Blessed Are The Peacemakers
The origin of the word peacemaker meant ‘to bring about reconciliation’. In a broader context, reconciliation meant ‘to restore to union and friendship after estrangement or variance’. As much as this typically has a relationship context, in regards to the Beatitudes it is primarily something that happens within the consciousness of each individual. The reconciliation is between that part of us that buys into the world of illusion with its treasures of ‘wealth, power, love, and fame’ and that part of us that seeks a world of enlightenment with its treasures of ‘social justice, mercy, pure love and peace’.
In Christian theology, to be reconciled meant to ‘restore (mankind, sinners) to favour or grace’. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they became estranged, or at variance with God. This was referred to as the fall. The atonement was the mechanism of reconciliation, and according to Christians, was made possible though Jesus’s atoning sacrifice. Interestingly enough the Beatitudes don’t make any reference to Jesus, but rather identify the changes in consciousness that would be needed to enter the kingdom of Heaven, which is the ultimate reconciliation with God.
Whatever the context, reconciliation and being a peacemaker was all about bringing things back together again. Given the journey so far, the Beatitudes could be best described as a detailed explanation for reconciliation. To summarise this journey of reconciliation thus far, we began by being in a state of suffering because we had put too many eggs in the basket of unsustainable values; wealth, power, love, and fame. With the intervention of Natural Justice, Time (ageing) and Chance (the turn of events beyond our control) we end up dropping our basket. In other words, it becomes clear that the things we thought were important, that we value, weren’t sustainable.
We eventually find comfort in making the shift from our grieving (attachment) for what we have lost, to mourning those things. If you recall, that was about replacing the attachment with just being the observer of what we have lost. In that place we experience inner-peace, freedom from our suffering and begin to explore the idea of a life without those things that we once valued. We are teachable in this place and begin to learn about sustainable values. Our apprenticeship in this new consciousness is developing a ‘hunger and thirst’ for social justice. This is our first taste of reconciliation, the first of the new sustainable values that will make it possible for us to be aligned with agape (brotherly love, in contrast to eros which was carnal or sensual love).
Our alignment with this more spiritual state of love saw us adopt a consciousness of mercy (forgiveness), that when coupled with social justice resulted in a total transformation in how we turned up in life. Now our values are aligned with compassion and empathy. In this place we find our suffering being more consistently replaced with peace, joy, love, gentleness, and goodness. We may not have all of the things that we previously thought were important, be we are also devoid of any suffering now. In this place we become naturally engaged in putting our light on this path for others, as they get to witness the changes that we have experienced.
The richness of what we experience in this state of consciousness is such that we naturally choose this state of ‘love consciousness’ as our way of life. In that moment of decision, we have become a peacemaker, because we have become reconciled with pure love (agape) which is the way we as humans experience God (God is love), or as the Beatitudes explain it, “...for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”
This state of ‘love’ awareness is the pinnacle of Western mindfulness. This is being so aware of the loving alternative, that in each moment you will be mindful that there is the choice to be more loving to yourself, to others and to the environment. At EAP, we help you to have this become your modus operandi and no longer the exception to the rule. Prior to EAP, most people never stop to consider the ‘more loving options’, most behaviour is habitual, based on formative-years programming. Through their EAP journey they become more aware of the ‘more loving options’ and slowly become more mindful of the choice. At first they are more inclined to resort to their programmed behaviours, but with their ongoing mentoring, they begin to more consistently recall that they have a choice, and naturally find themselves making more loving choices.
It could be said that they have become reconciled with their ‘higher self’, evidenced by lives that have less stress and suffering, having been replaced with improved wellbeing, clarity of thought, an ongoing feeling of joy and happiness and freedom. The freedom to live life free of the limitations of the past.
This is what it means to be a peacemaker!
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