World Peace Project

News, Events, Articles

June 2008

REDUCE VIOLENT CRIME Decades of scientific research show that a consciousness-based system can reduce crime without taxing existing law enforcement budgets. Members from faith-based organizations, meditation assemblies, community groups and individuals can implement, within their own traditions, what has been gleaned from these studies to produce a significant decrease in rapes, homicides and assaults, and a significant increase in other factors associated with improved quality of life. Over 41 studies, mostly in peer-reviewed journals, have shown repeated demonstration of these positive effects. Two of these studies are summarized below.*

 DALLAS IS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE Starting in June, 2008, people from across the metroplex will foster social coherence through the largest interfaith collaborative event ever performed in Texas. Simultaneously, crime and emergency call center statistics will be monitored to study the socially harmonizing effects. Studies show that as the number of participants increase, violent crime decreases. The Dallas Peace Project will lead the way in a global program of community involvement to reduce crime, while enhancing peace and community harmony. 

BY GATHERING emergency call center data we will be able to evaluate variations in the level and severity of emergency calls during our interfaith collaborative studies as indications of crime reduction; no private information is required.

The Peace Project * Dallas*Texas
 

Reduced Violent Crime in Washington, D.C.
A National Demonstration Project of Transcendental Meditation (TM) conducted in Washington, D.C. from June 7 to July 30, 1993, tested the efficacy of a peace-creating group for reducing crime as measured by FBI Uniform Crime Statistics. Soon after the start of the study, and during a near-record summer heat wave, violent crime began decreasing and continued to drop until the end of the experiment (maximum decrease 23.6%),after which it began to rise again. The likelihood that this result could be attributed to chance variation in crime levels was less than two parts per billion (p < .000000002). The drop in crime could not be attributed to other possible causes, including prior causative factors, temperature, precipitation, weekends, and police and community anti-crime activities (Social IndicatorsResearch 47: 153-201, 1999).

Decreased Crime in the Capital Regions of the
Philippines, the United States, and India
These three different demonstrations show that large peace creating groups have consistently reduced crime in capital cities around the world. In all three cases, the group gathered for a period of weeks or months, and crime dropped significantly below pre-existing levels. Time series analysis showed that this drop was not to be expected based on prior causative factors, and could not be accounted for by weather, seasonal cycles, or changes in police coverage. Because two of the three groups were composed of Westerners visiting in Asian cities, this study also demonstrated that peace-creating groups apparently operate on a fundamental level that transcends political, cultural or ethnic differences. (The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 8, 67-104; The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 9, 457–485).
*Source: www.PermanentPeace.org

The Peace Project * Dallas*Texas*

The Peace Project: Building Peace in Dallas 2008 Outline

June/ July/ August
Peace in Practice
Community Gathering, Lessons in Meditation,
Conversations of Peace and Harmony
These 3 months of the project will involve gathering the residents of the metroplex who are interested in participating. We will invite people from all groups: cultural, religious, ethnic, corporate, educational, large and small businesses, as well as families and individuals, to come together for the common purpose of reducing crime and increasing peace and harmony.  During this time period The Peace Project staff will provide free meditation, prayer, or intentional thought lessons and community conversations on peace, tolerance and crime reduction at Peace Stations around the metroplex, including but not limited to: lessons in HeartMath, EFT, Nonviolent Communication and Meditation. The Peace Stations will be churches, temples, synagogues, schools, hospitals, homes and businesses that commit to be part of the project. Studies and research show that as the number of participants increase, violent crime decreases, and that a practiced group of mediators creates a greater crime reduction and community harmony outcome. To assist us in our meditation program in Aug we will begin our Awareness Architect Program. An Awareness Architects is much more than a meditation teacher. It is someone who has experienced the profound effects of becoming selfcentered (clear, balanced, focused, connected, and aware) and is passionate about sharing these visionary tools with the world. We will be gathering 100, 18 – 30 year olds to receive scholarships for training as Awareness Architects for The Peace Project. We are currently accepting donations for our Awareness Architect Scholarship Program 

September/ October/ November
Peace in Action
In the fall portion of The Peace Project, scheduled events metroplex-wide will put our new crime-reducing meditation, prayer, or intentional thought skills into action. Simultaneously, crime and emergency call center statistics will be monitored to study the socially harmonizing effects. The Peace Project in Dallas will lead the way in a global program of community involvement to reduce crime and enhance peace and harmony. The 911 statistics will be compared to our event schedule by an outside team of researchers. Each district in Dallas will have a Peace Station located in participating business, school or inter - faith location to serve as the location for all lessons/events to take place. The Peace Project will gather experiences from individuals, families, communities, neighborhoods, and the metroplex as a whole to create a workbook using Peace in Action programs to showing how Dallas became “The Most Peaceful City in the World.”
Our first 6 month will conclude with A Concert for a Peaceful World and Peace Expo at the Cotton Bowl and will include the largest group meditation in the world. Our goal is for The Peace Project in Dallas to be so successful it will not only become a metroplex policy, but one that will bring other cities and municipalities from around the world to Dallas to learn peace. Our findings will be presented to the Council of the Parliament of World Religions for the world to learn from and expand upon.        

July 16, 2008

Field of Alliance
 A Peace Project Commitment
Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing
there is a field. I will meet you there. –Rumi


Be Present
My intent is to be myself, to be authentic, and to be fully present.

Be Centered
I will do my best to recognize when I am off center and to bring myself back into the integrity of my own center – the place of neutral, witness consciousness, or pure awareness.

Stay Awake
When I find myself going into ‘story’ or emotional reactivity I agree to become present and awake with my experience, and to explore feeling inward instead of leaning out, unconsciously defending myself or projecting onto others.

Intention for the Highest Good
I acknowledge and honor my primary intention for the Highest Good – concerning the Earth, All My Relations, and Myself. My intention is to move in the direction of the highest and best good for the whole.

Communicate with Integrity
I agree to be honest and compassionate with my communications – to speak from my heart, maintain connection, and to be true to my word.

Act with Integrity and Humility
I agree to keep my agreements, to negotiate changes if I need to, and to ask for help when I need it.

Listen Deeply
I agree to listen respectfully to the communication of others and tune into their deepest meaning, noticing any inner reactions and taking responsibility for my feelings while staying present to truly listen.


Honor One Another
I agree to come from a sense of cooperation and caring in my interactions with others, respecting that our objectives are often the same, although our positions and means may differ. I recognize that everyone is a unique expression of the divine, and I honor the intelligence of body, mind, and emotions as uniquely expressed through each of us.

Take Responsibility
I agree to take responsibility for my creations, my reactions, my experience and my relationships. Therefore, I recognize there only wisdom and compassion to embody.

Maintain Resonance
I agree to take the time to establish rapport and re-connect with anyone with whom I feel out of harmony.

Resolve Problems Constructively
I agree to take problems, complaints and upsets to the person(s) with whom I can resolve them, at the earliest opportunity. I agree to bring a solution to those person(s) for my problems, complaints and upsets and I will redirect others to do the same.

Collaborate and Lead
I agree to foster an environment of genuine collaboration in which all people, including myself, feel empowered to express our individual and collective potential.

Keep My Commitment Fresh
I agree to choose and re-choose to participate in and co-create the field of consciousness.  I recognize my responsibility to contribute what is alive and true in my heart today.

Joyful Service
I am devoted in service to the greatest good for the whole, and I embrace the joy this brings me as a natural expression of my life’s purpose.

Come From My Resources
I agree to take care of myself and to honor my own sense of balance with conscious choice in areas like sleep, nutrition, exercise, and thinking, so that I may live from a place of resource.

Carpe Diem
I am committed to ‘seizing’ the day-- To do my best to be complete with each day—to live as though today is my first and my last day alive. I agree to LIVE this Field of Alliance to the best and fullest of my capacity.

-- Adapted from The Co-Creator's Handbook published by Global Family.