Peace Prayer

I offer this prayer of peace
Not to any one god nor to many gods
Not to the Christian god
Nor to the Jewish god
Nor the Buddhist god
Nor the Islamic god
And not even to the indigenous gods of many nations
But to the divinity within that we all hold inside
That makes us all brothers and sisters
To make us truly a One Family
In the name of humanity.

I offer this prayer of peace
To the cosmic Oneness that is our birthright
And our privilege
And our strength
That should we let it shine and show us the way
Will guide us to the road of peace
Not the Christian peace
Not the Jewish peace
Not the Islamic peace
Nor the Buddhist peace
And not even the indigenous peace of many nations
But the human peace
That has a place in the hearts of all people
To allow us to truly fulfill our divine potential
To become the children of one humanity.

I offer this prayer of peace
To allow us all to realize
The truth of our existence
To allow us all to discover
The sanctity of our lives
To allow us all to seek
The spirituality of our beings
Please allow us to experience
With all our hearts and our souls
The intimate connection to the divine
That we all possess inside
For our bodies are the temples of worship
And our souls the altars
Upon which we shall stand tall
And live out the true meaning
Of our existence.

I offer this prayer of peace
To declare a revolution
Of the human spirit
I wish to announce that
It is now time
For all of us to spiritually awaken
And become enlightened
For the time of the enlightened few is over
The age of elitist enlightenment has passed
For how long do you seek to wait for prophets
To come down from mountain tops
And tell us what to do
We all must become enlightened
To recognize our divinity
To raise up our consciousness
And proclaim our independence
From blind reliance on long ago sages
And find the answers from our own well
Of spiritual wisdom
We must ourselves become the enlightened ones
We must ourselves realize our Oneness
I declare that we must all become "earthlings"
Of the earth
And not of any religion, nation, or race.
But of this earth, for this earth, and by this earth
To create a lasting peace
On earth.

I offer this prayer of peace
For the United Nations
In which we stand here today
To lift itself from the quicksand of politickery
And live out its distinctly spiritual goal
To eradicate the disease of war
And create an equitable and peaceful world.
Let us hope the UN finds the strength and the will
To become the spokesman for all people of the earth
And not just for the privileged nations
Let us wish upon the UN the wisdom
To become the beacon that we can all follow
To the promised land of love and peace
I pray to thee
God of all gods, the divine that lives within us and connects us in One Life
That you grant us the vision
To establish a Spiritual UN
That will guide us into the next millennium

I offer this prayer of peace
With all my fellow "earthlings"
For a lasting peace on earth.

Recited by Grand Master Lee at the opening ceremony in the General Assembly of the United Nations on August 28, 2000