Oneness: The Heart of Spiritual Peacemaking

By James O’Dea

We are living in a time of great mystery. It is a time of shattering and fragmentation. Yet in the midst of the rubble of violent aggression, dead-end dogmas, false claims, distraction and seduction a truth that embraces all life is on the horizon for an awakening humanity. Already sending its shafts of illumination into diverse cultures, into science, sacred psychology and spiritual traditions the truth of our oneness is reaching the consciousness of millions of people.

But this is no kind of passive enlightenment where people wake up and simply get it: oneness is not an idea, it is a state of being that must be activated.  We awaken to our roles and responsibilities as part of the whole and on behalf of the whole. In the rising consciousness of oneness we step into our own fullness: there is no ready-made prescription for a world so wounded as ours and so we are called to summon our deepest personal creativity. We are called to release our own unique quality of being into the field of action to embody empathy, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion and healing.

We are unleashing the power of peacemaking as never before because we are bringing it from the center of our hearts and the very core of our being. We are spreading peace from the inside out as we incorporate the knowledge and skills of spiritual science, of energy mastery, of nonviolent communication and of whole systems transformation. Our oneness holds the secret of our uniqueness and the glory of our diversity. We discover that a call to sameness is what causes war, what spreads terror, what promotes fear of difference and what suppresses unique identity. Sameness loses its oppressive power in the presence of oneness--- for it is oneness that invites us to be fully at home in a universe bursting with endless vitality and ingenuity.

The heart of spiritual peacemaking defines the next generation of work for peacemakers everywhere -- whether they are working on the home front, in their communities, on the national stage or in the world's troubled hot spots. Spiritual peacemaking expresses oneness in our everyday lives by practicing non-judgment and at the same time engaging in conflict resolution. It addresses the roots of alienation and division. It recognizes how our suffering connects with the transmission of wounds and destructive karmic patterns that lead to future victimization.

If you think of this as a time of change you may be missing the point: it is a time of whole scale transformation.  There is a great confluence of knowledge and skills that is being laid before us about how to create peace on planet Earth. We must acquire the knowledge and skills of spiritual peacemakers and put them to use with a sense of our own unique mission and purpose. Then we shall really taste oneness.

James O' Dea is award winning author of Cultivating Peace and the lead faculty for the Shift Network's Peace Ambassador Training with hundreds of international participants.

These trainings are ongoing. His Path of the Peacemaker course attracted students from 24 countries. He is a well-known figure in international social healing who has conducted reconciliation dialogues for 15 years. James also leads Breakthrough Intensives for emerging leaders of all ages.

He is on the extended faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and its former President. The former Washington office director of Amnesty International and CEO of the Seva Foundation, O'Dea is also a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Group.