Practicing Personal Peace
Healing Yourself to Help Heal Others
-JON RASSMUSEN-
Jon Rasmussen offers energy that invites instant connection, that invites one to immediately relax, be at ease, and simply be one’s full, authentic self. He has an embrace of community and of truly experiencing the space between people that is deeply inspiring. A member of Euphrates 2021 Peace Practice Alliance, Jon brings these gifts and many others to our peace leader community. To know Jon is to begin to understand how the work of a personal peace practitioner spills over into a wide embrace of community and beyond.
-The following are excerpts from an inspired conversation with Jon-
Q: How did you find yourself in this work?
I always thought of my home country as a peaceful and quiet place, but as I started working in World Scouting and KAICIID peace work...I saw how blind I had been to all of the hate speech. I thought it was peace and quiet and free and equal, but found a parallel universe underneath all of that where there was so much hate and there still is. In a country that praises freedom and how they help people, something needs to change. How blind have I been?...I can’t close my eyes to this, but I didn’t know how.
“I had an early near-death experience. It was an awakening into a new path. I saw that internal conflicts are… a different kind of violence.”
It’s not like people killing each other externally, but they are on the inside. And that hurts me a lot...knowing people have no concept that this is what they do. If I can do something here or any place in the world - inspire someone, spark a light of hope, spread some love - I know I have plenty of that! It’s painful, but rewarding because it can light the flame of change in people. I couldn’t live knowing that someone’s light was extinguished.
I just hit a place in life where all of the sudden things made sense and that’s difficult to explain. I know I am filled with resources. I used my connections in World Scouting to find training to help bring out who I was inside.
Q: When you talk about the decision to become an agent of change, a peace leader, was it for you to help yourself or to help others?
I think my healing process happened after I started working. It’s like three steps:
First, it was me getting to know myself, like really knowing myself - scraping the bottom of the pit where nothing is left, every layer of skin is peeled off and you can do nothing but cry. There are no filters, there is only you. Being down in the pit realizing what is actually needed and getting to learn things again, seeing all people in a different way. I pulled myself apart in order to heal.
Then some people offered me a way to learn new things and see that I could help inspire others to bring change.
And then helping others. This in the end was a healing process for me...witnessing them grow in the same way.
Q: Did you voluntarily pull yourself apart or did you carry this deep yearning your whole life?
I guess there has always been something yearning. I’ve always been a bit not like the rest. School was boring...I didn’t fit in. Good grades, but not a good education. I was always a bit different, I knew that. I was following a standard path in society, but when I got so sick that I had to be operated on...I saw things differently. Then I voluntarily found myself in a Scouts training program that asked us to look at ourselves in order to become a good leader. I was paired up with someone for a year. We had to tear ourselves apart. That was a terrible year - I’ve never cried so much!
At this point I had stepped aside from work to take care of myself physically and now it was time to take care of my mental health. I was only 38 when I retired. The question is now what’s my place, my purpose, etc. I had to work on a lot of self-acceptance. I still am working at loving my body. In my work I liked the challenges of repairing/restoring old vintage cars, resculpturing, and changing things. I guess it’s still kind of the same work...now it’s humans instead of metal. And humans are way more fun!
Q: You said that in the suffering you experienced you had begun to see that others were carrying this around as well. Tell me about the next steps that would lead you to become a peacebuilder. It sounds like yours was an inside-out [approach]...finding your own pain and path forward and wanting to help others do the same.
I decided to do an international dialogue training in Hungary based on a recommendation. World Scouting and the KAICIID dialogue program had a partnership. While there I met the individual in charge of the dialogue for peace program at KAICIID. I was like YES - where have you been my whole life?! Since then, it’s all fallen into place! They wanted me to join the Dialogue for Peace team and then I’m meeting all these amazing people. A new family that I understood! I’m saying hello and yes to all the things I’m passionate about!
The year before I was supposed to go but broke my ankle and couldn’t go. I see it was for a reason. I had to meet certain people at a certain time. Things just made sense...like a weird awakening at the right moment.
World Scouting saw I had something to offer in the dialogue and inclusive consultant. You cannot choose these international positions, they choose you. Everything is open due to my passion.
Q: What keeps you in the work?
Right now I miss the real life in person training and dialogue sessions. What keeps me going - it’s like I’m being given a mirror. I see the same enlightenment, fire, and passion emerge out of gathering people who work in the same field, but realize they can do so much more. It sounds narcissistic...I hate looking at myself, but I love seeing the passion and drive that others gain.
The pandemic has been hard, but online platforms have also given me a lot more contact with people than I had before. At the same time I also see how many people we don’t reach. Not being able to reach unhappiness is so hard. I don’t want people to be unhappy.
Q: Who are you bringing together in these dialogue sessions?
My work in KAICIID’s Dialogue for Peace is a youth empowerment program, but it’s not just for Scouts. We work in conflict zones. We’re giving people tools they can use to prevent potential conflict. Having a dialogue...what does the term even mean? You don’t have to agree. Understanding and learning from each other is the main goal. That is the purpose of dialogue. We try to always have very diverse dialogue groups. We have strict topics to center the conversation. There can be a lot of tension.
Most of the conversations have a confidentiality policy...what happens here, stays here. We shared things together and those conversations stayed there. The level of trust opens people up. Many of the deep conversations I never see coming, but it’s because they feel safe.
I’ve just completed the Dialogue for Peace accreditation process, which is a training process guided by both WOSM and KAICIID experts. It took 3 years.
“I like to work with the youth in conflict zones, but I’ll work with anyone who wants to change… Bring the change!”
Q: Where do you see yourself going in this work? Heartwork doesn’t have a five year plan, but….
I’m not seeing myself ending this work anytime. I wasn’t raised to give up. You give what you have...full throttle! There will always be people who are more articulate and willing to be the front person. It might not be me. The interpersonal relations and nonformal part - I’m very good at that. At a twenty person training I take a lot of pride in getting to know who they each are before they go home.
