Dealing With World Events From a Spiritual Point of View

“We become what we contemplate. For it is the nature of love, as it is the nature of hate, to change us into the likeness of that which we contemplate.”

Neville Goddard, “No One To Change but Self”

Being a child of war in the Balkans in the 90’s, everything happening recently has triggered a lot within me. I know this is the case for many people right now, because a lot of us have experienced trauma over the years and sometimes the well-meant advice in this community can feel confusing and overwhelming. There is nothing wrong in stating that fact and accepting it. For anyone who might feel at odds with these statements versus ignoring the current reality, I really recommend to read this article here by Marcel and Jennifer.

For me, some of the most helpful moments of this journey came through connecting with other people’s authentic experiences, which is the reason why I decided to write this article.

This is not to be understood as a manual of what to do and what not to do. As always, never accept anything said or written before checking in with your True Self first. This subject definitely deserves more open recognition, as in more fingers pointing back to ourselves instead of constantly shifting the blame outside, no matter how convenient it may seem to do so. Let me state something very obvious in the beginning- wars and catastrophes are very traumatic and saying or writing this doesn’t make you or me less of a conscious creator. Yes they are a part of 3D illusion, but we know this is meant in a way in which the mirror is an illusion. It is the perfect illusion of our inner being.

Because it is not just you and I that are creators, just because we are conscious of it, everybody in this human experience is creating and the mirror is perfectly reflecting the inner world of everyone here. We see it because we are all part of the same consciousness. Very, very few of us, if any, started out in the world as conscious creators. We all bought into narratives and conditioning to some extent before being called to this journey, which is why these events are visible and triggering.

“All wars prove that violent emotions are extremely potent in precipitating mental rearrangements. Every great conflict has been followed by an era of materialism and greed in which the ideals for which the conflict ostensibly was waged are submerged. This is inevitable because war evokes hate which impels a descent in consciousness from the plane of the ideal to the level where the conflict is waged. If we would become as emotionally aroused over our ideals as we become over our dislikes, we would ascend to the plane of our ideal as easily as we now descend to the level of our hates.”

Neville Goddard, “Out Of This World“

Because we have been normalizing war, constantly finding new enemies outside, we are seeing war. To use the mirror analogy again- the external world is a perfect reflection of the war within ourselves. This may sound somewhat radical, but at the core it is the truth of all that is happening at the moment. By this I don’t mean that the majority of people are constantly planning and executing wars within. No, this refers to the way we talk to ourselves, to other people, the amount of aggression we carry within, how we deal with the news and stories on war, or simply in which way we identify with any form of attack. I firmly believe that if we recognize this sort of “war” within ourselves, and commit to our inner peace, peace will be reflected back to us in every possible way.

We should actively seek to embody peace within, or better said, it is like with every other manifestation- the inner world creates the outer world. There is no one-size-fits-all formula to how this should be done on each individual’s journey. The more honest we are with ourselves about our true feelings, the more trust we will have in our True Selves to show us, through the triggers, which contemplation should be recognized and released. As we do this, we are contributing to the creation of a better external world. Just as the “war” within feels different for everyone, peace will feel different to everybody.

Successful embodiment means surrendering to our own feelings of peace.

“Peace is impossible to those who look on war. Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace.”

A Course In Miracles, “Manual For Teachers”- 11.

How Is Peace Possible In This World?

Discovering A Course In Miracles has played a very big part in my journey back to my True Self. It complements Neville’s teachings in a very organic way. Defining ourselves through trauma is a choice. Since we’ve been given this beautiful gift of conscious creation, we now know we can also choose differently. This doesn’t mean we are denying our trauma and lived experiences, we are just choosing not to be defined by our trauma and that is the big difference. There is a lot of power in accepting your trauma and choosing not to be defined by it.

Notice how this is a revision in itself and it didn’t require any ignoring. I personally think there is a lot of misconception on what ignoring the external reality really means and most of the time this advice is also rooted in fear. Actively ignoring something is also engaging with it in a very reactive way, especially if there is a history of trauma because it can backfire on our mental health. The ACIM taught me that the opposite of trauma is safety. I truly feel safe knowing I am allowed and encouraged to go within to find peace, freedom and safety. I feel safe because I know it will get pushed out.

This didn’t happen overnight in my case. I had to feel everything and sit with it, while observing it and slowly grounding myself in these desired states. And to this day I am still learning. The moment I gave up working hard to find peace and allowed myself to find peace on my own terms, everything shifted beautifully. The upside is that I always truly enjoyed meditation so I try my best to meditate for at least half an hour daily. This is not always possible, sometimes I have to do it on the go. Since I’ve been cultivating it for a while, it also became so normal and easy for me, even if I don’t have much time. I choose to trust that it is safe to deal with the external world head on, because it’s not more real than my internal world in which I have abundance of peace and freedom.

“The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love.”

A Course In Miracles, Chapter 23: The Irreconcilable Beliefs

I choose to believe this is happening now so that people can realize wars are not inevitable. Instead of focusing on blaming and reaffirming the enemies, I imagine a world without weapons because we are not under attack and there is no new outside enemy lurking. I am trying to motivate everyone towards their inner world while sharing the messages of peace and reflection from the collective, helping as much as I can, without losing myself and my inner peace in the process. There is enough in the world for everybody and no matter how evil some people may seem, it is important to stress that their actions are rooted in that same fear of scarcity, which is why they feel the need to accumulate as much as possible and overpower whoever might be in their way.

I believe it’s better to recognize that there is enough and to hold space for everyone, including those who think or feel differently, instead of constantly blaming. This is not always easy and I sometimes still fall for the illusion of pointing fingers. It is okay if people don’t come from the same viewpoint and knowledge. Eventually, and this is my deepest inner belief, everything will fall into its rightful peaceful place.

There is one very important point left to end this article, and that is that there is absolutely no shame in asking for help from a mental health professional if you find yourself struggling. As successful as some people may be in doing this completely on their own, this is not true for everyone and there is absolutely no shame in that. Creating that safe space of love and peace within sometimes requires outside help. I hope this article provides encouragement to anyone on their quest to peace.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

Jimi Hendrix

By Pamina, an European performing artist exploring the law since 2021