Peace

What is peace to you? I think most people would agree that peace entails an absence of fear and violence. Fear, of course, is very subjective. Some people fear German Shepherd dogs. Others fear spiders and snakes. Some people fear poverty. Others fear dentists.

Violence is another matter. No sane person wishes to be the victim of violence. I am defining violence as physical or psychological harm caused by the aggression and intention of another or oneself. 

My humanist practice can enable a great deal of control over my fears. I can identify my fears. I can confront them. I can practically desensitize myself to them. Gradually this process brings personal peace of mind. 

My violence is certainly within my personal control as well. I can simply practice nonviolence in word and deed. Violence by others against me is not within my control. However, I can practice means to attempt to neutralize that violence. Some people choose martial arts for this purpose. Others buy a gun. My practice is to walk away from threats of violence. I am capable of defending myself against violent acts to a point. If someone chooses to shoot me, there is little I can do. 

Peace is a central aspiration of my humanism. Internal peace and external peace. I have spent decades addressing my personal fears, some irrational and some rational. This has brought me a great deal of internal peace. I have worked as a nurse on psychiatric wards for violent patients. There I have learned ways to diffuse violence and defend against it. All this has been part of my evolving personal practice. However, I realize that peace within my mind does not guarantee control of my environment. I may influence my environment in a peace-promoting way, but the burden of creating peace falls on everyone. Until that burden is carried by all human beings, we will not have universal peace.