Culture of Peace Initiative
Peace Practices - Peace Day September 21
The Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) is a UN-designated "Peace Messenger Initiative" with participants in all the world's regions. Its purpose is to unite the strengths of organizations and individuals who are working to make Peace a practical reality. The highlight of the Initiative is International Day of Peace (Peace Day), which is celebrated ...learn more
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Created: Sep 14, 2007
Updated: Nov 21, 2009
Membership: Open
Public
Topic: What Does "Peace" Mean to You?
Posts (1 - 7 of 7)
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Just noticed the comment by "IndividualPerson" and wanted to say "right on". In war the successful army is the one that bonds its soldiers into groups whose primary motivation is to look out for each other. There are powerful reasons this is a good thing, but the main evil that flows from it is that the individual doesn't have to think for him/herself. Thus, questions of the morality of the particular war or the particular mission at hand don't even get raised. the individual is "excused" from having to make moral choices by simply following the group's orders. Peace, including the waging of conflict by nonviolent means, will probably require each of us to make moral choices and then to stand by them. This not only takes great courage, it requires a whole new kind of education (an education which seriously threatens the global monetocracy). |
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Peace does not mean the absence of conflict. It does mean that we wage our conflicts without resource to violence, i.e, nonviolently. In Gandhi's view, nonviolence meant being careful to cause no harm including no harm to your opponents. Very few of us can live up to that standard, but it seems to me we should strive for it. For society, peace means the absence of violence and the presence of a certain degree of shared feelings of community, common values, common ultimate goals. For an individual, peace means an internal state of serenity in the midst of life's struggles. |
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To me Peace is an aspect of (or maybe even just another name for) Healthy Culture. But i think normal image given by the word "Peace" is misleading in many of its connotations...I think peace is and will be in some respects like William Jame's "moral equivalent of war". Instead of taking refuge in factional "us and them" identity politics and projecting ones own shadow and sick culture on "the other", Peace will have to involve individuals and collectives acknowledging and dealing with their own "shit", not only in terms of material junk and pollution etc, but in terms of the sick culture (the inner and outer alienation and dissociation, fear of death, lack of meaning, addictions etc) that everyone suffers from. The healthy culture proverb; "everybody has a piece of the Truth and everybody has a piece of the Lie" is a helpful understanding in this context as it helps to eliminate the shame and competitive ego dynamics that keep individuals, nations, religious groups etc, from acknowledging their specific actual and historical manifestations of sick culture thus beginning the process of healing. No time to go into details as the moment but its clear to me that the inner and outer adventure of healing that is--or should be---called Peace promises to be at least as harrowing (in its own, very different way) as war, and to call for more real courage than any war ever did. --I-P |
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What does peace mean to me? A lot of things... When I talk about "peace", I'm acknowledging that every person's needs and challenges are unique, and that "peace" is a possibility for anybody. It is also an expression of hope for a more just, tolerant and harmonious global society. I really like the explanation from Inderias. I agree that when we find "contentment" with our own lives (not necessarily by accumulating wealth and material goods... but through our relationships with others and ourselves) we find the will to do good for others. |
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Dear Peaceguy,
Peace and unconditional love from Pakistan!!!
According to my opinion: Peace is a cycle of contentment starts from the very SELF of individual and regulates one’s consciousness and thinking patterns in such a way that homogenize ones individual liberty with collective and public good
May God continue to bless you, your family and surrounding with all the worldly and spiritual enrichments!!!
In peace and unconditional love, I am,
Inderias Dominic Bhatti, Co-Founder, Ambassadors of Peace, Lahore, Pakistan
http://www.peaceambassadorspakistan@gmail.com">peaceambassadorspakistan.ning.com peaceambassadorspakistan@gmail.com">peaceambassadorspakistan@gmail.com
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"Peace" can mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you? |
Hi All,
Need to qualify "peace" so what I mean is "World Peace". I feel it is important to say what "peace" we are talking about because we all have different ideas and different desires. So, World Peace means to me:
I also think it helpful to attempt to state our desires using positive wording rather than negating an undesirable quality or the absence of something. I heard it said that the brain ignores the pre negation and only hears the quality. For example I've heard "non-violent communication" expressed as "compassionate communication". I prefer to use the latter.
So, if World Peace is not an absence of war then it is a presence of love, joy, respect and sharing. It is a challenge not to desire the negation of the undesirable. I fail continuously but struggle on. When we can focus on just what we want and not what we don't want then I think we will be well on our way to achieving our desired future world.
Questions (and questioning) are important too. Whilst writing this I've continuously gone back to the question of "what does peace mean to me". But this seems kind of vague to my logical and goal orientated mind. I continually asks myself two questions:
I'm not sure why I was sent a link to this thread but I guess fate uses the Internet too! ;-)
I run Visioning World Peace workshops and retreats.
Love and hugs, Daniel