WAGING PEACE FROM THE PENTAGON

By Edward E. Winchester, C.M.

(Reprinted from March/April 2003 edition of VENTURE INWARD)

The Nov./Dec. 2001 issue of Venture Inward reported a noble experiment by 30 men to wage peace using meditation to minimize violence taking place in Iran during the Iranian revolution in 1978. There is more to that story that needs to be told. The peace force in Iran was actually participating with a much larger group of approximately 800 meditators in a global peace experiment. In mid-October 1978 additional cadres arrived in four other areas:  1.) the Middle East, with a special focus on ending a war raging in Lebanon, 2.) Central America, 3.) Southern Africa, and 4.) South-East Asia. 

Every country graced by the presence of meditation cadres in that global peace project experienced progress towards stability, self-sufficiency, and peace according to World Government News. The event that triggered the meditation initiative in Iran actually came from Esteli, Nicaragua. Desperate citizens of Esteli, Nicaragua in September, 1978, requested all national and international agencies and anyone who could help to do everything possible to stop civil war which was causing untold misery in that country.  Within two days 250 spiritual warriors, all meditators, landed in five Central American countries.  There was at least anecdotal evidence that those experiments helped calm the tide of violence immediately as peace was being waged. However, it should be noted that when those peace forces departed, conditions once again deteriorated. The interventions may have had ripple effects around the world.   

From the Pentagon there is another account of peace initiatives, which further underscore the mystical force of individual and group meditation.  I was working as a program analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, and served as the Department of Defense (DoD) primary action officer for promulgating guidelines for “Economic Analysis and Program Evaluation.” The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Welfare & Recreation) authorized me as early as 1976 to establish a Pentagon Meditation Club (PMC).

A long time meditator myself in the Christian tradition, I was intrigued by reports claiming success using meditation as an instrument of peace.  I decided to probe deeper. 

(See Pentagon Meditation Club's Web site: Technology for Transformation,"   http://pentagonmeditationclub.org)

After the 1978 peace demonstration projects DoD received proposals for additional meditation peace projects from outside sources.  Inside the Pentagon I was busy urging officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to independently test the effectiveness of centering meditation.  Peacemaking is not the same thing as peacekeeping, and peacemaking is not regarded officially as being an aspect of the mission of DoD. 

It was not until 1980 that things really began to click.  I was handed a special assignment to work with the Government of the District of Columbia for the purpose of investigating a theory of transformation using meditation with prisoners and corrections personnel at prison facilities located at Lorton, Virginia. 

The prison project was the first of a series of Spiritual Defense Initiatives (SDI) I conceived to demonstrate the power of meditation aided by large numbers of meditators. Another SDI involved the unthinkable. This time it was to organize a sacred summit for American military personnel and a Soviet delegation attending a Pentagon prayer breakfast, and to facilitate a military-to-military exchange program between two military super powers.  Both objectives were realized. By 1988 the unthinkable had become reality!

The next SDI involved working with meditators to avert war with Iraq. I began making frequent calls on the Executive Director of the Department of Defense Military Chaplains Board, the Washington D.C. Mayor’s Office, and the Charge D’Affaires at the Embassy of Iraq.  The goal was to spark interest in a Baghdad and Washington, D.C. sister city prayer/meditation project. In addition, I unexpectedly became recipient of an 8-ton marble monument called The Peacemakers. 

Another test of the power of meditation as a problem solving tool for Pentagon meditators was to arrange to have the monument placed on military parade grounds in front of the Pentagon building. There were promising signs of progress toward those goals, but dreams were finally dashed when time ran out. War in the Persian Gulf became the order of the day.

      (The Peacemakers was finally situated in the City of Winchester, Virginia.  An identical monument was erected in Moscow.)   

Over the years the activities of the PMC and the results produced seemed to be possible only because of the Peace Shield Meditation Campaign at the Pentagon. My goal was to introduce one percent of the Pentagon workforce to the practice of meditation.

From 1978 to 1990 I instructed hundreds of military and civilian personnel at the Pentagon in the art and science of meditation.  Peace Shield Meditation was the form of meditation we used.  It involves regular meditation sessions using a Holy Word (any one of God’s Names) to quiet the chatter of the mind and experience deep silence.

Why silence? Because of the realization that to “think outside the box” implies mental activity and, therefore, still being in the box of the mind. Before a spiritual warrior can “Be all he can be,” the first step is to take one’s awareness beyond thought, beyond even repeating the name of God, to simply “Be,” to “Be still and know.” 

However, the debate begs several important questions that need to be answered.  Is there really intrinsic power in “the Name?” Is there more power [Holy Spirit] and Light by virtue of the way in which one calls on the Name? What practical, demonstrable, or measurable results are produced? 

Waging peace from inside the Pentagon form 1976 to 1996, when the PMC became inactive, provided useful insights for answering those questions. The rest of the story is on the PMC web site. 

An important implication of twenty years of waging peace from the Pentagon is that the Spiritual Defense Initiatives direct our attention to the need to use meditation/centering to strengthen the consciousness of every individual in the nation, rather than place complete reliance on policies and programs of government and on diplomacy for realizing peace. 

The success of the government of the United States in effecting transformation in any area of human activity can be realized as each of us does our part to raise the collective consciousness of the nation and build the spiritual peace shield.  Prayer and meditation on the Name of God offer a tried and proven technology for waging peace - the ultimate solution.