Willie Nelson

Alex West graces her version of “A Peaceful Solution” with her angelic voice and sensitive accompaniment. In her statement she provides enough clues for me to see that she exemplifies many aspects of a widely shared peaceful world view.

I hope we have all met such people, people who we can easily recognize as good people to know and socialize with. In fact, it seems to me and many others that most people wish for peace among people, peace between species and peace upon the whole of the earth.

This is not an uneducated form of wishful thinking or gross naivete. Though out the academic world from social scientists to empirical biologists we find a majority of professional opinion agreeing that most people mostly want only good things for everybody else. These findings cut across all boundaries including race, gender, age, nationality and religion.

What the world has discovered is that it only takes a few vicious, greedy, unprincipled and remorseless creatures to turn entire countries and now the entire world into a miserable place. It can seem that all forms of power are held by corrupt individuals.

I have come to doubt that power corrupts. I have come to believe that only the corrupt seek power. Going even farther, I believe that only corrupt individuals would create systems of power over other people in the first place.

Of course this position calls into question all governments and organized religions. After all, don’t the day-to-day activities of all governments and organized religions function to tell people what to do, how to do it, when to do it and arbitrarily forbids many other activities.

These day-to-day activities function to limit individual liberties, personal freedoms and general independence. They are all forms of organized slavery under different names.

So it seems to many, including myself, that we live on a planet of mostly good people who are mostly governed and religiously lead by corrupt individuals with a sick need for controlling people. It comes as no surprise then that these same corrupt, sick and controlling individuals use their power to enrich themselves to the detriment of everyone else on the planet, the detriment of every other life form on the planet and perhaps even to the extent of ending of the ability of the planet to support life as we know it.

There seems to be only one way to deal with this situation. Most of the strategies intended to correct this situation have been twisted and distorted by those now in control to serve their ends instead of ending their tenure.

Only a personal commitment to peace in all its manifestations can rectify our situation. Only by seeking a peaceful solution to every problem and a peaceful resolution to every situation will we see a peaceful revolution.

Unless I can see a person embrace a sustainable planet friendly lifestyle, advocate non-exploitive coexistence with all forms of life and seek mutual tolerance among all peoples I will doubt the genuineness of their posturing. Now I am on guard regarding corrupt, sick and controlling individuals who posture as worthy leadership.

Only when enough people also go on guard and refuse to cooperate with obviously violent, exploitive and unconscionable activities will the madness end.

We need more people like Alex West.

Part of what we do here is to seek out such people and let others know about it. Part of what we do is bring such people together for mutual support. If you are such a person please know you are not alone.

There are many others who believe as you do.

Welcome to the peaceful resolution and peaceful revolution that will produce the peaceful solution.

Take back America.

* * * * Artist’s Statement * * * * *

Peace is vital because the alternative is unthinkable. None of us want to live in world with suicide bombers who provoke wars which provoke yet more suicide bombers. By horrible coincidence, my best friend’s birthday is 11th September and mine is 7th July; and after much soul-searching, I agreed with her that we have to continue to celebrate life on those dates, otherwise death and violence win.

From early childhood, I began to understand that all of us are created by God and connected to one another, and I realized I had to make every decision on that basis.

I grew up in beautiful English countryside, where small actions had direct consequences: you could spoil the forests and pollute the streams with discarded rubbish, or you could join in with the school litter-pick and make the area lovely again.

I spent years fighting despair when many of the “green generation” abandoned their concern for the planet. I was regularly dismissed as naive for reusing or recycling everything, buying cruelty-free cosmetics and Fair Trade goods, and adopting a vegetarian and now a vegan diet.

But the community here in Stroud, Gloucestershire, is determined to make a difference before time runs out, and visitors are inspired to change their own lives. I believe that this is what Christianity requires of us.

My surroundings always enter my writing, and you can hear Cotswold drizzle in the piano and flute parts. I wondered if singing “Take back America” in my usual English accent would come across as rampant colonialism, so I’ve adjusted the lyrics to show solidarity: we have the same problems.

I also want to reclaim the phrase “take back England” from the white supremacists. We hear too much about — and from – fundamentalists of every persuasion; and it’s high time that those of us with an inclusive faith made our voices heard.

If we have peace within ourselves, through love of the planet, love of our fellow creatures, and love of God, we can preserve our uniqueness without hating difference, and we can respond compassionately even when angered by injustice.

Music and other art forms have a vital role to play in promoting peace, because they communicate with the human spirit whilst more formal methods are speaking mainly to the mind.

No matter how self-doubting we may feel, creativity is a gift from the Creator and should not be squandered. It is an honour to be able to contribute to this project.

Musically and thematically, I took inspiration from the line, “It’s a dream, but believe it…” because right now, peace is a dream — but we have to hope and pray that that will change.

Links:
www.cafod.org.uk — website for the Catholic fund for Overseas Development.

www.animalaid.org.uk — website for UK-based non-violent animal welfare charity.

www.myspace.com/masterofnoneorguk – myspace site for my band, Master of None.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.