AS MENTIONED IN THE HOME PAGE WE NEED TO CHANGE
the dysfunctional paradigm of civilization. We have described several efforts on this website. Meji is also affiliated with Ik Onkar Peace Foundation that conducts activities to promote peace. Mr. Ralph Wolff, J.D. has been involved in peace making for over 30 years. Meji attended one of his workshops organized by Beyond War over quarter of a century ago. Ralph is the Executive Director of WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), an accrediting body that accredits the Universities in the Western States.
Over twenty years ago when Meji was Dean of Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology Ralph invited him to join a group Higher Education for Peace comprising of several Presidents of Graduate Schools and Universities. They have been friends ever since and individually they have been involved in Peace efforts over thirty years. In 2002 they organized Ik Onkar Peace Foundation that is described below.
IK ONKAR PEACE FOUNDATION
Mission
The mission of Ik Onkar Peace Foundation is to promote personal growth toward divine consciousness within individuals, and in relationship to one another, while seeking harmony in the world. It strives to promote peaceful conflict resolution without the use of violence, encourages economic and social justice while preserving planetary beauty and resources.
Articles of Incorporation
Preamble
Ik Onkar means there is one Divine Creator that manifests Itself in Its Creation. This implies that the essence of all beings is the same Divine. Every one and every thing in this universe is sacred. The divine is both immanent and transcendental. There is a Divine Order that governs the creation.
“Everything is in Divine Order there is nothing outside of it. If one understands this then one does not make Haumain based claims.”
– Guru Nanak Dev Ji
You and I are in essence the same. What keeps us apart is Haumain i.e. , “I am” consciousness. Attachment to Haumain is the cause of all suffering. The second type of consciousness is Naam or Divine Cosmic consciousness. The purpose of a spiritual journey is to realize the Divine within ourselves, live in this cosmic or divine consciousness and reduce the Haumain consciousness. Perceiving the Divine in everything alleviates duality.
The sense of enmity and estrangement is vanished
Since I have been in the company of saints. (Contemplate)
Foe and stranger there is none
I am at peace with every one
Whatever the Beloved commands I accept with pleasure
This is the wisdom I received from the saints.
The beloved resides in every body
Beholding it in every one Nanak is in a state of bliss.”
– Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Following is an excerpt from a Jewish prayer for the “Blessing of a New Home” as written in the Deuteronomy:
“And you shall love yourself
For you are a spark of the divine
And you shall love your neighor as yourself
And you shall love the stranger
For you were once strangers in the land of Egypt
Let love fill your heart for all beings”
Following is one of the revelations of God to Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon Him, as written in the Quran:
“O mankind, we have created you from a single (pair) of male and female
And made you into nations and tribes
That ye may know each other
Not that you may despise each other.”
Following is a quote from a Punjabi Sufi poet Bulleh Shah:
“Tear down the mosque
Tear down the temples
Tear down everything that you see
But, do not hurt a persons’ heart
Because that is where God resides.”
Following is a quote from the Old Testament: Isaiah Chapter 2 verse 4:
“He (God) shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another nor shall they train for war again.”
Following is a quote from the New Testament: Matthew Chapter 5 verse 9:
“(Jesus says) Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
Following is a quote from the Baha’u’llah, from the writings of the Baha’i Faith:
“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.”
The following are two quotes proclaimed by Mahavir, the Founder of Jainism:
Parasparopagraho Jivnam
Mahavir (Founder of Jainism) proclaimed interdependence a profound truth for all times to come when he said: “One who neglects or disregards the existence of earth, air, fire, water and vegetation disregards his own existence which is entwined with them.”
Ahinsa Parmo Dharma
There is nothing so small and subtle as atom or any element as vast as space. Similarly, there is no quality of soul more subtle than non-violence.
And there is no virtue of spirit greater than reverence for life.
Thus “all Arhals (Venerable ones) of the past, present and future discourse counsel proclaim profound and describe thus in unison: Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture or kill any creature or living being.”