Albert Einstein said: “We can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created them.”

The Mideast Peace Prayer Project is an embodiment of this idea. Humankind has been busy doing things for thousands of years. Yet with all that we have accomplished, we seem no closer to peace than we were long ago. Although this project involves doing, it is not about doing.

It is in reality about being: who we are, who we are in relationship to each other, and who we are in relationship to our planet.

Solutions to problems result from a shift from the way of thinking that created them.

This is what the prayer is all about. The prayer is the shift, and it also creates the shift. Importantly, global prayer will support and transform any current, “practical” efforts for peace.

There have been brilliant minds and good-hearted people involved in creating peace. Yet without a shift in our awareness, these valiant attempts have been, sadly, like building castles in the sand.

When peace is at last achieved, it will be because we have changed the way we relate to each other, to each religion, and to each culture. When this change has occurred, the seeds of any solution will finally fall on fertile ground.