A Personal Message from Nasser Zaghi,

Founder and President of Love Is the Solution 

A Chronicle of Events

Today is February 28, 2008.  I am in Fort Lauderdale, at the house of my brother, Dr. Eddy Zaghi.  I have been released from JFK Hospital.  On Sunday, February 24, my wife  and I,  and my old friend, Mo Panahi, (advisor and member of the board of directors of the Love Is The Solution organization) returned  from a week-long cruise with the Ocean of Gratitude group. The cruise was a perfect environment in which to share my message about the possibility of reaching world peace with a number of successful and like-minded people (Reverend Michael Beckwith, Christiane Schull, and others), who were interested and eager to listen.  I was equally eager to speak about Love Is the Solution and the international peace education project .

While a cruise is usually a restful experience, there were so many opportunities to discuss my peace project and the mission of Love Is the Solution, that I found it impossible to rest.  There was a chance to engage in discussions at every turn.  Inspired by their interest, I was in contact and communication with the other participants throughout the entire cruise.  That constant activity and interaction left me feeling exceptionally stressed and exhausted, and in need of respite by the time we returned. 

What followed after February 24,was a life-changing event...an epiphany.  Sunday night I experienced  an excruciatingly painful headache.  I was very uncomfortable, very sleepy, and irrational.  I don't clearly recall my situation at that time, I was extremely tired - exhausted.  I slept uncomfortably until Monday morning, February 25, 2008.  I still did not feel well.  My brother, who is a cardiologist living in Florida, insisted I go immediately to JFK Hospital in Miami.  After a battery of tests and examinations at the hospital, it was determined that I had suffered a stroke.  I was advised to rest until such  time as I could fly back to California, and then follow up my treatment with local doctors and hospital. 

Additionally, I was told by my doctor that my chances of surviving the stroke were one in a million.  One doctor said that for me to be OK after having that kind of a stroke -- I had actually cheated death!

At this time, I am trying  to assess and evaluate what is happening to me and my life, and why.

Because both Mo and my wife Ashraf have witnessed my activity -- my nonstop work with Love Is the Solution, and how it has impacted my life -- they have always made every effort to convince me that I work too much with my nonprofit organization, Love Is the Solution, for real world peace.

In considering what has occurred now, these things come to my  mind:

l  I am attempting, by myself, to create and develop a huge project - to organize and establish an international peace education foundation.  Solely through my own abilities, I have sought to organize, to finance, and to educate the world about my plan, the "One Per Cent Solution" (each country to transfer 1% of  monies from their Defense budget to create a Peace Budget).  My single-minded focus on finding a real solution to world peace has come to dominate my life.

l  I am asking myself "What am I doing?  Is my personal  life practice based on the principles of Love Is the Solution?  Am I using the  principles of acceptance, fairness and doing my best?"  As I consider whether I have been practicing the love of my definition, and reflect on that question, I can confirm that there is no hatred within me now, and that yes, I am acting with love.  I will be thinking about it a bit longer and will look more deeply.

l  I have to think about fairness.  I am asking myself, "Am I being fair and doing my best?  I see that the answer is that I am not being fair, not to my family nor to my friends.  I have tried to justify the intensity of my work with Love Is the Solution with the logic that it is for world peace,  therefore, no sacrifice is too great.  My work  for peace has become my life.  My family and friends notice, they miss my presence.  Now the work has become too much.  I cannot continue.  This kind of effort, if continued, could truly soon kill me.        

l  On further reflection, I see that even though I was completely committed to these principles, I have still not been able to practice them fully.  I have not been fair and, moreover, I simply could not accept that it would not be possible for me to carry out my plan and project.  I thought that I could because I see the problem and I see how the solution is possible through  the application of  Love Is the Solution principles.  This is so important; I didn't want to accept my limitations in this regard.  I didn't even want to consider that such limitations existed.  This has become clearer and clearer as I look back over my behavior leading up to the stroke.  Until  that moment, I denied that there were limits to my abilities, my energy, my stamina.  And now, I cannot deny it any longer -- it is clear to me that I do have limits.

l  At this point, I am saying to myself, "Now, I must accept it, I cannot continue to do this project by myself, alone.  It is beyond my limits".

l  I finally see the truth.  I SEE THAT NOW IS MY TURNING POINT.

After this experience, I realize that I am complete now with doing this much.  However,  I am going to write and complete the Pathway to Peace, and give everyone in the world the opportunity to learn about and understand my proposed project for real peace.  Hopefully, some person or some organization will accept the responsibility of carrying out this project.  If that happens soon, and if the condition of my health allows it, I will support and participate in their efforts as well.

Of course, I am still  going to honor all my commitments to everyone

In regard to publishing  books:

          1. My book on slander is nearly ready to publish.  I will publish it soon.

          2. My book, Love Is the Solution, Peace is Possible, has been translated into Persian (Farsi), and will be published soon.

          3. Pathway to Peace is perhaps delayed due to my health issues, but it will be published as well.

I need to slow down quite a bit.  I love my family.  They worry about my stressful life with Love Is the Solution issues.  

End of Part I

 ----*----

 A Chronicle of Event  Part II- Going Forward

I understand that both my decision regarding my Turning Point, and my explanation, may give rise to many questions.  I am going to answer those questions and explain further in a book about my total Pathway to Peace, and as soon as I do that, more questions will arise.

 In my Pathway to Peace book, I will explain more clearly about this situation.  My intention is this - due to my health, I must stop work on the project now, but I will be able to write.  In the Pathway to Peace book I am going write, you will find out the following in the chapters:

 What is the biggest problem in the world?

What is the solution?

How is it possible to do it?

How, why, when Zaghi got involved in Love Is the Solution issues

Who inspired this - discuss Mel Suhd and Kate

What brought Zaghi to the Turning Point

What is the outcome of Zaghi's research and experience?

How some religious, political and business leaders did not take him seriously, and how some also viewed him as strange, perhaps unbalanced. 

How, the more active he became, the more his faith and commitment to follow up grew. 

How he had great difficulty in getting their support/endorsements, but still he persevered.

At first glance, Love Is the Solution would not appear to be a stressful endeavor.  How come I am saying it is so difficult and how is it so?  I will explain how and why.

Love Is the Solution, of course, is not supposed to be stressful, but when you apply it to the case of peace in the world, it is far different than any other situation.  It is not a simple resolution of a family problem, or something involving one, two, or just a few people.  It is huge and all-encompassing.  We are faced with all kinds of reasons for conflict and constantly shown images of disasters, pictures of conflict and war.  There are all kinds of reasons to seek peace.  They can reach the heart of everybody.  For peace, you must see deeply, you must look at the need for and meaning of acceptance, fairness and doing your best differently because of the many factors involved., such as ego,  conflict of interest, religion, oil, economics, values, understanding, expectations, politics, etc..We need a different perspective.

When you propose a solution to solve world problems, to reach peace in the world, there will be resistance from many sides, particularly  from oil, political, and religious interests. 

Conflict is the result of thousands of years of hatred.  It causes great damage to the minds of the people.  For example, many wrongdoers have first been victims of wrongdoing themselves before they, too, became perpetrators. We must prevent people from becoming victims in the first place.

My research, interviews, contacts with people at workshops,seminars, and reading have proven to me that the reason for conflict is a lack of knowledge, understanding, and awareness.  To reverse all of that requires a conclusive, all-embracing, realistic approach. Global international peace education is needed  to accomplish this.  A great deal of money is needed -- millions of dollars.

I am proposing the design, development, and activation of what I call the 1% solution - directing one percent of defense budgets toward peace budgets for international peace education.  At the same time, peace education would eventually have the effect of reducing future defense budgets as well.  Discussing, planning, and implementation of the project would be initiated by an international gathering of about 300 people, all carefully selected leaders in their respective fields.

At the beginning, I thought I could make all arrangements myself.  I thought that I could invite 300 people to gather for an international peace education meeting, and arrange for extensive media coverage as well.  So I got involved, deeply involved. in this project.  I have spent all the money I could earn on this mission.  Much more is needed. 

I was under the impression that peace is a universal desire, and that there is no one who would not pay the price for peace.  I thought that everyone would cooperate in this effort.  That did not happen.  I took on the burden of working for global peace education, and was counting on everyone cooperating - but they did not.  They were not open or even  aware of the depth of the problem.  I myself was not aware of how deep the problem was.  I did not expect resistance.

Now I understand that it requires hundreds of organizations and thousands of people to create an international peace education foundation.

I am not convinced that I was wrong about my Pathway to Peace project.  Now I understand why so many people have a "damaged" mind.  It is understandable that most people have been victims in the past and that, in most cases, it is difficult, if not impossible to heal that damage.  In too many cases, the damage gives rise to anger and hatred toward others. And the cycle continues.

To be realistic, we can only save the future generations.  In these times, children are still being raised with hatred in their lives from the moment they are born.  If we would instead let them experience only love, let them grow up without hatred in their lives, future generations could live in peace.  It would take about one hundred years until all the hatred disappeared-and  hatred damaged minds no longer existed.  The situation we are in must be controlled for one hundred years.  At the same time, we must all plant the seeds of love, expecting that in one hundred years we will have the fruit of the seeds - peace.

The result of all this was a stroke.  The result of the stroke is this, my personal Turning Point.

Nasser  Zaghi, Founder

Love Is the Solution