Ask: Are tyrannical leaders unconsciously seeking inner peace?

“I am re-reading again your Four Habits for Inner Peace and something struck me. On page 70, you write, “You do not feel a need to change others or the world so that you can be at peace.” Could it be stated that perhaps Hitler, and others like him in history, subconsciously were really seeking inner peace and thought that the only way for him to attain it was to mistreat, control, and kill millions of other people?” – CS

            Yes, exactly.
 I began 4HIP with the Introduction:

… If you pay attention you will notice that you seek for peace all of the time in everything that you direct the personal self to do. Your desire for peace is behind every goal that you set. You believe, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. that in the next thing that you get, in the next place that you go, in the next goal that you attain, or in the next person that you meet you will find the peace that will not leave you…
…So it is never a question of whether or not you will seek for peace. The only real question is: Are you going to seek for peace where it is or continue to seek for it where you will never find it?...

As A Course in Miracles points out, when you identify with a self you have only one problem and it has only one solution. The one problem is that you are not aware of your True Being (God). So you feel emptiness, limitation, pain, loneliness, and lack. The only solution to your problem is to be aware that you are already whole and complete and limitless in Truth. Until you have this awareness you will engage in “faulty problem solving” by seeking to change the self with which you identify, others, and the world to make you feel whole.
The basis for compassion is the recognition that everyone in the world is struggling to fill their sense of lack in futile, inappropriate, and dysfunctional ways unless they open themselves to Truth. For most people, their dysfunction only touches themselves and those near them. But for a few charismatic leaders their dysfunction plays out on the world stage and affects countless others.
So when you are tempted to be angry with someone (including yourself), whether they are close to you or are in public life, for their destructive, dysfunctional behavior just remember what motivates them. Then you will find compassion replacing anger.

(Please be aware that compassion does not mean that you condone or have to put up with destructive, dysfunctional behavior. It simply means you understand the pain that motivates it. Boundaries are appropriate and healthy for everyone involved).

>>>>>
Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.
If you have a question the answer to which you think will help others send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog.

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