The Readers Blog is a group blog, a collection of provocative, passionate people who represent a broad geographical, professional, personal and vocational range. New bloggers from other places and other points of view will join the conversation from time to time. Here, we invite them all to share their perspectives and opinions on the issues that matter to them most. And we invite you to respond. Let the dialogue begin!
Peace Needs Love
“Peace—the word evokes the simplest and most cherished dream of humanity. Peace is, and has always been, the ultimate human aspiration. And yet our history overwhelmingly shows that while we speak incessantly of peace, our actions tell a very different story.”
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar is a Peruvian diplomat who served as the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations. The words above are his. I agree with him. I truly believe that peace is the most cherished dream of humanity. I also believe that we are tired of dreaming of peace. Given the state of our world today, we’re not sure peace is reachable let alone actionable.
How can I, one person, take action for peace? How can you?
The thing about dreams, our dreams for our own lives, is that we love them. Part of living in freedom is the freedom not only to have our own dreams, but to love our dreams enough to take the actions that make them come true. Not everyone in our world has this option.
Tama J. Kieves writes in September 2007’s issue of Science of Mind, “Big dreams deserve big love.” This is an action we can all take to promote the dream of peace. We can all do this because the action takes place in our minds and hearts.
The next time you sit or wait or stand in silence send the love that you are to the idea of peace for our world. Make this a habit. Send big love to peace. This may sound fuzzy to those who prefer the seen to the unseen. On the other hand, everything begins with a dream.
Peace is a big dream. Let’s love it into reality.
"How can I, one person, take action for peace? How can you?"
~I love the quote by de Cuéllar. John Lennon once said: "If people demanded peace instead of another television set, then we'd have peace."
~This I cannot do: condone any ideology of hate--for once the object of hatred is eliminated, we have only vanquished ourselves. Maybe if I send out enough "big love", others will realize they cannot hate either. I think of the song "Let There Be Peace On Earth" (and let it begin with me). Meditation and prayer, not placing my needs above others' wellbeing, making a vow of nonviolent thought, word, and action. This may not seem like "taking action" especially "to those who prefer the seen to the unseen", but it is.
~Eventually, I hope my outer life will manifest this inner life to the point of larger action.
~I talk to more people about the effects of WAR--not just in Iraq and Afghanistan--but what we here in America lose by being complicit in widespread death and destruction: our outrageous Defense budget, worldwide arms sales, oil wars in Niger, environmental degradation, the endgame of nuclear proliferation. We are wounding ourselves, deep in the collective heart and soul.
~Sustainability means letting go of our entrenched, preconceived notions of "otherness", right now, in the present. Then we can stop killing one another and destroying this exquisite, beautiful, blue world...
posted by ezz on 9/ 4/2007 4:16 pm