Our neighbors are not first our enemies, but our fellow human beings; not criminals to be hated, but other men and women with whom we can speak. Let us reject the Manichean notions so typical of that mindset of violence that divides the world into those who are good and those who are evil.
—Pope Leo, May 2025
I’m sharing this archived post today, because, sadly, the number of global conflicts have doubled over the past five years and today we are experiencing the most wars since the end of WWII. I hope you’ll take a few minutes this weekend to soften the seeds of conflict in your own heart and mind, restore your connection to your good sense and wisdom, and share your goodness with yourself, your community, and the world. x Kim
Buddhists often refer to events or circumstances as “causes and conditions”. That’s because nothing just appears out of nowhere—everything requires many causes and particular conditions to exist. That includes an object like a wooden table, which at least requires a tree, someone to fell the tree, people who turn it into lumber, a delivery person to get it to a shop or a craftsman, and a furniture maker. The tree itself requires many causes and conditions, like proper weather, water, and nutrients. And the appropriate weather requires causes and conditions like humidity, wind, and pressure. So you can start to see that all of us live within a vast ecosystem of countless and ever-changing causes and conditions. This is good news, because it means that nothing is doomed to stay the same, and that change is always possible—all we have to do is to change conditions.
This includes war. Although war has been with humanity since the beginning, that doesn’t mean that war is inevitable. Peace is possible — by stopping the causes of war. Of course there are many reasons and causes of violence and conflict, but the deepest roots of war—human hatred, greed, and delusion—come from inside of ourselves. So one way to help create conditions for peace is to develop our hearts and minds to alleviate these poisonous roots — to bring wisdom and kindness to our own hatred and anger, so we can be free from the war inside—and prevent the wars outside too.
The following practice is useful to lessen anger, bias, and ignorance about others—to practice non-violence in thought, word, and deed. It’s designed to remind you that all human beings are just like you — the people you like, you don’t like, you disagree with, you don’t know — they want to have happy minds and be free from suffering too. Find a quiet place, turn off your devices, and slowly recite this aspiration three times, and repeat as necessary.
May I be happy
May I be peaceful
May I be free from oppression, violence, and hatred.
May my friends be happy
May my friends be peaceful
May my friends be free from oppression, violence, and hatred.
May my enemies be happy
May my enemies be peaceful
May my enemies be free from oppression, violence, and hatred.
May all beings be happy
May all beings be peaceful
May all beings be free from oppression, violence, and hatred.
Paid Subscribers can also listen to the following podcast meditation to help create peace:
All Subscribers can read this from the archive to help create peace:
Metta+++,
Kim✨
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