I’m writing this just after the two-minute silence marking 100 years since the end of World War 1.

I’m feeling reflective, moved and a bit disquieted. I apologise in advance if this reads like a bit of a rant – but here goes!

I think it’s wonderful that we remember and honour all the people who gave their lives in this conflict (and all conflicts since).

But I often wonder what we have really “learned” from this event, and others since – as we bow our heads for the two minutes of silence, and we watch world leaders laying down wreaths.

I realise this may be controversial for some… and I really feel it’s time now that we wake up as a society – to who we really are, and what is really going on.

I’m not for a minute ‘blaming’ anybody – and I realise that your average ‘Tommy’ had no choice but to go and die on the battlefields of France.

And I sometimes feel perplexed that as a species, we seem to keep repeating the same mistakes.  Given how much we’ve learned about the material world, the universe, the human brain, and thousands of years of spiritual teachings – how come many people still seem to be so… asleep?

All global problems stem from the same root cause, in my opinion:

Many people have an innocent misunderstanding about where their experience is coming from, and they don’t know they are infinite creative potential walking around in a body.

We think our experience is coming from outside – out there.  If we’re feeling angry, lost, confused, envious and fearful, we conclude that it’s either somebody else’s fault, or there’s something wrong with us.

Either way – we need to act in the external world to change or fix things.

It is impossible to declare war on anybody unless you believe the above.

Decisions can be made from Love or from Fear.  We seem to keep repeating Fear over and over again.

Dr. George Pransky, a mentor in the understanding I share, says that the ONE problem underpinning all problems is “Chronic Bad Feelings – Misunderstood and Misattributed”.

Thought in the moment, BELIEVED.

And the one Solution?

Understanding.

PTSD:  I’ve been hearing a lot in the media this last week about the terrible problem of suicide and mental ill-health amongst veterans.  This understanding (at least, most of the time) brings that suffering to an end, permanently.  I know this because of my personal experience, and the experience of many colleagues who are sharing this understanding with those people.

Suicide:  The suffering that makes people want to end their lives is terrible.  And it’s real, and it’s so, so sad.  This understanding routinely transforms people who are experiencing suicidal thinking, and gives them hope to continue – creating a different relationship with themselves and their thinking.

Divisive Politics:  For leaders such as Donald Trump, (or, more accurately, the Americans who like his policies) fear looks like it’s coming from the caravan of immigrants – therefore let’s build a wall.  It isn’t coming from there.  Fear and insecure thinking says:  “this is my country, my land, my family”.  As though, somehow, we didn’t make up the borders between countries in the first place. As though we have no connection with people who happen to have been born in a different country.

Separation.  Insecurity.  Scarcity.  Fear.

Violent Crime:  For the young man who went on a shooting spree recently in the US, it looked like his bad feelings of isolation and separation were coming from the fact that other people had more money, better looks, and more girlfriends than he did.  We know this from the journals the police found in his home after he shot himself. Those feelings weren’t coming from any of that.

Knife Crime in London and elsewhere:  For the young men in London who have taken the lives of others, it really looks like they are safer if they carry knives. They are genuinely scared.  Better to at least have a way of defending yourself. I get that.  And our response?  More stop and search.  More police.  More criminalisation.  More separation, fear and misunderstanding.

Gangs:  If you feel that you get all your sense of identity, belonging and love from your gang, it’s inevitable that you will stay in the gang.

Refugees and displaced people:  When you go right back to the root cause of this – it’s always conflict.  OK, very occasionally, it’s famine – but even that stems from inequity… from the corrupt few grabbing most of the resources – fuelled again by a sense of scarcity and insecurity.

Drugs and other Addictions:  These all stem from a sense of separation and wanting to numb our feelings. To escape from pain into momentary pleasure or nothingness.

Bullying, greed, raping the planet and the oceans for profit – I could go on and on.

If your moment to moment experience of life is Peace of Mind, Love, Wisdom and Well-Being, you just don’t DO any of these things.

I’m not religious at all, but I was fascinated recently to learn something about the Ten Commandments that I hadn’t realised before.  The Ten Commandments are the bedrock of the Judeo-Christian faith.

You remember them right?  Thou shalt not kill, steal, covet your neighbour’s ass.  All that.  Apparently, in the original Aramaic, the translation was not “Thou Shalt” or “Thou Shalt Not”.  It was more like:   “When you accept God into your heart, you will, and you will not”.

It’s just the natural consequence of the way you feel inside.

Similarly, when your experience of life is brimming over with Love, Peace, Gratitude, Wisdom and that profound OK-ness – you WILL not start a war, stab somebody, take substances that shorten your life, commit suicide, or knowingly hurt yourself or others.  It just wouldn’t occur to you.

Chronic bad feelings – misunderstood.

It’s a lot to do with where we’re coming from.  One of the things I can do to help create world peace is to live a peaceful life myself.  To see the world around me through the eyes of love and compassion, rather than the eyes of fear.

Today, on this centenary, I renew and deepen my commitment to sharing this new paradigm of understanding with as many people as I can.  To help people wake up to their own capacity for resilience, fresh insights and well-being.  So that they can begin to experience even more freedom, love, thriving, compassion and oneness.

I won’t be here to see it, but I optimistically hope that in another 100 years the human race has evolved to a higher level of consciousness.

What will your contribution be?