Welcome to the Peacemakers Guild. This podcast covers topics related to cultivating inner peace and creating peace in our world. 

I'm you host, Geoffrey Chew.

Today we'll be talking about what it means to be a Peacemaker. One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is what do we want to create in this world? 

A peacemaker is someone who consciously directs their thoughts, intentions, and actions towards creating peace and harmony within themselves and within their larger community. 

Peacemakers heal the world by facilitating reconciliations, quelling anger, rage and bitterness, saving lives, preventing wars, de-escalating conflicts, and creating more equitable and healthy work and home environments by working for justice and equality for all individuals. 

Peacemakers unify by bringing people together in harmony. 

Peacemakers act selflessly with courage and without ego, for the collective good of all. 

Being a peacemaker doesn't not mean being a pushover. It often take great courage and strength to be a peacemaker because it involves giving up the mindset that one needs to completely control others. Space has to be left for the free will of others to achieve true peace. 

It also means facing conflict and broaching difficult subjects, maybe even managing dangerous situations. 

Everyone can be a peacemaker, wherever they are, and do their part to bring light and healing to those around them. 

But one must have peace within if they are to reflect it outwards to their external world. Another way of putting it is that you cannot give what you don't have. But everyone can work on this. Everyone can be a force for good in their surroundings. 

Today we'll talk about this at the 50,000 foot level, and in later episodes we'll dive into more details. 

When we think of good, we think of kindness, empathy, inclusivity, compassion, mercy, unity, harmony, and love. These thrive in a mindset of connectedness. That is, we're all linked so when I help another being I'm helping part of myself.

The opposite of these qualities, cruetly, apathy, exclusivity, discord, hate, all thrive in a mindset of separateness. Because others are seen as separate, their mistreatment is believed to not impact one's self. 

So the choice of whether one lives in a mindset of connectedness or separateness has a big impact on what people create in their lives. Many of the major religions of the world have realized this, and thus include living by the "Golden Rule" as part of their doctrine - "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you". The golden rule is a clear and direct attempt at codifying a mindset of connectness. It is essentially another way of saying you and the other are one.

Unconditional Love, defined as seeking the best for someone and actively avoiding harming them, is the foundation for the golden rule. Acting from a space of unconditional love and connectedness takes discipline, strength, emotional intelligence, introspection, self-awareness, self-love, and integrity. There are many obstacles and barriers to living this way such as:
 The way our brain filters our 3D reality: separating the world into discrete objects and beings, and often emphazing our differences with others. 

Messages from our culture and family

Biology drives and physiological challenges

Fear messages directed at us with the intention of manipulating us into a certain way of seeing the world around us

In future episodes we'll explore overcoming these challenges and readying ourselves for the challenge of being peacemakers . We’ll look at creating peace and harmony in our inner life, and in our external world.

Thank you for listening, and Peace be with You.