World Peace -- Is it Achievable?

My good friend and mentor, Calvin LeHaw, taught me his 3-fold success formula that he has used from his early days: “Conceive -- Believe -- Achieve.” Calvin is a prosperous entrepreneur, a consummate wise philanthropist, and a co-board member with me at the Institute of Noetic Sciences ( www.noetic.org ) so I take his wisdom to heart. Having just celebrated Tariq’s milestone 50th birthday on March 6th, I couldn't think of a better time to announce my final legacy effort to manifest world peace through my new project “Peace Through Forgiveness .”

Sure – I agree world peace sounds like a moonshot, but we did put a man on the moon, broke the 4-minute mile record, and soon, someone will break the 2-hour 30-second marathon record too. To consider the so-called “impossible,” I want to remind any skeptical readers that we have since experienced many other successful moonshots. So, I would like to dedicate this month’s newsletter to my good friend Calvin as he has inspired me to do the seemingly impossible with his sage adage above. Thank you, Calvin! Read below to see how I have applied this memorable advice to my final legacy project, learn where we are in the process -- and -- most importantly, how you can be part of this moonshot mission also.?

Why is this project so important for us to embrace? Because doing nothing is a cop-out and irresponsible -- especially in the tumultuous world we live in. Today's global violent threats are beyond real; we are on the brink of destroying democracy, witnessing the potential risk of a civil war, and teetering on the potential for a nuclear world war.?I am trying my best to inspire more peace and have consistently done this for 3 decades. I fully understand the power of forgiveness to forge peace – having firsthand seen transformation unfold in a large number of children, youth, and adults. However, we need to get to a much larger number than 300 million to change our world's trajectory! Join our conceived movement with the steps listed below -- we need your belief and support to manifest the final stage of achievement.

For the skeptics out there who think world peace is someone else's responsibility -- or that it is too big of a goal to accomplish, I invite you to collaborate with our efforts after reading this musing as all the world's greatest and most successful movements have been those where people unite under a vision and a dream. To make this dream a reality, let's break down the 3 parts of Calvin's teachings above, Conceive -- Believe -- Achieve:

Conceive: My journey that started 3 decades ago with the tragic murder of my only son, Tariq, spawned the Tariq Khamisa Foundation ( www.tkf.org ) which is in its 29th year and has reached over 2 million youth successfully saving lives and teaching nonviolence, accountability, empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and a commitment to peacebuilding in our schools and community. When I started TKF, it also felt like a moonshot. I started with an initial capital of a meager $8,000 and today, we have a staff of 22 committed and passionate team members and an insatiable demand for our “Safe School Model” which comprises 4 programs for youth, one for parents, and one for teachers with stellar results.?My journey to peace was through the portal of “forgiveness” which over the last 3 decades has healed and brought peace to many from my extensive global speaking and workshops.

This 25+ year journey initially devastated my life but the choice of forgiveness has rewarded me with peace. My process is well chronicled in my book trilogy : From Murder to Forgiveness- A Father’s Journey; From Forgiveness to Fulfillment; and From Fulfillment to Peace. I often asked myself along the way, “Can forgiveness be multiplied to a critical mass that would spawn world peace?”

In my meditation practice several years ago, I downloaded from higher wisdom – that if enough people in the world would espouse, role model, teach, and practice forgiveness in their individual lives, then the lives of their families, peers – and more importantly – their communities would potentially catch on and flourish. On March 6th, 2024, I launched this important effort in a new organization. Check out this newly published project at peacethroughforgiveness.com (PTF)

Believe: While this idea of world peace did stay in my psyche for many years, I did not have the bandwidth to move it forward as I was concentrating on the growth of TKF. Two and half years ago after one of my bi-annual presentations at a personal development seminar offered by Klemmer.com, a young lady named Ashley Sharp from the audience came up to me. She said, “I was very moved by your story. Ever since my childhood, I have always wanted to work on world peace.” Her passion and sincere dedication to this notion rekindled my desire for world peace through forgiveness. With Ashley’s conviction, along with six other volunteers, and six graduate university teams comprising 30 students total, we started to research if this was indeed doable. Many organizations are working on world peace including the United Nations (where I presented a few years ago to the General Assembly at “The High-Level Forum for the Culture of Peace”), The Peace Alliance (which wants to create a Department of Peace with a budget of 1% of the DOD $800 billion budget), and organizations like the International Search for Common Ground (who awarded me along with Bishop Desmond Tutu -- a true champion for forgiveness). One of Desmond Tutu's books, No Future Without Forgiveness is a great read and contains my story of peace through forgiveness.

Over these 2.5 years, the PTF team has made a list of 240 separate organizations that are promoting peace and forgiveness – many that I have met in my global speaking promoting forgiveness and peace. Among them, there are a few that are notably related to our mission, such as the Forgiveness Project in London founded by my good friend, Marina Cantacuzino, one in Hawai’i by my good friend, Roger Epstein, and a Forgiveness Project at Stanford led by Fred Luskin. Through my good friend Manuj Aggarwal – one of the preeminent gurus in AI, we learned that the tipping point for a nonviolence movement is only 3.5%.?Read the QOM below for the science that validates this fact. Well, folks 3.5% of the world population (which currently sits at 8 billion) is approximately 300 million. 3.5% of the US population is 12 million – which is more easily reachable because of the internet and as evidenced by many leaders that have a substantially higher number of followers. So, I believe that this vision is achievable – join us!

Achieve:?I wish I could tell you we have already achieved this, but obviously, with the world torn apart by wars like the conflict between Hamas and Israel, Russia and Ukraine, and many other conflicts around the world – we are not there yet. Does that mean we sit back and do nothing or take a proactive positive step to shift the planet? It does not feel right for me to sit back and do nothing. Our own country is more divided than I ever remember. There is potential for a civil war or a nuclear war if the conflicts I mentioned above expand and involve NATO countries. There is a longing in the world to come back together. I also long for this to happen, and hopefully you do too!

What encourages me immensely is that from the eighth to the fourteenth century – spanning 700 years – Jews, Christians, and Muslim scholars worked together in peace in the Iberian Peninsula furthering science, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and culture. In the 9th century, Bagdad was the most cosmopolitan city in the world. History often does repeat itself – can we get there again? I believe if we collectively come together and espouse Calvin’s formula, we can achieve world peace. PTF plans to reach out to this rich list of global organizations to join PTF to reach the magical number of 300 million. Here is how you can join:

1) Espouse forgiveness in your own lives and with your family, peers, and community.

2) Become an ambassador and share this effort widely so we can get to the 300M people -- from which point it will organically grow as evidenced by successful movements like Gandhi winning freedom for India, Nelson Mandela conquering apartheid, MLK Jr. winning civil rights, and, most recently—the Black Lives Matter movement.

3) Become part of the team with your creative ideas and special expertise to help PTF get to this magic number. We need experts in social media, AI, marketing, messaging, and internet partnering.

4) Donate to the cause through our GoFundMe campaign here . Or donate through my direct PayPal account at [email protected] . If you would prefer to mail a check, reply to this email for information. I have been using my savings to fund this important effort for the last 2.5 years and need your help.

Please reply to this email if you are looking to be involved and help support in any inspired way. Together, we can create peace through forgiveness. There is nothing more important! Our children and grandchildren deserve a peaceful world -- it is their right and our duty!

Peace and many blessings,

Azim Khamisa