The ways and paths to peace

The outer affects the inner. The outer world — talk radio, 24-hour news, our cellphones, diet, Netflix queue — affects our inner world. Our emotions. Our levels of anger. Our sense of peace.

When we place our attention on things that cause stress, anxiety and confusion, we then cultivate stress, anxiety and confusion. The outer world affects our inner world, which then influences our actions and emotions — the way we drive our cars, parent our kids, speak to our neighbors.

The inner also affects the outer.

When we cultivate peace on the inside — prayer, silence, gratitude, meditation — then it radiates and extends to the outside. Even in great trauma and chaos, our minds can become like mountains: unshakable and calm, come hell or high water. This is the peace that passes understanding.

You’ve seen train wrecks: people riddled with stress and chaos.

You’ve also seen saints: people glowing with calm and love.

For a moment, forget North Korea. Forget Charlottesville. And Washington.

Answer this: how do we go from train wreck to saint?

We pay attention to many things in America, but internal peacemaking is often not one of them. We can build nuclear arsenals, map the human genome, create driverless cars, yet do we know of the science of forgiveness, the power of nonviolence, the path to peace in our own hearts?

“There is no way to peace,” activist A.J. Muste once wrote. “Peace is the way.”

This Thursday, peace gets its own day. Around the world, is the International Day of Peace.

Here in Chattanooga, thanks to a new event called “Paths to Peace,” we’ll celebrate peace along with billions of others across the world.

“There will be Quakers, Muslims, the Olivet nation from the Olivet Baptist Church, an Episcopal contemplative prayer group sitting in silence, a Spanish language Rosary group, Buddhist chanting, Hindus dancing, a Lovingkindness meditation and prayer warriors from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Chattanooga,” said Kathleen Crevasse, one of the organizers.

Months ago, Crevasse joined a dream team of local, powerful women — Elizabeth Kabalka, Ellen Simak, Peggy Townsend, Barbara Kennedy, Margy Oehmig — to plan the event, which begins at 3 p.m. at Coolidge Park.

There will be yoga and qigong. Art, including origami, sand mandalas and 6-foot prayer looms.

There will be children’s activities and professional dance — Girls Preparatory School and Baylor School dancers will perform The Elm Dance, which originates from a post-meltdown Chernobyl.

“Then, there’s the labyrinths,” said Crevasse.

Labyrinths are a centuriesold practice of walking a concentric circle that mirrors the inner journey. For years, Oehmig — one of the “Paths to Peace” coordinators — walked labyrinths.

“As a walking meditation and contemplative tool for accessing the Holy,” she said.

But it wasn’t until the 2015 death of her husband, beloved golfing priest King Oehmig, that she felt drawn to the deeper power of labyrinth.

“It was one of the few places I knew of where I could physically, emotionally and spiritually take my grief, anger, emptiness and despair,” she said. “As I followed the path, the traumas of loss were slowly and gently replaced by gratitude, acceptance and strength.”

On the one-year anniversary of King’s death, Oehmig traveled to France’s Chartres Cathedral to study labyrinths; she even became a facilitator.

Returning home, she had a vision.

“My dream is for Chattanooga to have a permanent public labyrinth,” she said.

Thursday, there’ll be a temporary labyrinth at Coolidge Park. Anyone is welcome to walk.

It is just one of the many possible ways that life — yours, mine, theirs — can become a little less rough, and a little more peaceful.

“Deep peace to you,” Crevasse said in closing.

And to all the city.

David Cook writes a Sunday column and can be reached at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-7576329. Follow him on Facebook at DavidCookTFP.