Peace

What does personal peace mean to you? What would constitute World Peace? How is peace achieved and maintained within a single life? 

I have spent some time trying to sort out the answers to these questions in my own mind. I grew up in a chaotic and violence-poisoned home which was located in a poor, highly congested city. My home city was voted most densely populated city of the United States in the 1950s. Not a lot of elbow-room for quiet reflection. 

I am at peace, as I experience it, right now in my apartment. I feel that there is nothing on my mind that is unfinished or pressing. I see the span of my life in a general sense. I know who I am. I can leave this life at any moment without a clinging sense of the unaccomplished or unsatisfied. My life is what it is. I can breathe deeply with acceptance and be in the moment. 

This sense of peace is challenged when I leave my space, internal or external. One point of my practice is to carry my personal peace into my environment as it changes. This requires some mindful effort. Finding the touchstone of my inner peace in many routine life situations requires practice and conscious intent. 

I think World Peace is unattainable until all human beings are at peace with themselves and their environment. Now, with 7 billion people and growing, the species is far off from my vision of World Peace. In fact, it may well be that human beings will never achieve World Peace before the species destroys itself or morphs into another species altogether. Perhaps beings which are hybrids of rational machinery and flesh will fare better with achieving a planet-wide peace. Perhaps.

All I can do is maintain my own peaceful internal environment while trying to promote peace in my external environment. This tests my best abilities all the time. Peace does not mean placidity. Peace is an active process. Getting to peace often involves turmoil, dissent and confrontation. However, a commitment to non-violence is key to starting on the road to peace. There is no peace when survival instincts are stimulated by rational fear. 

As long as war is considered an acceptable form of conflict resolution among human beings, there will be no planet-wide peace on Earth. As long as personal violence is accepted in a relationship, that relationship will never be a peaceful one. Those who participate in violence in any aspect of their lives cannot achieve inner peace, in my opinion. 

Personal peace is invaluable. It is rooted in self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-love. As long as I am not at peace with myself, I cannot promote peace in my environment. Practice is the first step to being a person who promotes peace and understanding. I believe this is the core of putting humanist values into action.