genuinegirly

What is peace?

Many nations of the world seem to be working toward it. But there is a stumbling block in that process: everyone has a different definition of peace. Not just every culture, nor every community. Every single person wants their little version of peace - an ideal that they hold dear to their heart and work toward every moment of their lives... or not.

Thomas Hardy: "War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading."

Benjamin Franklin: "There never was a good war or a bad peace."

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

Lydia Maria Child: "The mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means."

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago: "What has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful attraction of its example."

Woodrow Wilson, 1917: "Victory would mean peace forced upon the losers, a victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon which the terms of peace would rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand."

A few points for discussion:

What is your definition of peace?
How do you seek peace?
What efforts have you made to bring peace?
What are your stories of peace?
What is your favorite quote regarding peace?

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Nepenthes

My view is that peace is managing conflict in a non-destructive manner.

I seek peace through empathy, listening, and other actions that are non-destructive.

Compromises and sacrifices for the happiness and success for others.


"Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means."
~ Ronald Reagan

Plan9

What is your definition of peace?

I have no clue. Peace in my life? That sounds pretty boring. A life without conflict of some sort is a life without real challenges.

That and peace seems like a lofty ideal we strive to achieve yet remains mostly unattainable. Like religion. Or vehicle maintenance.

What is your favorite quote regarding peace?

Ultra Radical Gnarly Mondo Douchenozzle Cliche Quote:

Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Hardly a universal salve, but it proves a sound point about the necessity of order maintenance and the means by which it is achieved.

Using the vehicle maintenance thing, peace is what you get more of when you take care of your car and regain quickly when you've planned for problems. If you neglect the mechanisms of balance or aren't prepared for problems, you're only screwing yourself. Be Prepared and all that.

Two more quotes:

"Peace is not a natural state of being, it is an expensive commodity with a limited shelf life." - some dude



"Peace is looking through a turret at the flawless blue sky, bro. You've got reality up close and fantasy far away." - certain dude from last business trip during his "Hippies Don't Work Hard" tirade

...

Honestly, I'm perplexed by this thread. I've reread the OP a couple of times now and I still can't seem to wrap my two braincells around it.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Baraka_Guru

One definition of peace is that overarching state under which Canada and America conduct their relations with each another.

Compare and contrast with that overarching state under which the Israelis and the Palestinians conduct theirs.

* * * * *

When confusion manifests hatred,
it cannot be overcome by more hatred.
Only by refusing to distinguish hatred
and by refusing to dwell upon it
and by remembering the oneness
of all the manifestations of the Infinite
can hatred be neutralized.
This is the universal law of peace and harmony.

Chapter 1 "The Twin Verses," Verse 5, The Dhammapada, Gautama Buddha

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Xazy

Peace is achieved by a willingness to understand that others have different values then yours and understanding to treat others how you would like to be treated yourself.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Plan9

I see things like "hatred" as a byproduct. You can have initial conflict without hatred.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Baraka_Guru

In the lead-up to conflict, surely hatred plays a role.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Xazy

Some Zealotry do not require hatred, desire of what someone else possess does not require hatred. Survival does not require hatred.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

mixedmedia

What is your definition of peace?
Essentially, conflict resolution without physical violence and further, without deprivation or enmity of any kind.
Ideally, it would be a world where these things are never considered let alone carried out.
It is a world predicated on non-territorial, holistic concepts of existence with emphasis on such foreign concepts as patronage, cooperation, advocacy and stewardship.
That's not to say I am convinced that any of that is achievable.

How do you seek peace?
Personally? By being kind, giving people space to breathe (be). By not being pushy or selfish. By being patient.
Not to say that I am perfectly in control of these things. But I do value them and I try.

What efforts have you made to bring peace?
On what scale? Globally?
Nothing but advocate within my realm of influence (friends and family and anyone else willing to listen) the same message about the futility of brutality and that, in my opinion, opting for war is in fact the cowardly way out of conflict. Not to say that individuals who go to war are cowardly, but that war, being a known construct, seems to be a very easy thing for people to put their faith in.
Let me diverge for a second and mention something that's been staying on my mind lately that Carl Sagan says in 'Cosmos.' He says that if the entire history of the planet were laid out within the confines of a calendar year, then the history of mankind would be taking place only within the last few seconds of December 31st. After dwelling on that, I've come to the conclusion that it's entirely safe to speculate that maybe we don't have enough experience to say anything definitive about the nature of mankind and the necessity of war.

What are your stories of peace?
Nothing comes to mind right off...

What is your favorite quote regarding peace?
I don't have a favorite, but after a quick looksee I came up with these:

It is easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace. - André Gide

Peace hath higher tests of manhood, than battle ever knew. - John Greenleaf Whittier

Yes, we love peace, but we are not willing to take wounds for it, as we are for war. - John A. Holmes

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Plan9

Exactamundo.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Baraka_Guru

What does it take to want to destroy something?

You can be a zealot, but if you want to destroy someone to uphold your beliefs, it requires hatred.

You can covet something, but if you destroy someone in order to take it away, this requires hatred.

If someone doesn't want you to survive, is this not because of hatred?


We don't seek to destroy those we like. Sometimes we are indifferent, sometimes it pains us. But for it to come to that, I cannot see it doing so in the absence of hatred somewhere along the line.

Can war be reduced to tough love?

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Xazy

Survival, I do not mean they do not want you to survive, I mean they need simple necessities to just live, so they will take what you have.

Just because someone does not hate you, does not mean they like you, they may instead pity you and desire to impose on you for your own good their own belief.

I am just saying even if we remove hatred it does not ensure peace. It would be a huge step of course.

The key is for people to understand others have their own beliefs. And in a religious case, I do not believe in what Christians, Muslims, Mormans, etc... But for me I understand while I think they are wrong, it is up to G-d to sort it out. That type of acceptance of other beliefs (not necessarily how I do it but same results) is a key value needed to ensure true peace.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Baraka_Guru

Yes, I admitted that there is also indifference, and that sometimes it pains us to do it. But I think for the most part, hatred is at the source of the push to war—sometimes it's the start of it, sometimes it's a response to it.

Sometimes it's fabricated. Sometimes it's automatic. Either way, if we hate our enemies, we will want to vanquish them.

Take islamofascists/terrorists, for example: it's easy to hate them, right?

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Xazy

I fully agree with you, hatred is #1 on the list. But if we cure hatred with acceptance we can get true peace, since it would remove indifference as you phrase it.

And yes Terrorists, I hate, despite, pity and feel they all should be shot and put down like rabid dogs.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

mixedmedia

Not sure if hatred is always paramount in the decision to go to war but it's almost always used to sell it.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

ring

May I use this insightful sentence as my signature?

mixedmedia

haha, that would be a first. and an honor. thanks.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

ring

PZ