The journey to building a noble world begins with a personal quest—the quest to discover oneself. At the Noble World Foundation, we promote meditation as a way to connect with one’s inner Self, which is vital for planting the seeds of a noble world.

Precisely what is “world”? Individuals form the foundation of families, communities, nations, and, ultimately, the world. Recognizing this, transforming the world starts with transforming each individual.

There has been a worldwide rise in hostility, anger, and hatred between individuals, communities, nations, and races. Laws have been passed to discourage selfish behavior, but they haven’t proved effective. This is due to a lack of understanding that at the core, everyone is pure consciousness. Imagine we are all waves belonging to the same vast ocean, different on the surface but connected underneath.

Building a Noble World teaches that love comes from feeling this connection. The book, Building a Noble World, states that, “The feeling of oneness is defined as love. We love our family members because we feel a sense of oneness with them. Similarly, to fully love the all-pervading God, one must feel the sense of oneness with all.”

The goal of meditation is to experience the individual’s innermost being by going beyond the individual’s body and mind. Fundamentally, building a noble world begins with experiencing one’s own innermost being.

Can an individualimpact global peace? The answer is a resounding “yes,” beautifully illustrated by a story adapted from the book, The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977). A wise man was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When he came to each starfish, he would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. He had been doing this for some time when an old man approached him and asked, “Why are you doing this? Look at this beach! There must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.” The wise man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, threw it back into the ocean, and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”

Thus, building a noble world is a ripple effect of individual transformation. As we each find peace within ourselves through meditation, we naturally extend these qualities outward, influencing our immediate environment, which, in turn, impacts the larger world.

It is wisely said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Let the first step be experiencing one’s own innermost being through the practice of meditation.