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| The Peace of Zion A Trusted Cornerstone |
 | So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation." "I will extend peace to her like a river..."
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| All Is In God's Design |
 | A piece of poetry.
Now that the main work is done, it's time for some creativity and fun.
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| A New Beginning |
 | In child's novel "A Christmas Carol", we see that the miser's heart was softened only after visitations by the three Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Seeing what his life had been, how the people around him were currently affected and what was to follow from his current choices brought him to his knees in repentance. He had learnt that the past can not be changed, and the future is not inevitable, so that what we do in the present can change that which is yet to come. Humanity has many reasons to regret its past suffering caused by wars, greed and oppression. Our present tells us that if we do not repent we face an appalling future filled with violence, starvation, illness ecological and economic disasters. Yet the choices we make in the present can improve our future prospects, and in making positive choices we help lay to rest the guilty ghosts of past mistakes. It is a time for making New Years Resolutions.
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| Women and Peace: Maturing through struggles |
 | Teachers or doctors could tell you that there are times where students or patients will not cooperate with the study and treatment unless they understand why it is necessary. A soul can remain in denial that they have to go through the discomfort of mastering a paradigm or the consequent side effects of treatment. Sometimes they will rant and rave against the whole point of the topic in question or blame the side effects on the treatment rather than realising that the cause is the source of discomfort. This is also a spiritual and emotional truism too. Some souls seem determined to "go it alone" and reject the other or blame the other for their own problems.
It is probably pointless to try and convince such souls that their hate and misogymy is a reflection of internal unwellness. What we can do is take those students and patients who are prepared to learn and grow and give them mental models to understand why there is both man and woman, and why there is tension both between and within ourselves.
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| You Are What You Watch |
 | There are ways that humanity is speeding towards the reckoning of the oil age and global warming. One of those is excessive consumption of resources in fruitless endeavours, such as wars. Huge amounts of resources and oil are consumed in running military machines.
One of the challenges is that we have come to romanticise power and ascendancy. We glorify consumption and destruction. For example, block buster movies rely on spectacular visual effects to draw in audiences. Many of those movies also combine the thrills of visual effects with hedonistic themes such as sex, fear and violence.
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| Give Peace A Chance |
 | Souls should be rejoicing in Dr Muhammad Yunus winning the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. It serves as timely reminder that alleviating poverty and peace are inextricably woven into the fabric of God's vision for a just world.
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| Fighting Terrorism: 500 deaths per day |
 | There is something bizarre about having gone to war to stop terrorism because 3,000 people died in the 9-11 World Trade Centre. Yet the US has managed to kill that many of its own people since 18 March 2003. Plus is involved a daily per capita equivalent of nearly double that figure in Iraq. It begs the question of who are the real terrorists?
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| Things Fall Apart: When Pride Comes Before Justice |
The world looks for peace from its leaders and an end to the suffering of its children. One wonders if many leaders are even capable of working towards the greater good. Many have become obsessed with victory at all costs and seem incapable of envisaging or tolerating a reality that is not completely submissive to their paradigms.
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| Seeing Problem Solving Through the Environment in A New Light |
 | Even plain rocks can take on a rainbow hue with the addition of water, light and a different perspective. In Genesis 11:4-9, God chose to confuse the peoples lest they build an edifice in their own name that did not include God as the keystone. We should not be surprised that finding problems for the common good means we have to listen to the needs and heed the wisdom from multiple stakeholders with varying, sometimes conflicting needs.
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| Living In An Imperfect World: Why Diversity Makes Creation Palatable |
Many religions espouse the merits of the "ideal" family focussed around the healthy husband and wife surrounded by content children in good relationship with their extended family and community. In reality, very few souls ever achieve this nirvana, and even when they do, it is soon disrupted by the exigencies of living in a mortal world where death, illness and change are inevitable. Wise souls recognise there is a constant juggling act between aspiring for the ideal whilst coping with the inadequacies of a reality where we all fall short of God's full glory. The challenge is therefore to build just systems that reward reverence but are not excessively punitive on those who are unable to reach "the ideal".
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