I tend to write about things that have become my experience.

I do my best to
share from the truth of the experience and not based upon my opinion that
would be based upon conditioned beliefs. Though my words may rattle, shake,
and sometimes anger the reader it is never my intention to alienate, but more to
bring us and everyone closer together. In doing this feelings get hurt, beliefs are
challenged and tempers flare.. My only request is that the reader take the time
to sit with these words in silence before reacting and/or responding. Responses
are welcomed and encouraged and I will do my best to remain as I am in being
true to myself and the experience.

I write about war, trauma, healing and awakening. Not in any particular order
but this is what tends to come out on paper considering that my whole adult life
experience has encompassed all of these things. I have a tendency to test the
limits that social conditioning places upon us and I enjoy popping the bubbles
of illusion. I help people see through their beliefs which tend to keep most
happy and comfortable in their boxes, even if these boxes are full of pain and
shame. We do love our comfort. We as people tend to "Believe" that our thoughts
are real and we have a long standing tendency to create our reality based upon
these thoughts that are bought into. A standing reality that few care to consider
is the fact that thoughts are very similar to clouds. They appear in the sky
almost out of nowhere, they change shape, they grow, they become smaller,
they split and form more clouds and then like a morning fog dissipating in the
rising sun, the cloud is gone; no different from the thoughts that arise in our
seemingly in tact, tangible and physical minds.

Some time ago, maybe around 2004 when I was working in Iraq as a civilian
contractor handling ordnance and explosives I had experienced something of an
epiphany. It was clearly seen one day that beliefs create separation and
ultimately result in the creation of war. War creates suffering and rarely ends, if
ever, when the bullets stop flying, the bombs stop dropping and the peace
accord is signed.

My next request is for you to sit down, pour some tea (or Jack) and prepare to
dive into the world that is created in your mind. Using military terminology it is
now time to destroy our beliefs. I, personally, worked with bombs, ordnance and
explosives. My life was intense and explosive. I find it interesting that this is the
same way my mind, beliefs and thoughts were destroyed. It was in a momentary
flash of explosive intensity that who I thought I was died and something other
was born. But, this something other was what had always been and I was
nothing more than a dream that I had created in my own mind, with my own
stories and my own conflicts and my own wars.

What was discovered in that moment was that it is the destruction of beliefs and
the attachment to that results in true peace. The ending of a war, or even these
current wars, will not bring long and lasting peace. The ending of war, for our
country and culture, has become nothing more than a resting period that gives
birth to complacency and only fuels the fire of separation and aggression.

What was discovered in that moment is that war is not the enemy or the great
evil that it is made out to be. What was discovered in that moment is that when
we turn our attention back on ourselves and view the world as a giant mirror
reflecting back to us our own projections of mind and false reality we see that
the roots of war actually exist within our own selves, within our own conflicted
and violent selves.

It is belief and attachment to belief that lays the foundation of war. When we
inquire into our beliefs and see the truth of our thoughts for what they really are
we begin to sow the seeds of peace and work towards a real ending to war, not
just this war, but all wars. War is not a product of man but rather a creation of
thought. Thoughts form in the mind and something is aware of this action
taking place. The thought becomes and idea and the ideas then evolve into
beliefs. The mind buys into this phenomena and believes it to be real and to be
the truth. This is the very place, the place that is the root of division and
ultimately conflict, violence and war.

Even having the belief that something is "Good" over bad, positive over negative,
holy over unholy; even buying into these thoughts and beliefs creates division
and therefore helps to further the unfolding more war. If one truly wishes to end
war then that one should turn their efforts and attention inward and examine
the arising thoughts and inquire into the nature and truth of these thoughts and
begin to dismantle the actual conditioned beliefs that is the main source of fuel
for these thoughts.

"Free the Mind and the Heart will surely Follow." This I have experienced. This
does not mean that anger does not arise, or humanly emotions and reactions
come to an end. This does not mean that at all. It is my experience that this
brings us to a much more intimate relationship with life and humanity and
humanness itself.

The belief that war is somehow evil, bad, or wrong; this, too, is based upon
conditioned beliefs. In no way am I saying that we need to support war or to go
on a mad and angry killing spree just out of pleasure. What I am saying or
simply suggesting is to examine the thoughts as they arise and follow the
thought to its root, to the place of its birth. Follow the thought to the belief and
you just mind find yourself surprised with what you might find. Some find
beliefs that they actually don't agree with. Some find beliefs that were handed
down to them through parents or religion. Some find that because of religion or
a negative parental experience that they have swung to the opposite end of
believing everything that is contrary to what they were taught.

It is when we dismantle our beliefs and find the true nature of the empty and
free mind, that is limitless, judgment free and luminous, that we begin to see
the world in a new and fresh way. It is here in the free and open mind that we
can be free to experience all that life has to offer without reaction, judgment
and ridicule. It is here in this space and as this space that the movement
towards a greater peace in this world is real and possible. In fact, there is no
longer need for a movement towards peace because we become peace itself.
Peace when anger arises, peace when sadness arises, peace when conflict arises.
We become the peace that is then reflected into the world and is returned back
to us.

Until then we are only "Fighting" war with the thought of what we believe peace
to be and many anti-war and peace actions are violent and angry in nature. This
is observed when one steps out and becomes the observer. When one sits back
and watches the actions and behaviors involved in most anti-war movements
one will find, see and feel the intensity and anger of the those involved. Thirty
thousand "peace" marchers waling directly towards you can feel like a record
setting wave crashing against the rocky shores of Big Sur. Until this peace is
realized as inseparable from what we are, we are merely in opposition to war
based upon and defined by our minds, its beliefs and reactions.

As long as we stay on one side of the fence or the fight and continue to resist
that which is on the other we remain at war and will also remain in separation.

Now, I have many friends on Face Book. Some that identify or lean towards
being liberal, some progressive, green, anarchist, conservative, republican,
democrat, spiritual, soldiers, veterans, etc.. this list continues on. We tend to
separate ourselves and divide into and form groups and then label our divided
groups based upon a common thought that is believed to be real and thus
turned into a standing belief that can then become a war cry. In extreme cases a
belief is then turned into a collection of similar beliefs and is then called a
religion, which then adds to the separation of man and helps to create division
and war as opposed to unity and peace. This is not just relegated to religion;
this is the same for socio-political movements, educational and agricultural
organizations as well. It is never ending and continual. And here, not saying that
groups are bad or the evil monster, but sharing an example as to how we
further separate ourselves from one another and help to create and add to the
wars that we fight.

What I am sharing is to begin to work with your thoughts and beliefs and find
the source of. I am not saying become a believer of not believing, this is no
different from believing. It is only that one has bought into the belief of non-
belief. This is an expansion of mind that results in an embracing and welcoming
of both belief and non-belief, war and peace. This is the open mind that
embraces all phenomena and experience but does not attach to one over the
other as being the truth, but both and all as expressions of reality. Noticing that
all that rises, also falls. Noticing that all that comes, also goes. LIke the ocean's
tide meets the shore it also returns back to the sea. Our thoughts are not
different from this, our thoughts are not different from the changing tides and
currents of the sea.

The ending of war and the creation of peace is found in the opening of
"HeartMind" and the embracing and welcoming of the all and everything as an
inseparable whole.

Who am I? Who is John Healey, the man behind these words? I am a former
soldier, a former government contractor, a former law enforcement officer,
father, son, brother and friend. I have been hospitalized in the VA for military
related issues and I have been homeless. I have experienced wealth and poverty,
abundance and lack, gained and lost, ascended and descended; but what I share
here is transcendence and a real and actual human plea for peace. I have fought,
I have shot, I have cried and I have suffered. I have lived war for most of my
adult life in one form or another. I speak from the experience of and not from
the book or what I have been fed by teacher or school. I am not what most
would consider to be the epitome of spiritual, but I have found that true
spirituality knows no bounds and has little to do with Sunday prayers, burning
incense, twisting one's body into yogic poses and sharing words of Namaste'
and peace. True spirituality is the unfolding and ever present awareness that is
in the here and now. It is that force that is inseparable from the joys of life and
the sorrows, it is not about spiritual growth or development. True spirituality
has little to do with angels and guides and has everything to do with being here
and now and acknowledging that we are an inseparable whole that collectively
creates and destroys. True spirituality is the inseparable presence of momentary
truth. It embraces all and excludes none. It judges no act as better or worse,
good or bad. It judges nothing as anger or joy, or even depression. It does not
move away from something that the mind deems not spiritual, healthy or whole.
It welcomes any act or movement as an expression of itself. It welcomes all
people, all places, all faiths, all nations, all beliefs, all colors and all rising and
falling phenomena as itself.. to include the most heinous of human acts, WAR.

War is nothing more than another experience in life, inseparable from our very
own selves. War exists in life and in Iraq and Afghanistan because we create
right here and now within our own conflicted sleep state. We create it and we
judge it. We push it away and we form groups to fight it, yet it continues to
persist and exist. It gives some of us meaning, whether we become heroes
fighting in it, or heroes fighting against it. Either way both sides feed the fire by
either supporting it or being opposed to it. There is nothing that exists in life
that we can remain in opposition to. If we continue to fight and resist it
continues to fight and exist.

We are in the creation of war when we look out into the world as opposed to in,
within our own selves. We create war when we tell our family members to "Fuck
Off" (I have). We create war when we judge something is either being good or
bad, right or wrong, holy over unholy, spiritual over that which is not spiritual.
We create war when we raise a hand to and strike our children. We support and
create war when we go to watch movies of violence and destruction. We support
war when we buy violent video games for our children.

There is no one who is separate from the other in this world. There is no thing
that is separate from the other in this world. There is no act that is separate
from the other, when we push or fight with another, that other pushes and
fights with another and the cycle continues on and on until it spirals out of
control and leads to war. Move away from the truth of who we are and we move
towards and closer to violence and war.

This is a soldier's plea for peace, true peace. This is not an angry demonstration
or war disguised as peace. These are not words of violence, hatred or judgment.
I do not share to shame or point the finger at one group over another or one
person over another. This is not an insult of anyone's ideology or belief system.
This is a request to look in the mirror.

A true turn around in how we view our selves, our country, our individual lives
and our place in this world is needed in terms of how we view the self as an
inseparable, connected, and interdependent piece of a giant puzzle.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will end at some point. The effects of these
wars will be carried and felt for generations. This trauma, anger, judgment and
disconnection will continue on generation to generation, only continuing the
cycle of violence, separation and war. With war comes more domestic violence,
alcohol and drug abuse, alienation and broken families. Not only does the
individual suffer, but the family, friends, co-workers and businesses suffer as
well.

We will not end war in the world until we turn into war and face the truth that we
create it at home. We will not end war until we turn into the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and welcome the returning men and women with open arms of of
love and compassion, holding them and allowing them to cry, scream, kick, yell
and curse until all of their rejection, anger, fear, and tears have been allowed to
be expressed. We will not end war in the world until we end the wars within
ourselves, the wars that are fueled by rejection, judgment, ridicule and violence
against the self.. self hate.

Do you want to help your neighbors and friends end war?? If your answer is yes
then I ask of you to please sit down right now and ask yourself, "What is the
truth of who I am and what role do I play in the greater puzzle?" We need to stop
looking out into the world and pointing the finger at one party over the other,
one politician over the other, one corporation over the other. The problem isn't
with Republicans or Democrats. Those on the left are not more right than those
on the right and vice versa. They are merely belief systems that have been
created based upon experiences, reactions and conditioning.
This is not a judgment, but a "Plea" from a Veteran, a father and a human being
who also must live on this planet as a piece of this giant breathing puzzle.

In peace,

John Healey