by Deni Gross

We implore Thee, our Creator . . . bring peace upon planet Earth.

We all have our little rituals which somehow seem to get us through the day: coffee first thing in the morning; reading the mail before settling down to work; unwinding with a good book before bed. Even when we complain that our lives seem rather boring or uneventful, we may be surprised to find ourselves performing these same daily rituals as regularly as clockwork. There is a certain amount of comfort in familiarity; and our daily rituals bring to us a sense of inner peace and control over the chaos, stress, and uncertainty that seem to accompany life in our fast-paced, globally interconnected world.

Throughout the centuries, mankind has relied heavily upon ritual, particularly in spiritual matters. All religions have their own significant rituals to augment their beliefs and personal worship practices. Lighting candles, burning incense, repeating mantras or prayers, ringing bells, saying a rosary, singing, chanting, dancing, drumming -- all these and more are popular ways to focus attention when engaged in contemplation of the Divine. By first forming a mental picture of the beloved Divine image, the devotee then strengthens and empowers the image by augmenting it through emotionally charged, repetitive rituals.

Teachers of the perennial wisdom tell us that before anything can manifest in a material sense upon the physical plane, it is first given life on the mental plane as an idea or thought. Surrounding this thought form with pure and sincere emotion strengthens it and more surely guarantees its successful implementation upon the physical plane. It is for this reason that we, in our desire for personal and planetary peace, perform our daily meditations for peace in which we visualize the planet enveloped in white light. The more frequently and consistently we perform these meditations, the stronger and more effective the thought forms become. Through directing the energy of our minds, we can to a greater or lesser degree depending upon our spiritual development change not just pervasive negative thought forms, but also influence the molecular structure of physical objects. So by persisting in our meditation efforts, we can certainly accomplish a great deal towards bringing peace to our beleaguered planet.

The following lovely peace meditation ritual can supplement the daily meditations we already do. It is designed to be performed every day at 12:00 noon in whatever time zone we live; however, it may be done whenever most convenient. It is simple, yet energizing, takes just a few minutes, and involves visualizing the planet in a detailed and directed sense. The only "prop" needed is a small, hand-held bell for ringing. Before beginning, it is a good idea to brush up on our geography, so that we can visualize specific countries and their locations as seen from space.

We can set aside about five or ten minutes of the lunch hour for the meditation practice in a quiet spot where we won't be interrupted. After calming and clearing the mind, we can begin to visualize the Earth as seen from a spot in space. We should imagine the planet as a colorful globe, such as the kind we might see in a library, with the countries clearly demarcated by their boundary lines. Since our Headquarters are located in the United States, we will start in North America.

Starting from the West, we visualize Alaska, then Canada, and Greenland. Let our mind's eye follow the contours of the northern part of North America, visualizing in detail as much of the area as possible. At the same time, we send these areas light, love, brotherhood, compassion, and peace. Letting our inner eye flow southward to the United States, we visualize the country from the Pacific northwest to the southwestern deserts, up through the Rockies and the Great Plains, through the heartland of the country south to the Gulf of Mexico, back up through the Appalachians to New England and down through the mid-Atlantic states and the Southeast. We flow through Mexico and Central America, weaving a mental pattern of energy-directed love and compassion through the various countries. We move through the South American countries and Antarctica. As we begin to visualize the Atlantic Ocean, we say out loud, "We implore Thee, our Creator, bring peace upon planet Earth." Then we ring our bell steadily for a few seconds.

Next, we mentally begin to spin our globe and move across the Atlantic, sending all marine creatures compassion and love. We see the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Eastern Europe. We cross the Mediterranean to Northern Africa and flow through the countries of the African continent, back up through Western Russia and across the troubled Middle East, directing our mental energies to soothing turmoil and spreading love and tolerance. Again we say out loud, "We implore Thee, our Creator, bring peace upon planet Earth," and again ring the bell for several seconds.

We let our minds continue to work sending understanding, love, and peace to the vast reaches of Russia, through China, Tibet, the Indian sub-continent, Japan, the other southeast Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, the islands of the Pacific. As we mentally cross the vast Pacific Ocean, again we implore the great Source of our being for aid in bringing peace to the planet. Then we close our meditation by forcefully saying the words, "So be it - May Peace Prevail on Earth!" One final time we ring our bell steadily and a bit longer than before.