Stephanie Rivera: A plan for permanent world peace

03/18/2003

IF THERE IS ANY event in today's world that could convince all its citizens that civilization as we know it is in a downward spiral, it is the violence spinning out of control within and among many countries. This was manifested most tragically for Americans in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

For Israelis and Palestinians, it takes the form of an age-old bloodlust that threatens to set off a nuclear exchange between West and East. For the Balkans, it is the enmity of religious and ethnic factions only kept at bay by U.N. peace forces. For India and Pakistan, it has materialized in renewed hostilities between Hindus and Muslims and the tug of war over the rights to Kashmir; and for North Korea and South Korea it has developed into a frightening nuclear escalation.

Meanwhile, Iraq's promise to defend itself against the U.S. military points to the possibility of chemical and biological warfare.

What is to be done? If we look to the world's leaders, we see posturing about military strength, increased use of high-tech weaponry to contain enemies, and peace talks that end in failure.

Quite simply, our leaders merely reflect their people when the world is full of stress, negativity and tension. A new paradigm must be introduced to bring about a solution to this senseless use of violence as a means to achieve lasting peace.

In fact, that paradigm is present today, but the leaders of the Free World choose not to recognize it.

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, changed the landscape of our lives so cruelly, John Hagelin, a renowned quantum physicist, spent time on Capitol Hill. There he met with congressional leaders, senior military officials from the Pentagon, and members of the White House staff, such as Tom Ridge, then the special assistant to the president for homeland defense. At some of the meetings he was accompanied by Peter Salk, a biomedical researcher, and David Edwards, a highly respected professor of political science at the University of Texas

They spoke about the need for a whole new technology of peace.

At first glance, such an idea seems like a fairy tale -- that is, to those who have not followed Dr. Hagelin's career as the presidential candidate of the Natural Law Party since its inception in 1992.

It has been his core message, both politically as the leader of the party in the last three national elections, and professionally as the director of the Maharishi International University's Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, in Fairfield, Iowa.

The message is very simple: The problem of world peace can only be solved by neutralizing the acute ethnic and religious tensions that fuel violence, social conflict and terrorism.

The technology to do this already exists, and has been proven by hundreds of studies, which have been replicated over the years. Furthermore, that technology is based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge about the deepest level of nature's functioning -- the unified field of natural law, as discovered by modern physics -- and research on human consciousness.

In a nutshell, individuals who learn how to operate on the deepest level of nature enjoy peace and happiness, and their influence spreads throughout society in a measurable, powerful way, disarming terrorism at its source.

The terrible events arising out of the widespread conflicts in the world today necessitate that all governments heed Dr. Hagelin's invitation to take part in an effort to permanently stabilize the world and create an environment to support permanent peace.

In the escalation of the defense establishment to add billions more to new weapons systems, one central and irrevocable truth emerges -- that such steps are not only futile, but are directing America's wealth away from securing the safety of citizens. Despite a defense budget increased by hundreds of billions of dollars, our leaders can only warn us that future attacks on America are inevitable, that we must prepare ourselves for the kind of terrorism, or worse, that Israel is experiencing.

Dr. Hagelin went to Washington with a proposal to bring about an immediate reduction in world hostilities. The cost of this plan in perpetuity is $1 billion -- a fraction of what is being spent on weapons systems that function only to bring about peace through death.

To be more exact, the amount is half the cost of one B-2 bomber, a gargantuan relic of Cold War military strategy.

The money would be inviolate; the interest alone would be used to establish a permanent group of 40,000 experts in "technologies of consciousness" in India. Year-round, they would perform these technologies together, creating a powerful influence within the unified field that would enliven those universal, fundamental qualities of bliss, unity and coherence in the collective consciousness of the world.

These technologies are not secret and mystical nature, but rather have arisen from a rediscovery of practices in the Vedic tradition of India -- formulas at least 10,000 years old and that for centuries have been misinterpreted and misunderstood.

It was to enliven the true meaning of the Vedas that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi came out of seclusion in the 1950s and began to lecture on enlightenment as the birthright of everyone. Maharishi introduced the Transcendental Meditation program, the technique and the experience of which could be obtained and the benefits realized with a few hours of instruction.

So began the TM movement. Today, TM-Sidhi centers are worldwide, as are Maharishi's Vedic Universities, Ayurvedic Health Centers and products, and Sthapatya Vedic architecture and construction projects. Meanwhile, new programs are being developed in organic agriculture and creation of ideal communities built in accordance with natural law.

These programs offer tremendous potential for individual fulfillment and world peace. The need has now arisen for a response to the continuing threat of annihilation that has put human life at risk on this planet, not only via wars and terrorism, but via the increasing degradation of nature by poachers and polluters, individual and corporate.

Unfortunately, while our government's leaders initially seemed to listen to Dr. Hagelin's proposal, their inability to think outside the box has obscured their capacity to act for the public's welfare.

Despite the efforts of leaders such as Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio) to use their influence in support of Dr. Hagelin's proposal, no funds have materialized for such a project. Its simplicity, its elegance has been lost in the maze of conflicting interests. That our representatives could not even agree to invest in a scientifically verified program to create peace during a war on terrorism shows the confusion and gridlock in Washington.

Although our government has demurred from supporting this solution, many people within the TM organization have started implementing this plan by contributing $1 million each in an effort to reach $100 million -- the amount necessary to finance the formation of the first permanent group of 10,000 experts in technologies of consciousness.

With these donations, facilities are already being prepared at three locations in India to house them. Furthermore, financial support from American donors will fund a plan to engage a second group, of at least 8,000 experts, to come to Fairfield, Iowa, on a permanent basis to create coherence in the United States.

These initiatives represent major steps to avert further escalation of global violence and conflict and to create a system that would insure perpetual world peace, a world in which all peoples would live in harmony.

Stephanie Rivera, long active in Rhode Island political-reform movements, lives in West Kingston.