Truce!

This is an invitation to every person on Earth: take on do no harm from A World of Honour with your heart and soul. Agree to that of your own free will. Then keep that agreement as if your and my life depends on it – which it does! In doing so we have become part of an evolutionary process for the human race, 2/8,000,000,000 of all humanity, transforming into something new.

But beware. The first thing that might come up is the unfairness of it all. We are taking on this agreement unilaterally. It’s one of those agreements we make with ourself. We begin doing no harm even though others will still be doing harm to us and others. And while it may be unfair, it’s also all-powerful. It’s the beginning of a journey in which we have become the top dog in our domain, answering to no one but ourself.

The journey begins with the agreement. I’m calling the agreement a truce. It’s a unilateral truce. We promise never to do harm to another. We begin with making this truce with ourselves. We start there, with what’s close. Begin by a bit of introspection. Where in life are we harming ourselves? Start looking with the visible harm. Maybe you’re someone with an addiction that you think is harming you. You are someone who smokes a pack a day. Resolve to quit. My classic addiction was food, I ate way more than was needed and I was overweight. I took on a diet and lost 20 kgs! And I was flabby and out of shape. Took on an exercise program. 2 ½ year later I’m holding true to being my word, kept the weight off and feeling better than ever.

I’m not intending to be glib about this. I know that any of the above are the hardest challenges any of us will face. We’re up to the task. Now begin undoing the harm. Sit down and begin a list of everything that you do to yourself that’s harmful. Build on the examples that I’ve given. Be ruthless and uncompromising. Remember that you’re the monarch of your realm and your commitment is to restore peace.

Once you’re satisfied that you’ve covered areas of personal harm, expand the list to include harm that you are doing to others, beginning with those closest to you, your family and friends. Again, start with the areas of visible harm. If you have children and you smack them, stop. It’s harming them. If you are ever committing acts of aggression against those close to you stop. Expand this now to include verbal abuse, perhaps unconscious acts of teasing or the like or name-calling. Again, be ruthless. You are engaged in bringing peace to your realm.

Next move on to looking at areas in which your inaction is doing you harm. For me, the best example has been my expertise at procrastinating. There are things that need doing and I don’t do them. Way back in my Toronto life, I belonged to a Toastmasters club and gave a humorous speech on procrastination. I won awards for it all the way to the regional level. Didn’t help though. Later in my Sydney life I procrastinated on paying our electricity bill, even with the help of the warning letters, and finally they cut off our power. I’ve red-facedly learned my lesson from that and haven’t neglected paying a bill since. That one was a double-edged bit of integrity breakdown in that I was also breaking my word about paying the bill, something we all do when undertaking such agreements. We give a promise to pay our bills as they become due.

I know this is sounding like something out of a self-help course, a bit of psycho-babble. And it is! What we are undertaking in building A World of Honour is a revolution in psychology, sociology, politics and philosophy. We are taking on something close to unpredictable and unprecedented.

These ideas have been around for a long time! I’m not one to be quoting scriptures but try this one on:

2 Kings 20:1 – … Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

This will take immense courage. We will be facing fears and lifetime habits. The pull to stop will be immense but we must start somewhere. Start at the beginning. Start with your life and get it working in tune with the A World of Honour ethos: do no harm, be your word and everything by agreement. Get your house in order.

Let’s come alive and think our way to leading flourishing lives. Let’s think up ways to honour that miracle of birth that was you and me.