... continuing where I left off in message "4htdc0$kle" (which is what
TIN has to say about my message, and which I don't find very flattering...)
(but that's okay, because TIN decided that some previous messages in this
thread were to be known as "4hogpa$n6a" and "4hoota$5a2", which seem even 
a worse insult, considering it came from a computer!)  *ahem*  :)

   Anyway, I have found individuals in both organizations (that being
PeaceWorks and Columbia Interfaith Peace Alliance) who really seem to be
"with it" in terms of being in tune with a peaceful inner self as well
as being able to be in tune with the loving parts of others as well,
demonstrating a peaceful demeanor not only in what they say, but also
in what they do and how they go about doing it.
   I had found, until recently, that relating to organizations with 
"peace" in their name hoping and expecting such a relationship to 
bestow peace on me to be rather disappointing.  This is because, in 
part, any entity which is an organization consisting of humans seems to 
always have politics and struggles, even among the best and most gener-
ous of people.  This is also in part due to the naivete' that lead me
to believe that going to some organization for the selfish reason of
having that organization fulfill some need of mine (in this instance,
helping find inner peace) would automatically just have that happen, 
no matter what *I* did or said or no matter how I acted in relating 
to the organization or to the individuals in it.
   I have started to come to the conclusion that true peace must come
from within.  True inner peace seems to be a rather rare find in these 
days, because we live in a society that does anything but encourage in-
ternal peace -- we live, instead, in a society that encourages us to 
develop an inner voice which speaks of hatred, fear, self-doubt and 
self-loathing, rather than of any kind of self-love or self-acceptance.  
We live in a society which plugs itself in to the TV set, the radio 
(or now, the Internet) listening to the many and varied messages of 
which many really exist to *unbalance* us from being happy where we 
are at, and instead lead us to only be happy when we have accomplished 
what the advertiser (or commentator or opinionator or scriptwriter or 
politician or what-have-you) would have us accomplish, like getting rid 
of that "dirty ring-around-the-collar" by using some name-brand deter-
gent.
   "...his whole life long, the man of today is exposed to influences
which are bent on robbing him of all confidence in his own thinking.
The spirit of spiritual dependence to which he is called on to surrender
is in everything he hears and reads:  it is in the people whom he meets
every day; it is in the parties and associations which have claimed him
as their own; it pervades all the circumstances of his life.
   "From every side and in the most varied ways it is dinned into him
that the truths and convictions which he needs for life must be taken
by him from the associations which have rights over him.  Over and over
again convictions are forced upon him in the same way as, by means of
the electric advertisements which flare in the streets of every large
town, any company which has sufficient capital to get itself securely
established, exercises pressure on him at every step he takes to induce
him to buy their boot polish or their soup tablets....
   "His self-confidence is also diminished though the pressure exercised
upon him by the huge and daily increasing mass of knowledge.  He is no
longer in the position to take in as something which he has grasped all 
the new discoveries that are constantly announced; he has to accept them 
as fact although he does not understand them.  This being his relation
to scientific truth he is tempted to acquiesce in the idea that in mat-
ters of thought also his judgement cannot be trusted."  -- Albert 
Schweitzer, _Out of My Life and Thought_, epilogue.

   And yet, here we are.  We are looking for peace on a network.  We are
looking for acceptance and love through little pixels on a Cathode Ray
Tube.  At least, I am (speaking for myself)...  because I am too afraid of
people and their violences and their claims on my time and their mani-
pulations to really allow myself to find peace and love with them in 
person.  (Or, at least, this is how I feel right now.)

   Swain, you say you want peace.  What fears and hatreds are you willing 
to let go of to get it?  Do you have any thoughts or plans in mind?  I
would very much like to hear them if you do.
				Sincerely,  David Eisenstein

ps:
   Kaye, thank you very much for sharing the feelings and thoughts about
stress and overwork in this thread.  They have hit home with me.