rth love on every hungry heart. This ring is woven from threads of love, words of inspiration, feelings of forgiveness, prayers for peace and hours of meditation. And this ring is not just metaphor, or the vain imaginings of a hopeful soul. It is an actual forcefield, more powerful than anything made by merely mortal hands. It is the product of the collective yearning to pool our spiritual resources in the service of a world made new. It is a rich and meaningful, eminently practical contribution to the miraculous transformation of our world.

Imagine…

… millions of people throughout the world, joined in small, intimate circles of spiritual support, praying together, meditating together, envisioning a healed and peaceful world, creating among its members a sense of sacred communion. Imagine these circles meeting regularly, like tiny clusters of grace, forming together a mystical grid of love and light around the planet.

Imagine that, and you will have a sense of the Global Renaissance Alliance, the work we do and the reason we are doing it.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr., said "our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives." And yet what would that look like? How could it occur? Too often, the conflicts between and even within us, make the notion of a truly beloved community on our planet seem more like a pipedream than any kind of imaginable reality. And yet imagine it we must, and build it we can. Millions of individuals throughout the world are inspired by the hope that we can create a world of peace and harmony and joy. Doing so in even little groups, twelve or fewer people at a time, we alter our personal energies and help to heal the world.

The forces of fear which wound the world are fierce today indeed. Yet love is more powerful than fear, and whenever this thought is embraced - that the power of love can be harnessed, and will miraculously transform the earth - then the world is brought closer to its healing. There will arise - indeed, there is arising - a consciousness that casts out all war and poverty and hunger and pain. Through the grace of God, and His hand upon us, we are individually made new in spirit, and become automatically the conduits of His power in the lives of those around us. Joining our hearts and minds together, we shall, in the words of Pierre Thelhard de Chardin, after having "mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, …..harness the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." -

Today, hundreds of "Peace Circles" exist worldwide, and more are forming every day. The circle is a very simple yet powerful tool. Twelve or fewer people meet every other week, or in some cases once a month. We suggest that people keep the groups to a small number because we are fostering what we call a "social intimacy," a way for people who do not necessarily know each other very well, to have the experience of each other's common humanity at the deepest level. Keeping the groups to a small number increases our capacity to do that.

Sometimes we form circles with friends or acquaintances, with no particular common interests other than a desire to heal the world. Other times, people form circles where everyone is involved in a common pursuit -- teachers perhaps, or environmentalists, or health care workers, or concerned parents, etc. The only necessary factor is the desire on the part of every circle member to seek the spiritual healing of our individual and collective wounds.

The circle begins with a simple prayer, followed by the "weaving together" of our minds and hearts. The circle's facilitator says prayerfully, beginning with the person to his or her left and going around in a clockwise direction, "We bow before the spirit within (her,) and receive into our hearts, our beloved (sister) (Sarah.") This spiritual weaving establishes a sacred circle among the members of the group, who then pray and meditate silently for a full twenty minutes. After that, we allow the spirit within us to speak as we feel so moved, to describe our vision for the world we would like to inhabit. Someone will say, "I see a world in which (all children are fed and happy, there is only peace, etc.")…" Others follow until all who wish to have spoken.

After the envisioning exercise, in which we use the power of our imaginations to invoke the world we wish to live in, the circle moves once again in a clockwise direction, with each person sharing what they wish to share about their individual lives, something happening in the world, or whatever the circle member feels moved to speak about. There is to be at this point no crosstalk or advice given, as every member of the group has an uninterrupted opportunity to share from his or her heart, and be listened to deeply and compassionately by others. The spirit of this sharing provides a miraculous elixir of healing, which is always present in the space of holy communion. Here we place on the altar of God our angers and fears, as well as our hopes and dreams and prayers for new life. All energies are lifted up in spirit, and delivered to higher realms of thought and feeling. Such are the miracles of God at work within us. And we can feel that work as it extends to bless the entire world.

At the end of this sharing, some might wish to discuss further, contemplate action, etc, yet it remains the job of the facilitator to retain the holiness of all conversation. The final moment of the meeting is always to be prayer.

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