We only know what we know. I know nothing about how to bring peace to a troubled world.
I have one or two ideas about bringing peace to our own troubled souls.
The best way I know of helping to restore the peace of another who’s troubled is through listening.
Listening is what the world needs. A compassionate ear. A chance to be heard.
In my listening, I follow the philosophical principle called “verifiable by me.” In this perspective, the speaker is the sole authority on their internal states, choices, reasoning, etc.
If I suggest a name for the feeling they appear to be feeling and they say it doesn’t resonate with them or fit with them, I let the matter go. And let it go. And let it go. They are the authority on the matter of themselves.
I drop all agendas and accept their agenda as if I were a second Self.
Curiously, the more I let failed suggestions go, the more truthful the conversation seems to get. And then the truth and the self-revelation get deeper. Until we strike the mother lode of whatever it is that’s silently screaming to be known.
Once known, that truth sets the speaker free from the upset and helps free them from the underlying issue. (1)
That resolution to events restores peace. It restores joy. It restores a lot of things.
***
And, as I was saying to a friend the other day, it restores a person … to … normalcy.
When our vasanas go off, we go temporarily insane. The deeper we’ve been withholding, the larger is the eruption when it comes. And the crazier we look.
When we actually complete a “sleeping volcano,” instead of erupting all over the place, we restore ourselves to … being normal again. We’re not a freak show any more. We’re not the talk of the neighborhood. Or whatever our fantasy is about ourself. Suddenly we feel normal again.
Getting a listening for what ails us is the means of allowing the volcanic pressure to release safely and responsibly. We bore a hole into the magma chamber with our attention And the truth, which has been tamped down for a long time, rises to the surface, finally setting the speaker free.
That’s the theory. And from years of testing it out, I’d assert that it’s the safest healing technology with the greatest possible benefits for each of us and the planet.
It’s simple. Listen to those around you. Let them speak. Give them their turn at bat.
That’s my contribution to the healing technology of restoring peace to the world.
Footnotes
(1) Certain core issues or major vasanas may have to be repeatedly processed. But they weaken over time if consistently processed rather than being energized by being projected outward (eg., “you made me mad!”).
