Peace begins in the human mind

Sunday Morning Sermon July 6 2014

Peace Begins in the Human Mind

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore, (individual citizens) have the duty to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

~ Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

The concept of a “golden rule” in which we do to others only what we would want others to do to us, can be found in one form or another as far back as the civilizations of ancient China, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It has been called an “ethic of reciprocity,” and can be found in all cultures, and in all world religions as well as in the philosophies of humanists and existentialists. It is, in short, an ethical code that most all of humanity can agree on. 

Why then do we find ourselves here in the 21st century inhabiting a world that is dangerously polarized, with a growing imbalance of power and wealth among the ever-increasing number of people on the Earth, with continuing wars that ravage populations and waste resources, with massive genocide and terrorist atrocities that endanger us all? 

How is it that we find humankind facing the terrifying possibility of environmental catastrophe? These questions confront us with a greater urgency than ever, and it is these questions that have led us to the human mind and the human thought process — the great possibilities of compassion that lie within each human being —  to identify a solution.

​Unless we put our minds to good use and make decisions and conclusions using common sense and reality this plamet of ours will never have the peace it deserves.

Amen!​