Why Peace Is Not a Naive Concept

As per my post directly below this one, I have been accused of being a naive idealist who holds dear an idea that a hug will save the world. Whereas I do believe that simple human contact in the form of a hug holds extraordinary power, I am not stupid enough to believe that the path to Peace is so simple.

The world is a mess, that is plain to see. It has been a mess since WWI, or more correctly it has been a modern mess since European powers began building empires. Natural balances were upset, and our own modern us-against-them worldview was created, perpetuated and set in stone. I won't pretend to understand all the nuances, but in a general sense this is my opinion. I am not trying to discuss the causes however, simply the effects.

What we now live in is a world full of countries that willingly commit evil now in order to save later. How much suffering has been committed in the name of a better tomorrow? Every country seems to focus so much on what is going on outside of its borders, what their neighbours are doing. They build better defenses, more weapons, a larger army. All in the name of protecting what is theirs and securing safety for their people.

But to what end? Certainly not to the welfare of their people. Poverty, homelessness, healthcare, civil rights, etc... are all neglected and/or violated in the pursuit of a future safety. Are they any safer? Not in any meaningful way that I or many other people can see. Violence begets violence. It is a notion as old as the hills, and yet we as reasoning and intelligent beings completely ignore the evidence that is plainly in front of our faces.

And where is religion in all this? Generally speaking, totally in concord with the needs of the state, since it is their survival that is also being secured. Once a religion gets into the business of sanctioning killing and violence or even ignoring that is happening, it sacrifices everything it stands for. It is Thich Nhat Hanh that said if given the choice between Buddhism or peace, he would choose peace. To choose otherwise would be to violate everything Buddhism is and all that would remain is something called Buddhism with little meaning left to it. We are fundamentally what we do, not what we say.

To think we could ever live in a world without violence, without crime, without murder is totally unrealistic, and I am enough of a realist to admit this. The situation that I am challenging is when violence, crime and murder is legitimized and held up as virtuous. One cannot sacrifice what is right today, for a better tomorrow. That tomorrow will always be tainted by the evil committed to get there. The lesser of two evils is still an evil, and it is of this fundamental truth that we must always stay aware.

When a country kills the bad guys to protect itself and its people, it betrays its people and turns its back on God. Every country is always killing the bad guys. No one ever kills the good guys. When that countries religious leaders do nothing about this violence and killing, they too turn their back on God, and become nothing more than an empty tradition. They are an accomplice to the state, rather than a moral compass for its people.

I have also been challenged that whereas this idea of peace through non-violent action is nice, it does not speak to the work required to achieve it. Again, I will not pretend to know where to start or how to go about it, at least not yet. I will however direct anyone who cares to read more about the subject to the book "The Raft is Not the Shore" by Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan. Here is where you will find the ideas and notions that would form the basis of how this could be done written by two men who have done much towards peace in the world today.

We may not be able to affect change on a world scale today, or even tomorrow, or even in our lifetime. But we can change ourselves, to embody peace, harmony and love towards all things. This transformation will affect those around us, and as they transform it will affect those around them, and so on and so on. This is the only way true lasting peace will ever be attained, one person at a time.

But what we can do today, what we are morally obligated to do in the name of humankind, is to not standby mutely as our country sanctions violence and killing in our name. Vote for the persons that will lobby in the name of peaceful non-violent action. Write to the persons who hold power who do sanction it and tell them how you feel. When the topic comes up amongst friends, speak your mind. Violence and killing will never buy us a better tomorrow. It will only give us more of the same suffering, it is a self-perpetuating cycle. By doing nothing, no matter how small, we sanction the killing, and we are as much responsible for it as the state that orders the soldiers to pull the triggers.