The tipping point

In this final conversation of the series, J. FREDERICK ARMENT continues to talk with CHRISTINE JONES about promoting peace in the world. They discuss the awakening of consciousness that is happening around the world, and the need for humanity to reach a tipping point where we can make the leap into a higher way of being.

Q: Daaji recently talked about the Sanskrit word for meditation, Dhyana, and he said “Dhi” means ultimate wisdom, and “Yana” is a vehicle. I had this revelation that humanity may now be capable of having the ultimate wisdom while we receive the gift of being in this vehicle.

FA: Yes, Yāna refers to a vehicle or the means by which we reach our destination, which is ultimate wisdom. Meditation and also International Cities of Peace can be important aspects of Yāna. It may be a little optimistic, but I do think humanity has purpose in the universe, and it is to expand and extend and become perfect in our consciousness.

Q: The idea of consciousness seems to be happening in all different groups. In March we had a Global Spirituality Conference in India, where one hundred thousand people from diverse spiritual faiths and traditions came in person and also joined virtually. I believe there is a tipping point happening. This idea of consciousness is about everyone coming together and contributing to a resonance on the planet.

FA: We create these waveguides—ways we can contribute and receive at the same time. International Cities of Peace is a waveguide, and communities can use International Cities of Peace as the ideal of a city of peace. No city in the world is an actual 100% city of peace, but they can use the ideal of a city of peace to work for a better community: have safety for their families, prosperity for the community, and a quality of life for everyone who is in that community.

That’s our definition of peace, the consensus values of safety, prosperity, and quality of life. We’ve never had any pushback on that definition of safety, prosperity, and quality of life. Whether it’s in Sudan, Colombia, China, or Canada, everybody is working toward that, because everyone has a family and everyone has a community.

So International Cities of Peace creates an infrastructure, community by community, to localize, democratize, and sensitize the world to what is best for families and people. That can contribute positively to the Tipping Point. To express our love of community, our love of place, is the intention of International Cities of Peace, and it’s working quite well.

Q: I was in a retreat last week and I was so moved by the people who were participating in a meeting. I felt blessed that I can associate with so many people doing so many good things. You commented in one of your podcasts that 95% of the world’s people are good. They’re working people trying to take care of their families. And there are different communities doing tremendous work—reciprocating love and peace, something we all want.

FA: You find divisions everywhere in the United States. It’s become 50-50, tossing the dice on who’s going one way and who’s going the other. But, when it comes down to it, love can heal those divisions.

Whether you’re on one side of the political spectrum or the other, both sides are working for peace, both sides want safety, and both sides want prosperity and quality of life. It depends on the waveguides that everyone is choosing, so look at the energy; a community has heart, and that heart beats with the resonance of each person in that community. That’s why Heartfulness centers are so important: You start with the heart and you expand from there. And the community needs a heart. I’m so excited about more and more Heartfulness centers becoming Cities of Peace.

Q: Daaji said we don’t come here to change the world or save it; we come here to create a center so that the Universal Laws can work around that. So, your book about The Physics of Spirit, is actively staying centered in your heart. The principles of nature that you write about automatically start formulating around a peaceful soul.

FA: It could be anything people love; how they express love and receive love is their domain. It has to do with that vessel called the soul, and that human organ called the heart. We can center ourselves and be able to work to receive and give love.

Q: How can we guide people to create a City of Peace? I’m feeling drawn to help them.

FA: That’s great. People need facilitators. For each city, there is a facilitator within the community who is a liaison. There are literally thousands of facilitators all over the world. I think the Heartfulness centers don’t need to worry about this. We don’t charge anything, but there’s the possibility of donations. We want the smallest village in Kenya to be able to do exactly what the largest city in the United States can do.

I have one story for you about Nakivale, the refugee camp in Uganda. There are refugees from different nations inside the camp, which has been around since 1959. It is literally a city, so we opened it up to become a City of Peace. Now there are 13 Cities of Peace among the 80 different villages within the camp. And there’s a movement now to coordinate all the Cities of Peace in the Nakivale refugee camp. They're supported by Aalborg, Denmark, which is the 400th City of Peace, and so we’re looking forward to the city-to-city collaboration. It’s not just communities but regions that start to expand the base of Cities of Peace that can work together.

International Cities of Peace creates an infrastructure, 
community by community, to localize, democratize, 
and sensitize the world to what is best for families and people. 
That’s the intention of International Cities of Peace, 
and it’s working quite well.

It becomes a twinning between two cities, then four cities, then a region, and that’s happening all over the world. So the Heartfulness Centers are very important as a path that can expand this network to other cities around the world. Your universal meditation at 9 o’clock at night can expand to other cities through this city-to-city coordination. So there are a lot of reasons for Heartfulness centers to become cities of peace, and it’s not just within the community, it’s also beyond the community.

Q: It was very clear early on that the Cities of Peace is not an agenda-driven organization. I love that. It makes it so much purer in the essence of what the goal is.

FA: That’s why I separate my spirituality from it. That’s why I separate my books from it. I don’t post anything about myself on the Cities of Peace website because I don’t want to become a luminary or force my thoughts about the universe on anyone else. We’re just providing a tool, a waveguide, for people to work for their purposes.

Q: I was surprised at how much I didn’t know about you. It feels like  your approach isn’t personal. I’ve noticed a similar shift in my own work; it must be a natural evolution of the soul.

FA: That’s the whole intention of the International Cities of Peace—to provide the means for other intentions. It will be great when you’re facilitating the effort.

Q: Do you believe a global awakening of consciousness can happen and bring peace to humanity?

FA: Clearly, we face some serious existential threats right now, and we’ve relied on evolution to make progress. The physics of evolution is one of the concepts I’m working on, but we need a leap, and the awareness that we need a leap will lead to the leap because we are highly creative entities.

Whether we do it from the heart or the brain, or using artificial intelligence because it’s part of our creativity, we are ready for a leap. I believe that if it is apparent that we do have existential threats, then people will put their shoulders to the boulder, their nose to the grindstone, and we will achieve awakening and also a manifestation of existence, rather than existence with a limitation. I do believe there is already an awakening, but we need more, and we need to drive it to the point where there is a leap in our evolution.

Q: That’s what I think happened with me, after Daaji’s comment then reading your book; it was a leap of consciousness in me. This must be happening to so many people.

FA: I am the eternal optimist and so are you. That’s probably why we get to be part of the team.

Q: Thank you very much for sharing your story.