Peace on Earth

Paulo: How does that happen?  "Peace on Earth."  How does it happen over an entire globe? It begins in your own heart when you cease to be in conflict with yourself, when you have aligned yourself appropriately. Appropriate to whom? Aye, there's the rub. Appropriate to the whole. But the whole has to be adequate in order for that kind of commitment to take place, and at this point, we haven't begun to garner the unity that yields the loyalty that transcends the separation that allows the whole to be.  

This is the stress, of course, on why it is that everyone become God-conscious, spirit-led. Even though intellectually it may be perceived different with each individual, in the essence of the spirit, harmony is the 
net result. Even today if you were to all set aside your intellectual differences, we would have peace on Earth. But since none of you are willing to set aside your opinions, it's necessary for us to have this growth, this conflict that can resolve values such as we are grappling with in order to have a greater appreciation for what it is we truly aspire for.  

This is a sociology matter. It's the brotherhood of man. It's Human Associations. It's about how people get along. It's about the fruits of the spirit ("And by your fruits you shall be known") even while your philosophies may vary greatly and your theologies be at complete odds. It is said that if you are to have faith, then have it to yourself. In this way you aren't arguing your ideas, you are living your beliefs - and those are values, meanings and ethics - not tenets. If you want to argue tenets, you're talking politics.  

There are no two of you alike, and thus no two of you share precisely the same thoughts. Each of your perceptions has your personal slant. It's not possible for all of you to have the same theology because it is so personal. It is intensely personal, inasmuch as it is the umbilical cord of your identity with reality, however those are perceived. This is why people die for their faith and what they believe in. It has reached the point of that is who they are; they live it so completely.  

If you understand your fellows, you will eventually find their motives and this will lead to an appreciation of their humanity such that your heart will be open to embrace the similarities you share, the values that are at the heart of you each, even as you differ in philosophy and approach.

Education is extremely important, but education is as much of a weapon as is religion. You can browbeat a people with knowledge and only alienate their affections. Knowledge is living and needs to be shared, socialized. Socially speaking it's a long process, and spirit can accelerate the process considerably by allowing for sudden leaps of faith and insight into situations that result in understanding and thus resolve.  

All of us want to know resolve, and have peace of mind. It's difficult enough, ascending these planes of existence, without battling everyone along the way. That we all battle inside ourselves in the good fight of faith is adequate struggle, but as long as humanity prefers to reach for reality outside himself, and project his own conflicts onto others, are we inconvenienced by these revolutions of conflict as we are viewing in your world today.

Thoroah: Peace on Earth must, relatively speaking, almost be like Heaven on Earth, to get to the point where a peaceful Earth will take a giant transformation.

Paulo: Well, isn't it a matter of surpassing your animal nature and isn't that a fair parallel of the ascension plan, to make the spread between life implantation and the attainment of Light and Life, thus the goal of the inhabited worlds? So to the extent that you continue to experience war, that is the extent to which you have attained mastery, as a race of people. Some worlds, some races on some worlds, have established a policy of segregation from the more warlike in an attempt to differentiate themselves.

Thoroah: How do you separate yourself from warlike people? They have a tendency to invade you.  

Paulo: It must be done early on. It's referenced in the Urantia Book 71:4.1 where it talks about those who would choose to live a peaceful life, have a right to separate themselves from those who would take advantage of their natures, and this is where defense is appropriate as compared to offense, which continues the cycle, but it's rare that you find a people who are willing to "turn the other cheek."

Thoroah: Historically, the United States has been on the perceived side of justice, freedom, human rights, etc. We seem to have taken the defense initiative to a certain level and then pulled back, sometimes maybe 
criticized for holding back, in that we have allowed the problem to remain by pulling back. How do you look at the United States as peace maker? Are they a peace maker or are they part of the problem?
 
Paulo: I don't want to give an "either/or" answer.  I don't want to say the United States is bad or good. For it has its strengths and its weaknesses. It is known throughout the world for its involvement in global affairs, but not always is its involvement favored. Sometimes it's regarded as an intrusion, an invasion. If you were to personalize the United States, give it a personality, and picture it being a grand manor at home but hob-nobbing throughout the neighborhood much of the time; there are those who say she should go home and mind her own business and quit meddling in the affairs of the neighborhood, while there are those who truly appreciate the services and the invigoration that comes from her visits.  

It's a matter of personality presentation. What would compel you to go to your neighbors house and offer your assistance or defend your property against their aggressions? Where does one draw the line on encroachment in terms of social justice? The answer is premature inasmuch as it is difficult if not impossible for you to rightfully judge your neighbor's behavior in and through your own view, but as a civilization, if you have a band of people who share your views and this band of people has power in the civilization, then as a civilization it may choose to act on behalf of its citizenry whereas individuals are unable to do so.  

So your conflict is unfinished growth. You haven't become a world society of people with a world government that can keep the peace by global law. You don't know each other well enough as nations to understand each other. Your cultures and religions are so different as to set each other up as if you were enemies, in a situation where fisticuffs is the only resolution. You would have far more power to act if you were acting as global citizens. But to the extent that religious differences, political differences, national 
differences, economic differences, language differences, etc, etc, continue to render you strangers to each other, your attempts at human brotherhood are aborted.  

An entire lesson is available on Encroachment from the perspective of unlawful aggressions and law.
LESSON 6: Encroachment

Again, education is a viable answer. Ignorance and prejudice stand in the way of growth. As prejudice dissolves because ignorance is enlightened, peace can prevail because understanding is possible. So we're in the realm of the mind. And all of your minds are in a tailspin, working overtime, so I say "Give me some slack. Give yourself some slack." There's a lot to think about, a lot banking on this episode in Earth's history, and the spiritual climate is as electrically charged as it has ever been, while the danger of physical annihilation is running high temperatures also.

No wonder we are here to teach you to be teachers. There is so much to be learned. So much reality to be impressed upon the people of Earth. So much reality needed to compensate for the centuries of unreality, which have held you in its grasp. What we can be glad of, however, is the quality of the Universal Father that allows its children to allow divinity to work in the lives of men and women even unconsciously, so that the reality of God is alive and well, even when the people themselves remain in ignorance.  

All this worry leads to tension and sometimes good arguments are ways of filing down the rough edges of a tense situation so that you can let go a little and laugh a bit, as a safety valve against destruction, but it takes a God-knowing constitution to keep a conversation in the bounds of good grace, not forgetting that you are fellows, not enemies. So when you see someone having a heated conversation, don't assume it's going to erupt. Be at peace. Have your own resolve. Maintain your own faith. Know who you are, and know 
what time it is in terms of your personal frame of reference for reality. If you can keep that focus, you can help bring about peace on earth faster by merely being anchored in the living water.