You may have seen him on Library Mall. He has become a fixture there, circling the fountain each day, reciting prayers for peace.

Richard Rawski, 47, was first introduced to “peace exercise” in 1985 while living in Chicago. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., he moved to Chicago to pursue a career as a chef.

Rawski, who was born in St. Francis, Wis., worked at several businesses in Chicago, including the Hyatt Regency as a sous chef and the Playboy Club as the executive chef. But after 15 years in the business, he wanted out.

Rawski said he began his higher education in peace when he was drawn into a building with an intriguing name.

“I would walk by this place, and on the door it said ‘International School for World Peace,’ and every single time I walked by, I always said, ‘I gotta go in that place, I just gotta go in there,'” Rawski said.

Rawski said the people at the school amazed him with the positive energy he said he could not only feel, but also see radiating out of them during his conversations with them.

The positive energy flow seemed to come from the meditative praying the people would do, and Rawski decided he wanted to start engaging in this practice.

“I’d work at night, I’d work and I’d pray for peace. It’s called ‘world peace breathing,'” Rawski said. “I made up my own songs, and I would sing and pray and breathe peace all night long.”

Rawski said practicing the ritual prayer opened his eyes to the ways of the world and inspired him to leave his job and take on a severely monastic lifestyle.

“In 1986, when I left the chef business, I decided that I wasn’t going to live in a home for a while. I wanted to see what it was like to live like poor people lived,” Rawski said. “So I let go of everything I had. I gave it all away.”

Rawski said some people might not understand why he rejects material possessions and sleeps in his car, but he doesn’t find monetary holdings necessary.

“I feel I’m responsible to contribute towards the well-being of the state and the world through this state because I was born here. So I keep coming back to Madison,” Rawski said. “This will be my fifth year at the Farmer’s Market, every Saturday morning, walking around the Capitol and doing the wish for peace for every state and country.”

Rawski said he’s intensified his prayer efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. His ritual walk around the Library Mall fountain used to take four hours, until he refined his technique of prayer and meditative breathing.

“Sometimes I just do two hours and then I continue the next day where I left off, but I usually try to do the whole thing every day,” Rawski said.

Rawski said praying privately is ideal, but in an effort to reach out to the community while growing as a person, public prayer is necessary.

“Every time I do it, I’m a different person — meaning that I’ve grown, I’ve changed,” Rawski said. “I’ve left some of me behind and am moving forward into a new world. That’s how I feel every single time I finish it.”

While students scurrying to classes might find Rawski’s ceremonial chants to be an annoyance, he feels they serve as a solid reminder that some people still believe love is the binding fabric of the universe.

“Because of the lifestyle I live, it hasn’t been so easy to be accepted by other people,” Rawski said. “But the love is always there and the work is still ongoing. I’m on this earth to bring peace. I’m convinced of that.”