The World Peace Prayer In Anxious Times
In the Fall of 2001, after the Bush administration invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, our local church started saying the World Peace Prayer each Sunday. It is a prayer adapted from the original in the Upanishads and gave voice to our congregation’s opposition to the U.S. invasion. The war in Afghanistan is still going on and the congregation has continued the prayer, now as a central part of the service instead of a special add on of social concern. The prayer has grown on me and I now say it each night since our current president was elected.
“O Lord,
Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,
Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust,
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace,
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe, peace, peace, peace.”
I have learned that in Sanskrit the word for peace, shanti, is a word meaning inner peace, tranquility, calmness or rest. In both Hindu and Buddhist practice some people chant shanti three times to promote peace in body, mind and spirit. The mantra “Om Shanti Shanti Shanti” is sometimes used to close a Hindu or Buddhist worship service. The words seem even more appropriate to me now as a guide to inner peace than they did in 2001 as a call to peace between nations.
“Death to life” is a good place to start ones’ prayers, choosing to put aside the things of death, not focusing on the end of life, not being awake to the fact that I am alive, not being mindful of life right now. To choose life feels to me like choosing to be awake in the present moment. To choose life is to not give up on the world and on the force of life in the universe. It is to hold on to the hope that life is evolving toward greater interconnection and cooperation.
“From falsehood to truth”, besides being a direct rebuttal to the president and his allies, (which is comforting to me) is a also personal commitment to seeking truth in my own journey. To reject the tendency in myself to hold to false assessments of my own abilities or thoughts. “Don’t believe everything you think”, a Buddhist expression I like, points to the tendency to let falsehoods drive one’s fears and negative thinking. Truth is associated with God in all religious traditions. To seek truth, scientific truth, personal honesty or ultimate purpose and meaning, in my opinion, is to seek God. Letting go of falsehood can be surprisingly hard and for me requires constant vigilance. It’s a good thing to remember in evening prayers.
“Despair to hope” has been particularly powerful for me to say each evening during this period of politics since 2016. I find in myself a strong tendency toward despair. I have felt at times to be just this side of giving up and dropping out of efforts to oppose this administration and their racist, fear based agenda, or to work to save our planet. This tendency towards despair reflects my own predilection toward pessimism, and probably doesn’t affect everyone as it does me. It’s easy for me to move to the very negative place of giving up on the value of action and efforts for good. Holding to hope is essential in this time. It is a natural outgrowth of “death to life”, “falsehood to truth”. In fact, it seems to me that the phrases in the prayer follow a logical order and build upon each other. Choosing life leads us toward truth, truth toward hope, hope toward trust and trust toward peace.
From “fear to trust”, is perhaps the most difficult and cuts to the root of the human dilemma. Fear is the opposite of life, or truth and hope. Fear is so deep in the human psyche that it’s extremely hard to uncover. From the “fight or flight” proclivity deep in human evolution to our basic sense of self and ego preservation, fear holds us down in all sorts of ways. Fear can immobilize us in our shoes, make us sick and make us hide away in all sorts of ways. It causes hate and wars, it leads easily to violence, against others and against ourselves. Much of my personal journey toward physical and mental health has been an effort to face and overcome my fears. To move to trust is immensely difficult sometimes. It is the basis of faith, whether that be faith in God or the basic goodness of the universe or simply faith in my personal ability to face an obstacle. As a part of this prayer, I think trust does necessitate trust in the goodness and dependability of the universe, in some higher power, in whatever way the individual may envision that power. In my own case I envision the process of the Cosmos and therefore our Earth as orderly and good. If there is a Creator, a “Great Mysterious” Presence, (as Black Elk, the Lakota holy man spoke of) then it is inextricably tied with the order and evolution of the creation. This pantheist or panentheist presence is ultimately a source of trust in this prayer for me.
All this culminates in “hate to love” and the natural extension of that, “war to peace”. Choosing life leads to truth, seeking truth leads to hope, embracing hope leads to trust, and it all leads to love. Letting go of hate, and even facing the reality of hatred in my own heart is not easy. One again has to choose. Choosing love over hate and intentionally working at loving people who are difficult to love. I need a lot of life, truth, hope and trust to love some individuals in this political climate. Once love is grasped the next step of war to peace is fairly inevitable. Clearly, war between nations is impossible when love is present. There are, I suppose, many ways to be at war, with others or within oneself, so perhaps it is not so simple. To be at peace within and with others may require all we have learned about life, truth, hope, trust and love.
The ending, “May peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe, peace, peace, peace”, is both comforting and empowering for me. It affirms my place in the universe and allows me to petition for my own inner peace. It also allows me to extend my prayer beyond myself. At a time when humans are affecting life on Earth so profoundly, praying for the world is essential. Finally, praying for peace in the universe, while feeling quite presumptuous, includes me as a contributing part of that universe and affirms that my intention for peace is powerful.
I wish I could say that I am at peace with the state of politics in the U.S., my anxiety about Climate Change, racial justice and the other challenges facing us these days, but I have a tool in the World Peace Prayer that has given me some guidance on my journey
When I say the ending, “peace, peace, peace”, or “shanti, shanti, shanti”, I think of the Hebrew word Shalom, (wholeness, harmony, peace) as well as shanti (calmness, tranquility and rest). It encapsulates the whole prayer. It feels good to be united with people of non-Christian faiths when chanting these words. I recommend this prayer for our anxious times.