Suggestions for Having Peace on Earth
by Swami Beyondananda • Santa Rosa, CA

There will indeed be peace on Earth.
I sure hope we humans are around to enjoy it. — Swami Beyondananda

I hate to break it to Moses and the fellas on the Christian Right, but the Ten Commandments just haven’t worked. People have been commanded for millennia, but all this commanding hasn’t seemed to put a Higher Power in command. Take the current commander-in-chief– please! He’s commandeered the Ten Commandments and claims to be second-in-command to the Supreme Commander. And yet with all that going for him, he still wants his posse to be exempt from those three pesky commandments on killing, stealing and false witness.

At a time when a self-elected Administration has declared itself the world’s one super power, it seems they have "misunderestimated" one thing. The power of the people of the world multiplied by the power of love is bigger than any super power. It’s a Super Duper Power with the power to bring down the "Irony Curtain" and create a world that would make Moses kvell, Jesus smile and Buddha wink– and get six high-fives from Shiva.

That means that if we really do want a new age to arrive before old age does, we need to take command, but not with more commandments. So I have a suggestion. With people being so suggestible nowadays, let’s try the power of positive suggestion instead. And to indulge in a bit of Oneness-upsmanship, let’s make it Eleven Suggestions. I suggest we take these suggestions seriously, as well as humorously. The human race seems to be racing itself to the finish line. What remains to be seen is whether the forces of love reach critical mass before the forces of force reach critical massacre.

So, here are The Eleven Suggestions:

# 11. Declare a State of Emerge ‘n SEE. The best alternative to the current declared state of emergency is to declare a state of emerge n’ see. Emerge from the fear, and see we’re in this love together. Since we’re all One with the same One, we might as well go for the highest common denominator instead of the lowest common dominator. With enough of us emerging and seeing, the Golden Rule will finally overrule the rule of gold.

# 10. Use the Peace Mantra to Wage All-Out Peace. All that inner peace you’ve been developing all these years? Time to let it all out. All out peace. Whatever you’ve been saving it for, now is the time. Chant the peace mantra to help you keep your inner peace, even when your outer peace is in pieces. "Ah, peace on it!" See? I bet you are feeling more peaceful already.

# 9. Don’t Get Even– Get Odd. Ever since the first dysfunction at the junction, we humans have been at odds trying to get even. Oddly enough, it hasn’t worked. An eye for an eye only adds to the blindness. On the odder hand, we are all naturally odd. Each of us is totally unique– just like everyone else. So... let’s use our unique oddness to find the odd solutions that improve the odds for everyone.

# 8. Tell-A-Vision. If you don’t like the current programming, turn off your TV and tell a vision instead. That’s where I tell a vision to you, you tell a vision to me– and we have healing functional visions to step into. Which beats what we’ve been stepping into. So, I will tell a vision to stretch your imagination. Imagine... all of the peace groups actually getting along!

# 7. Invest in A Bun Dance, Not Scare City. Scare City is what we have now. One nation, under guard with feargnomes– little gnomes of gnawing fear– constantly being injected into the mainstream. A Bun Dance is when we get up off of our assets, move our buns and dance together in rhythm and flow. Think about it. If we spend more of our resources creating livelihood instead of building weapons of deadlihood, the ‘hood will become more lively and less deadly.

# 6. Practice Supply-Side Spirituality. The quickest way out of Scare City is to defy the laws of supply and demand by practicing supply-side spirituality. Be more supplying... and less demanding. If everyone did this, the world would change. Huge headaches that we didn’t even know we had would go away instantly. Because we’re not here to earn God’s love, we’re here to spend it! So what do we have to lose? Why don’t we go for heaven on earth, just for the hell of it?

# 5. Demand Transparency and End the Apparent Trance. If we want to heal the body politic, we must conduct a thorough examination. Time to un-spin the spun story, unravel the old yarn, and see the naked truth. Yes, I know. It can be downright disgusting to catch a glimpse of the underside of the seat of power. But if we don’t uncover the cover up, who will? Sure the truth can be upsetting. But you know the old saying: The truth shall upset you free.

# 4. Promote NEW CLEAR Energy. During World War II, we had the Manhattan Project to develop the first weapons of mass destruction, nuclear power. Well, now we need a Man Helpin’ Project to weave a web of mass construction, New Clear Power. Imagine renewable, non-polluting energy so abundant we don’t need armies to defend it. And that will be the end of rule by fossilized fools fueled by fossil fuels.

# 3. Start a Nonviolent Evolution. In order to give up war we must give up the war metaphor. Remember the war on poverty? Well, it is finally over. The last poor person has surrendered. And the war on drugs? I have a better idea. Improve reality instead. We need a nonviolent evolution to overgrow the current system and grow peace from the grassroots up. Imagine... think tanks where they think about more than tanks. If war is a necessary evil, why not create peace as a necessary good? Build it, and everybody will come.

#2. Celebrate "One, One, One" to Affirm Oneness. There’s no escaping it, folks. We are all part of the inescapable Oneness. The Universe has us surrounded. Might as well surrender. We’re all One. In other words, if I’m One, you’re One too! Let’s celebrate every January 11th– One, One, One– to affirm our Oneness. And maybe one day live up to our name– humankind. The day humankind learns to treat fellow humans kindly is the day all heaven will break loose.

#1. Practice FUNdamentalism, Accent on Fun. Even fundaMENTALists can be FUNdamentalists if they put the accent on fun. Sure, the world is in serious condition. But we cannot let gravity bring us down. Laughter is needed now more than ever because, let’s face it, there’s definitely something funny going on. We must laugh heartily and create an uprising in levity to shine the light of laughter on all the endarkened corridors of power. So let’s take a vow of levity... All for fun, and fun for all!

Will we ever achieve what FUNdamentalists everywhere pray for: Disarmageddon and Nonjudgment Day? Well, that’s what we’re going to live the future to find out. But if we switch to playing the World Game instead of the end-of-the-world game, it will definitely improve our odds.

To find out more about Swami’s most recent book, Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction or see his schedule of appearances, please go to www.wakeuplaughing.com or call (800) SWAMI-BE. ©copyright 2005, Steve Bhaerman.