Peace Prayers are immediately effective: we meditate and pray because it feels comforting. When we pray for peace, we feel peace. That peace prayers bring immediate and awesome benefits to the person praying is indisputable.
A growing body of evidence reveals that meditation and prayers for peace also benefit our communities and, ultimately, the whole world. A group called the Intention Experiment has been conducting research since the 90′s on the effects of targeted meditation and prayer. Groups of people agreed to meditate and/or pray for peace in specific places. When they targeted Washington, D.C. one Summer, the crime rate fell by 25%. In another experiment, they focused on Sri Lanka during a civil war. There was an 48% drop in injuries and a whopping 74% drop in the death rate! This data adds to the data from the popularity of the Transcendental Meditation movement in the U.S. Studies found that when just 1% of the population in an area meditated, the violence level in that community fell.
So our peace prayers and meditation practice not only benefits us in a direct and immediate way, but joining with all the other people who are more and more focusing on Inner Peace, we are literally changing the world. One prayer at a time. Social action begins with inner action.
In future posts I’ll discuss what I’ve found to be the simplest and most effective technique for praying for peace or meditating, how to develop a Peace Prayer Practice, and more results of scientific research on the effectiveness and benefits of Peace Prayers. As the Earth Awakens, Inner Peace really is becoming World Peace.
Namasté
