Isn’t it possible to move beyond our limited identifications and histories to a larger sensitivity: we all share our common humanity? 

We all long for the same things: a place to call home; the right to speak up; the right for justice to be blind BUT not deaf or muted; the right to love God and whomever we wish in our own way without threat; the right not to be limited or dictated to due to gender; all these no matter the color of our skin or our points of origin, or those of our neighbors. We all need the room to express our smaller identifications, and then find them embraced and celebrated not just with those who share them, but more importantly, with those who don’t. So we can practice our higher calling: a call to the love that runs through the spiritual traditions of nearly every human society on Earth; a call to compassion, service to all, and learning to understand by our willingness to belong; a call that brings out the best in each of us, while finding a place for and keeping safe those who are different. Yes, we need to find the room for all of our smaller identifications to exist; yet in community they must be subsumed under our larger identifications as humans, and conscious spiritual beings. Then we’ll get it right each time. These are the roots of international peace. 

We need to start with the intra-personal peace. We need to start with ourselves. Making ourselves peaceful means learning to handle negative emotions. It means learning to listen, and respond and not react. It means thinking clearly, critically and meaningfully about things simple and complex. It means moving beyond power and dominance to an engagement that cares and shares. And the secret to such capacities lies inside each of us, and in understanding how our breath works, how our own minds flow, how our hearts blossom, and resting often and regularly in the stillness and silence of our souls.