.” Such doubt can be initially crushing and seriously damages our belief in ourselves. In a reasonably emotionally and mentally healthy individual, we learn to reapply ourselves, renew what needs to be mastered and go forward. We let go of doubt and become focused again.

The example of failure above can be applied across the many varied and specific areas of our lives. Failure creates doubt in ourselves for many reasons. As we overcome failure, we discover the strength, the determination, the physical, emotional, mental power to go forward and succeed.

As this discovery is realized (how to succeed and overcome failure) we increase our belief in ourselves. As that capacity increases, it becomes more available to us and we achieve a degree of mastery ... such as in performance of our art (dance, singing, playing a musical instrument) or excellence in the use of our body and a sport such as football, soccer, golf, swimming, etc. This can then be fully extended to our career, professional work, or in any area of our life.

Others surrounding us, often family and friends acknowledge our successes ... we may even be feted or celebrated for certain milestones. And thus deep belief in our power is enthroned.

Our society taken as a whole tends to sanction and thus recognize the way and manner in which we can use power in our lives, in all areas of our business, profession, social exchanges, family, academic life, church, political environment, etc.

Problems appear or emerge in the way and manner various individuals use their power in focusing their talent. A sports figure is extoled for his/her skill. He/she is given accolades, large salaries, positions of authority in a team or even in a local community. And he/she takes on a life that is lifted beyond that day to day living requires of us. We say he/she is powerful, power hungry and often ego centered.

If there is not a balance of moral, ethical or spiritual development along with all of the other components of the specific skill or talent, we have what’s often called an ego-centered soul. This is exemplified in every profession, business, school, church, political and scientific institution the world over. Here personal power is used to control others, to manipulate others for one’s own ends, such as to amass enormous wealth and position to rule over others for selfish ends.

As we constantly refine, strengthen and develop as more conscious beings, we learn how to focus our innate abilities. This means that we can use an activity such as an architectural skill, or building talent, or financial capability to excel, to be successful, to ultimately make a difference in the world. Any talent that we choose to develop can be successful. This is one of many, many uses of our inner power. It can be used to serve ourselves, others, the community, the state, country or nation. The more we focus an ability, the larger it becomes. Whenever men or women become very successful or prominent, we say they are powerful. And they are. How they use their talents and abilities, to serve themselves or others makes all the difference.

The way of peace is also about using our inner power! The action of peace is the capacity to offer a quality of harmony, a quality of neutrality, perhaps even gentleness, as well as a purposeful, non-threatening, non controlling energy that supports others as well as ourselves.

The same inner power used to struggle, create anger, express something that is not harmonious for all people involved can be used for peace. When we offer a peaceful gesture as a way to control others, we are using power as a way to manipulate and to make others do our bidding. That ultimately is unhealthy and quickly leads to conflict.

I believe the task of each incarnated soul is to become master of his own innate power in a healthy, balanced manner. When and as that happens, our personal power changes in quality. It becomes a way that we offer strength, focus and our talents that can be used for the highest good, for ourselves and for others.

The gift of our lifetime is that we bring into the incarnation an astonishing array of talents and latent abilities that can be accessed and utilized and brought into human form. The hope is that we can develop our personal relationship in such a way that holds our internal power in a peaceful, balanced and thus loving way.

The universe is not ruled by arbitrary, temporary martial law. No force exists that is powerful enough to derail it, or to continue indefinitely on its own path unregulated, like an outlaw who disrupts all harmony around him. On the contrary, every force must return to a state of equilibrium along a preordained curve. Waves rise, each to its own level, with an apparent attitude of relentless rivalry, but only up to a certain point. We can thus understand the vast serenity of the sea, to which all the waves are connected, and to which they must all subside in the rhythm of marvelous beauty.
Wisdom
by Danielle and Oliver Follmi
365 Thoughts from Indian Masters