What IS “peace” anyway?

PAX nation is devoted to bringing humanity back to its senses. Or for many maybe to find their senses for the first time. Most of the differences we perceive in each other are just that … perceptions. Everybody has the same basic drives, the same basic needs. It is not until we get the mind involved that conflict arises. And the true irony is that much of that conflict could be avoided, if we simply learned how to think correctly. It seems that one of the primary reasons we cannot seem to heal the world, is that we all have a different agenda.

What is it we really seek?

The most human response to this is often “PEACE”. So now the question that is too often NOT asked is … What do we mean by PEACE? Maybe the reason it has been so hard to accomplish is because we really don’t know what we are trying to accomplish. The first step to solving any problem is to recognize that there IS a problem. The second step is to actually identify the problem. How can we fix something if we are not sure what is really broken.

So what does PEACE mean?

In one sense it is something we each have to define for ourselves. Because each of us has a different image when the word is placed before us. Which is exactly the problem. If we cannot really agree what we mean when we say we are fighting for peace, how can we actually get anywhere?

PEACE does NOT mean an end to all conflict. Humanity is defined by our ability to adapt. We have overtaken the world not because we lived calm sedate lives, but rather because we strive. When difficulties arise, we fight back, and overcome the difficulties. No conflict would actually be harmful to the path of human growth. What peace is about is how we deal with conflict. That is where we keep failing.

People will disagree. That is our nature. That is how we ultimately learn. Disagreement in itself is not unhealthy. It is when we CHOOSE to make it into something else that it becomes a problem. When we choose to ignore other points of view, or to force others that OUR way is the only way, that these conflicts become something else. When we start having ulterior motives that ultimately have nothing to do with the actual disagreement, the solutions begin becoming ugly.

When we have conflicts within ourselves, which works better? Beating ourselves up over it? Choosing self destructive behaviors? Taking it out on others? Or looking deep within ourselves and finding a calm and peaceful way to deal with them? And why do we seem to think such negative methods will be any more effective on a grander scale?

PEACE is about resolving conflicts with love, not hatred.

PEACE is about finding solutions, not creating more problems.

PEACE is about finding a middle ground, not building walls.

PEACE is about enabling life, not being consumed by death.

Maybe when we are all on the same page about this, we will have a better chance of actually making it happen.