RETIRED OFFICER

      URGES CITIZEN ACTION

  IN

    MIDEAST CRISIS

Since President Bush says he has little hope of ending the Persian Gulf Crisis without the use of force, the average citizen must take action and turn the tide toward peace, said Edward Winchester who is retired from [The Office Of Secretary of Defense] in the Pentagon Washington DC on Sunday.

     During the crisis, average citizens have become tangled in feelings of fear, anger, and frustration because they have had little control over the decisions made by the president, legislators, and military officers, said Edward Winchester, who spoke during a Sunday service at a local church in Winchester VA.       

     These feelings occur when people feel helpless, he said.  But the average citizen is not helpless and has an important role in creating a peaceful resolution to the Middle East crisis, he said.

      Under a program called Spiritual Defense Initiative, people can focus their thoughts and energies through prayer and meditation on one goal and make the "unthinkable achievable," Winchester said. 

     This includes finding new ways of obtaining peace without bloodshed he said. 

     By unleashing powerful thoughts aimed at peace, people can create a "Peace Shield", which intensifies the strength of Operation Desert Shield with spiritual power, Winchester said. 

     This can be done through daily meditation and prayer, he said, adding that when people draw their thoughts together and focus, they become more coherent and aware, and have greater resolve.

      They also open themselves to new and more creative ideas, he said. 

     People whose thoughts are incoherent, on the other hand, are more vulnerable to destructive forces and are more likely to react out of emotion and anger, Winchester said.  "It leads a person to make mistakes."

      But by meditating and reaching deep into their own silence, people can discharge the anger, sadness, stress, and ambition they feel, he said.  "It's like mental exercises. 

     The positive thoughts that remain are then picked by other people, because one person's thoughts are only a part of a greater community of thoughts, Winchester said. 

     Just as cream poured into coffee spreads throughout the liquid, so do thoughts, Winchester said.  "You put out subtle impulses that affect all society.  As you put your thoughts (out) ..., other people get it on a more subtle level".

      People are like radio transmitters, he added: "If you send out a weak signal, chances are you're not going to be heard.  And if you're broadcasting static, that's even worse.

      But by sending a clear, focused message, people can help others tune into that message, and it becomes part of a larger community consciousness, he said.  "What I want is to create a nuclear explosion of consciousness (for peace)."

      Winchester wants thoughts on peace to radiate out so that people on all levels can begin searching for peaceful resolutions. 

           The retired officer, who said he continues to work with the Pentagon chaplain's office and the Pentagon Meditation Club (in Washington DC.), said the has seen the power of prayer and meditation alter adversaries behavior toward each other. 

     While he was stationed at the Pentagon in the early 1980's. Winchester studied the power of meditation among a group of prison inmates [approximately 200 corrections officers and 400 inmates were introduced to centering meditation in stress management classes at Lorton Prison in Washington DC. (co-sponsored by Office of the Secretary of Defense and the District of Columbia Department of Corrections under an interagency mobility program - The project first in a series of Spiritual Defense Initiatives). This project was know as the "Lorton Transformation Project phase 1. During phase 2 1981, approximately 800 prison inmates were introduced to centering meditation in stress management classes].   

During their daily meetings, he taught them to center their thoughts and manage their stress. 

    Later the Deputy Administrator told him no assaults had occurred in the Maximum Security Facility for an extended period time and that had not happened in the seventy years history of that institution, which was "unheard of "Winchester said

     He would now like to see that power used on a greater and world-wide scale.

Excerpts taken form:    THE WINCHESTER STAR, Monday, January 14, 1991  By Terrie Mahoney

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