How far are you willing to go for peace? Are you willing to take to the streets and march in protest? Are you willing to fight for your rights or the rights of the underprivileged? Are you willing to stand up for what you think is right and let the world know where injustice is done so that things can be put right once and for all? Are you willing to enforce rules and regulations upon others so that the right moral code can be upheld and you can finally experience a peaceful society? Do you think that any or all of these measures are justified in the search for peace? If your answer was yes to anyone, but the first question above you are not in it for peace, but vengeance.

I ask once again: How far are you willing to go for peace? Are you willing to sit down and meditate for 15 minutes every day to calm your raging thoughts that jump from one subject of another, mostly negatively and often supported by the scrolling images of the mass media newscasts that earn their paycheck by finding the most horrific condition on earth? You know, they edit them to fit their commercial view and delivering them directly into your living room and your mind, accompanied by dramatic music and with one goal in mind: To get you to hook onto their fear-based reality so that you will watch, listen, get hooked, stay hooked and stay for the commercial break. Is there something in the back for your mind questioning all of this? A voice of reason that may be getting stronger. Or do you believe you can go unaffected?

Are you willing to stop fighting with your girlfriend? To extend love when someone you love is not extending it to you. To see that it is pain that have her act out and that her acting out, in reality, is a cry for love from a part that is currently not feeling loved? Are you willing to become the mature one, that does not ask your child to stop crying or muffle their anger when they show what is considered “bad” behavior? Can you see their outrage as a cry for love? Are you willing to come to a maturity level that really seeks peace?

Most actions taken towards peace in the world foster the opposite, because they are extended from a mind that is not yet peaceful. If your mind is in an upheaval of the wrong that you perceive another one has done, how can you extend peace? How can you bring peace to a situation where you believe that someone else has to change their behavior to accommodate you? How does that differentiate you from any other tyrant in the world? The truth is it doesn’t. And yet, most of us execute this behavior in one way or another. It may be our children or our lover that we want to control, or it may be a work situation where we want to execute superiority above others to get ahead. We may believe in competition past the purpose of the playful arena of sports, which in itself leads us to believe in the flawed premise of scarcity that we all buy into as means to keep fighting for what we think we need or what we think is right. We all know by now that mother earth has enough resources to support us all, we are just not willing to share because we believe in doing so we will lack and suffer. Most peaceful actions are vengeance from a distorted mind and are best to be examined by the individual before any actions are taken. This might sound hush: But how far are you willing to go for peace?

Are you willing to hold your tung the next time your mother says something that annoys you, or your daughter behave in a way that you don’t approve of? Are you willing to extend peace to your husband? To your mother in law? Or is it behold for the victims of war in a faraway country where you believe that they are suffering and are in need of your intervention for peace?

What would happen if the mass media left the Middle East alone? I’m just asking the question; I’m not projecting any answers. I’m neither attacking the mass media or placing any blame, after all, they are still serving a need in the spectator. It’s just a thought experiment for you. What do you think would happen if there were no news reports? No news helicopters and reporters scavenging the area for every bit of perceived injustice and violence? Do you think the conflict would escalate or de-escalate with the lack of attention? Just think about it, and ask that voice of reason in the back of your mind.

How far are you willing to go for peace? Are you willing to let go of your vengeance? Are you willing to allow yourself to be happy instead of right? Are you willing to forgive, truly forgive and forget the past? Are you willing to look past the perceived sin and into the soul of your brother? Are you willing to see the human behind the mask and understand that every act of violence whether it is on behalf of a nation, a group formation or a single individual is a cry for love?

This world has not gone mad, the human mind has. We live in a society that turns to violence for entertainment. People think it was an outrage that only a few centuries ago execution was considered entertainment, that was the barbaric times. Meanwhile, we place our bodies in front of the tv every single night looking to be entertained by the crushing of bones and the blasting of guns. We worship a world of violence and separation while we look to others to take care of world peace. And when we meet the truly peaceful person we don’t understand them. We don’t understand their unconditional love and non-violent ways. We believe them to be weak or uninterested in mainstream society since they are not willing to constantly talk about the state of affairs and follow the flashing news. We think they are naïve and out of touch, that they are selfish not to get involved in the things that we believe to be truly important!

What we don’t realize is that these people are our saviors. They are the ones that have given their time to world peace because they don’t separate their own inner peace from the peace of others. They are not under the impressions that putting their body in a match for peace will make any difference unless it is lead by the rear individual like Gandhi or Malcolm X who had already achieved their own inner peace. They are not under the impression that any government will ever inflict any form of peace in their own country, let alone in anyone else unless the leader has found their own inner peace. They know that there is no peace on earth unless peace is found in each individual mind first.

Are you willing to go to this length for world peace? Are you willing to look within and find where you fight your self and your brother? To see where you have put up your barriers towards love to the extent that you can’t see anything but a hateful and competitive world that is out to hurt you? Are you willing to let go of your pain, your hurt, your self-loathing, for the extension of world peace? Please consider, the world needs your peace of mind.


Best Sunday wishes. May your mind rest in peace today.

– Ingunn Tennbakk

#ingunntennbakk #awakenyourbigshe #holisticsexology

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash