We are a people who long for peace. Peace in the world, peace in our country, peace in our own hearts. And yet we often feel anything but peaceful, and we often act and react in ways that seem antithetical to the thing we say we want the most: Peace. It often seems as if the things we say and do produce effects that are exactly opposite of the peace we say we want. We, as much as anyone else, seem to be able to make people mad, instead of peaceful; we seem capable of filling other people’s hearts with hatred, scorn, rage. We seem to be able to hurt others, and to be hurt by them, all the while we keep saying and believing that all we want is peace.
Are we doing something wrong? Are there better ways to accomplish peace?
When I have big questions like that, I turn to people who live now, or have lived, as exemplars of better ways.
There have been, there are now, peaceful people in this world. How did they-how do they–do it? Their inner peace seems to radiate out from them and touch the hearts of people they encounter, so they seem to spread at least temporary peace wherever they go, giving people who are in turmoil a taste of what real peace is like.
Can we do that, too? Can we touch our hearts, our family’s hearts, the hearts of friends and enemies so that peace walks where we walk?
I believe so, but I also believe that peace must be the thing we want the most, over anything else in life. I believe that to live peace we must be willing to “sacrifice” anything within us that is not peaceful. Because I believe that, I look for help in how to do it. To that end, I search for and then study and try to emulate my betters, my “elder brothers” and “elder sisters” who have stepped out ahead of me, ahead of all of us, to follow the path of peace, and who then generously look back to tell us exactly how they did it, so that we may find the inspiration and encouragement to do it, too.
This series
There is a little pamphlet that is one of my “Bibles.” It is called Steps Toward Inner Peace and it is offered free of copyright by the woman who was/is known as Peace Pilgrim. Starting Monday, and for every day after that until we finish,I am going to reprint that entire booklet here at BooMan, bit by bit, so those who are interested can read along with me and study how an ordinary woman became a living, walking (definitely walking!) mentor for peace.
I hope you will join me on this journey of reading and discussion that is intended to lead to peace-filled action in the world. My hope is that by the end of it we, ourselves, will be further along the way toward the peace we say we want more than anything else in the world, for the world, and which I believe we do want. Our goal in doing this will be a good one: to align our words with our actions, our hopes with our hearts, and to be the peace the world needs so desperately now.
Coming Monday: the first of our Steps Toward Peace.
(Reprinted, with permission, from the pamphlet)
Peace Pilgrim 1908-1981
On her pilgrimage from 1953 to 1981:
A pilgrimage is a gentle journey of prayer and example. My walking is first of all a prayer for peace. If you give your life as a prayer you intensify the prayer beyond all measure.
Peace Pilgrim walked more than 25,000 miles across this country spreading her message- “This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.” Carrying in her tunic pockets her only possessions, she vowed, “I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food.” She talked with people on dusty roads and city streets, to church, college, civic groups, on TV and radio, discussing peace within and without.
Her pilgrimage covered the entire peace picture: peace among nations, groups, individuals, and the very important inner peace-because that is where peace begins.
She believed that world peace would come when enough people attain inner peace. Her life and work showed that one person with inner peace can make a significant contribution to world peace.
This is a fantastic idea for a series of diaries. I absolutely will participate. And recommend.
Thank you, katiebird.
My personal experience tells me that it really does feel like a sacrifice to give up “delicious” feelings of hatred, vengefulness, etc. I can think of times when feelings like that make me feel alive and full of purpose. There was the time, for instance, when I rammed my car into the back of my philandering boyfriend’s new van and then drove around to the front of it and rammed my car backwards into its grill. Boy, did that feel good–for about five minutes. 🙂 Those feelings are extraordinarily tempting! But it does also seem to me–and we’ll talk about this–as if the actions that come out of a center of rage, while they can be effective in the short-term, do not have the long-term effectiveness that comes out of actions taken by someone who operates from a center that is not consumed by hatred or fear.
damn. that is a serious lover’s spat right there.
Don’t fuck with Kansas!
Actually I was in Missouri at the the time. And the amazing thing about the story is how utterly kind and forgiving he was afterward! And he loved that new van of his, loved it. Possibly he was scared I’d kill him in his sleep. Heh. But really, the evil philandering bastard couldn’t have been more understanding. He taught me a lot about peace of mind, the SOB.
Kansas, my mental image of who you are just looped the loop in the funnest way.
Great idea for a diary series! But remind me to never get you angry. 😉
Just don’t be goin’ out on me. 🙂
Never, never. It’s only you. 😉
Ha! That’s more like it.
Hugh Thompson Jr. died at 62. He was the man who landed in the face of American forces fire, who were killing innocent Vietnamese civilians. He confronted his fellow sodiers guns to stop the killing & evacuated many to safty from MY LAI. He was villified by many for his actions, but by doing this, he brought this atrocity to the forefront of people`s minds & helped to end the war. His actions are to me a perfect example of Peace. His obit is in the LA TIMES this morning. I don`t know how to link to it, but his is a,should read, on how one person can change the world.
Good idea for a diary. I hope this is the kind of story that would be included.
I read about him without connecting his story with our theme, so I’m very glad you said this, Knucklehead. This reinforces my notion (probably because it’s true of me, if not of anybody else) that we have to a great extent become somewhat blind to the examples of “peace pilgrims” in our midst–because our attention has been distracted or focused onto unpeaceful people, and that it will help us to look for–and look at–people like Hugh Thompson Jr. I believe our own inclinations to be “like” him or “like” Peace Pilgrim will be strengthened if we learn there are more of them out there than we may currently see.
Although our basic “story” in this series will be Peace Pilgrim’s, I think many people will want to bring in their own examples of people who are peace in action. At least, I hope they will. Stories like his are stories of impressive strength–not passivity or weakness– on all sorts of levels.
Thank you for contributing this.
titled ‘A True American Hero Passes On’ is about him and also the two soldiers with him in the chopper who stopped this atrocity…with as always great links by jim and a picture of two of the men when they went to Vietnam in 1998(I think)and met a few of the people they saved. Great diary…and we do need to hear about people who were standing up to the insanity that war breeds.
Wonderful idea, Kansas. I’ve had the same questions rolling around in my brain lately. I think that an ongoing discussion will be beneficial to us all. I’m looking forward to it.
There are so many questions that really bother me about the atmosphere of our country. It’s almost like a permissiveness of unspeakable horrors: detentions, torture, pre-emptive war, bigotry, hatred, aggression, spying. The whole character of our country is morphing into something alien, something dirty in the name of Christianity, something as far removed from the concept “peace” as you can get. It disturbs me deeply. Again, wonderful idea.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Nag. And here’s a wonderful paradox and opportunity to practice what we believe. Somehow, we have to find our own place of confident, calm, active peace in the middle of being disturbed about that atmosphere! Or else we either add to the disturbance or we go all passive and end up hating ourselves for that.
Thank you so very much!
Thank you! I’m really really grateful to everybody who wants to participate, because I can’t wait to hear about your experiences, hopes, conundrums, etc. I’m pretty sure that although inner peace is an inside job, it’s also a collaborative one. Certainly peace in the outer world is a co-operative effort.
A wonderful project, Kansas!
There is an ancient saying, and a very wise one, “What you focus on you will become.”
and I personally believe that “focus” is the key word there.
I am looking forward to the series.
Yes! We will focus on what we want to become!
A related wise saying is that we learn what we teach. And, whether we’re conscious of it or not, we “teach” with every word we utter and every act we take. We teach whatever we are, every minute we’re alive and in every exchange with every person we meet, so it stands to reason that if we are the deepest peace we can be, that’s also what we will “teach,” all the while continuing to learn how to be more of that.
Powerful teaching here, my dear Kansas. Very Powerful truths.
I wish there were more individuals like that amongst us today.
You know what I think? I think we will begin to see more of them as we look out with the eyes of peace. If we are loving the feelings of being angry and vengeful, then we are naturally going to be looking for the “witnesses” to those qualities and we will find them and they will reinforce for us that our world is nothing but fury. But if we start loving the feelings of being peaceful (and I always want to emphasize active, not passive peace), my guess is that we will begin to notice more and more people who walk in peace. One of the things I’m looking forward to is maybe identifying any politicians who have that quality of peaceful, confident, bold and effective action.
Yes! And what about Brian Schweitzer (sp?), the Dem Gov. of Montana?
I’ve been debating commenting because I very much want to support what you are doing even as I am well aware that the way I look at the world doesn’t fit an effort like this. It’s a contradictory part of my nature that while I never admit that I’m wrong, I never mind being proved that I am.
So I’ll enjoy lurking in the diaries and watching what evolves.
Ha! You do know, don’t you, that if everybody was like you. . .that is, didn’t mind at all being proved wrong. . .the world would be a hundred times more peaceful than it is?
I know you value anger and I get that. It’s one of the things we need to talk about openly. What if it turns out that what you call anger and what I call peace are closer to each other than we realize? Or maybe not. I want to find out. I think it’s possible, for instance, to feel real indignation–over cruelty or injustices, say– without also feeling hatred or acting from a place of hatred. We’ll see.
Lurk. You? May I just say again: ha!
Well since I am never wrong, I am confident that what I see as anger, which is often without hatred, is still nothing like peace but go ahead and prove me wrong if you can, even though I’ll never admit it. (And hey, I said I never minded being proved wrong; I never said that I made it easy or peaceful for anyone to do so or that I was the least bit gracious about it.)
You may be right about the lurking but OTOH, the number of diaries that I read and choose not to post in is far greater than the ones I choose to. If I don’t think I have anything to say that is actually a useful contribution (whether contrary or supportive), I don’t post.
This is a wonderful idea for a series Kansaa. I have read about the Peaceful Pilgrim before and so greatly admired her convictions. I so want to be peaceful in my mind, heart and soul. A difficult task given the atmosphere we are currently living under.
A book that helped me greatly during a very troubling time in the past is “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Mellman(?)I think. I have the book at home and will correct author if I am mistaken.
We do need to connect in a more positive way. I am probably one of the guiltiest posters here of negative thoughts and look forward to reading of more positive ways to express myself. Thank you for doing this. Rec”d.
Dan Millman, maybe? If you can find his book maybe you can locate some good quotes for us, if you feel so inspired.
“connect in a more positive way.” Yeah. Seems as if that has been Boo’s goal for this site, and even if it hasn’t always been perfect in execution, it still gives all of us the chance to keep practicing. Which means “failing” sometimes.
That reminds me. The whole Pie Episode taught me something really important about myself, which may be related to all of this. I caught a glimpse of a lifelong habit of “substituting” people, places, groups, or things. And I realized that was nuts, because I would only take myself into other situations/relationships that might seem better for a while but which would then devolve into similar problems, if there were problems, because I was the same person. Does that make sense? So I decided to stop substituting. Whoever is in my life, that’s who’s in my life and will be there until there is a natural change of some kind. Wherever I live, that’s where I live and I will accept it wholeheartedly. Whoever I’m with, that’s who I’m with. And I’m not going to reject anybody or dump them or look for something more interesting. Etc. I think. . .think. . .this has to do with acceptance and peace and facing things that are inside me and only reflected “out there.”
Fabulous points and I would love to contribute when I find that book….hmmm now where did I put it. My Christmas cards were very simple this year. it said, “Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me”. Again many thanks for starting the New Year off with a great series. Looking forward to more.
Sounds good. Because as angry as we get (and anger can be a good thing — it’s certainly a natural thing) at the horrible things going on, what we see in the news, the injustice and suffering and pain, not to mention outright incompetence, anger in itself does not solve the problem.
There’s this line in the musical play “1776” — when John Adams is railing against the Southerners because they insist on deleting the clauses in Jefferson’s draft Declaration that speak scathingly about slavery before they will even consider voting for it — and Ben Franklin (of course, it’s Franklin!) turns to him and reminds him that like it or not, whether he agrees with them or not, these same people will be part of this new nation he wants to create. And that’s something we need to remember as well — despite the Bush Administration’s strategic ploys to divide the country so as to weaken any chance of an organized opposition, we are still one nation and if we look for it, have much more in common than we might think. Whether we agree with the “red state” voters on every issue or not, we are all still one country, and we cannot afford to buy into the divisive tactics. Somehow we have to counter them, not with more division, but with something that brings people together instead of driving them apart.
Looking forward to this series… great idea! Especially given all the other things we’ll be watching next week, such as the Alito hearings… a discussion of peace will be a welcome breath of fresh air.
JanetT, thanks a lot for that example from history. I think maybe those founding days were filled with people who have some of the qualities we will be looking at, and what Franklin did in that “scene” is a perfect example. Washington always strikes me as having a lot of that quality, and people responded to it by loving him and following him into hell–where he went with them.
This is just what’s needed, for everyone right now, and for me right now. Thank you !
I’m really glad you’re going to be part of this, too.
This is an absolutely wonderful idea. I am looking forward to this and to use it as a tool to achieving some innerpeace within my own self. That is hard to achieve, at times. I do have a chance to become less angry on some days, though. Those are the days I can really get things done….:o)
Thanks for this and am looking forward to it. Hugs around……
You are a natural peace-spreader, Brenda. Patients must feel better just by having you walk in the room. There’s something so healing about always looking for the best in people, as you seem to do. Hugs back at you.
What a fine idea for a diary, kansas. I’m looking forward to the series.
As we discuss this — & as we move forward collectively in our efforts — I think it will be important to bear in mind the following quote: ‘There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.’ (A J Muste)
Thank you for this initiation!
Ah. And thank you for that quote.
that are so many expectations- seemingly instilled by either societal demands- or the EVIL MARKETING GURUS.Most of this is unrealistic and even harmful.
a lot of my work actually involves a sort of ‘deprogramming’process.
“Why do you want that?”
“Because you think you will be/appear successful?”
“And is it working?”
Usually the answer is no.
But this whole subject leaves out the history of how ,with people having more disposable income,more leisure,and not having to slave away in the back 40 eight months of the year,a whole new industry took shape,ie. selling people what they didn’t know they needed. This is pervasive-and very very damaging .
One of the things I ask my clients to do is turn off the TeeVee,for a month.
It’s amazing how much more relaxed they become. Suddenly,their own wants and needs become paramount,rather than some maunfactured needs.
Peace,whether inner or outer is alot easier to reach without being bombarded by artificial constructs.
And,of course,all these things can apply to cultural demands that are made in obeisance to conformity in the cultural group one belongs to. That’s another post.
This is a very important point. There are places in the pamphlet where Peace addresses, indirectly, how she dealt with such things in her own life. I would say it falls under the heading of one of what she calls “The Four Relinquishments.” That will be an interesting discussion!
What I tell em -is to take a hike- you don’t run my life-it is very gratifying to leave the shit behind and CHOOSE your own way.
Great idea, Kansas. I know it will help us all.
hey kansas…great idea and working for inner peace or being activist for peace can produce nothing but good results.
For the activist part this might be a good time to remind people of Dennis Kucinich and his introducing legislation that would create a Department of Peace as a cabinet level position. I remember when he talked about this how he got snickered at and vilified by a lot of people for being a wimp or stupid. Yeah, peace is stupid alright. His idea is that a Dept. of Peace would ‘give the opportunity for a new discussion about the nature of violence in our society and the world. A moment when we can consciously reflect on the type of thinking which lead to violence and war’.
His idea is to work on violence in society here and change the parameters of our thinking…work on the violence of spousal abuse/child abuse/gang violence. Imagine if we spent even half the Pentagons budget on promoting peace in our society and the world..
http://www.kucinich.us/dop_20050414.php
That link is his explanation of what Peace Dept. should be which says it much better than I can.
As for achieving inner peace and how that radiates out to others I think it would go hand in hand with the idea that we have to respect others enough to listen to them instead of talking at them ..if you start seeing each person as an individual then that would go a long way to starting to listen or at least have conversations with them…and it has to start with one person at a time, doesn’t it?
Peace-pay it forward.
I like the plans for a Peace Academy on par with the other war academies. I initially thought that the Department of State should fill this role, in a sane administration. But I’m kind of catching on to Dennis’s idea. And he is such a likeable cat, too.
Thanks for the reminder about Dennis, Choc. There’s another confident, bold politician to add to our “peace” roster along with Schweitzer and Conyers. I wish one of them could drop by here and talk about how he/she got that way. Barbara Jordan was another, don’t you think? Talk about peaceful power!!
This is probably a good a place as any to post one of my favorite quotes by JFK..I know I’ve done it before but it seems to fit in with this diary.
“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does.”
Funny you should mention one of them dropping by here kansas..as I was going back to Kucinich’s website I was wishing that in context with this diary he would come here and expand on or have a discussion about his Peace Dept….maybe if I sent him an email he’d show up.
Would you do that? I mean, what have we got to lose by asking?
ok…I was thinking of doing that anyway..as you say what have we got to lose.
working on that email to Kucinich but would like to know over how many days approximately the reprint of this pamphlet will cover? I would like to incorporate that fact into the email.
Good question, Choc. I have only loosely divided it in my mind and am going to play it by ear, depending on all sorts of things. But let’s say seven days, because I do know it will last at least that long. Week days only, so that would be every day next week and then Monday and Tuesday of the following week. My best guess is that it will go longer than that, but I can’t be sure. It could be that short, or it could go as long as three weeks.
I will post each new day’s section at 9 a.m. CST.
p.s. Thanks for the link (above) to jimstaro’s diary.
Thanks for that outline. I figured that he does happen to want to respond he should know that it isn’t going to be a diary that will only be around for several days and then no one will be reading it..giving him more time to respond…not that I’m really expecting him to.
Maybe he won’t want to drop in on one of these diaries, but maybe he would be interested in a front page conversation while we’re on the subject of peace. Not that I’ve asked our front pagers about this, you understand. I’m just brainstorming.
I would think that he would find a lot of people here in line with his ideas on most issues more so than at some other blogs who want to take a more centrist attitude so dems could win more-maybe.
I’ll read along. From the first entry, it sounds maybe a bit spiritual for a self-proclaimed Pastafarian absurdist. And I think I might be in the AndiF camp as far as my outlook on peace. But who knows.
I do know that the best people in my local peace network are those with the inner-peace you describe. And I also know that I am very angry. I just shouted down a war supporter today, and this is much frowned upon by the Quaker contingent in the group. But what can I say. I like DammitJanet’s example of telling them to “Suit up, or shut up.” I want to scream at them. Sometimes I want to stomp them. I feel like fighting for peace. And as contradictory as that sounds, it is my confused state of being.
But I’ll read along. Maybe learn.
Can’t think of any better company to have along for the ride than you, Joe. I’m hoping to learn, too.
Very interesting and constructive. Thanks
This is a very interesting avenue of exploration K., and I look forward to the forthcoming posts with a great deal of interest.
I have relatively strong opinions about this subject and have engaged in many discussions, over time, regarding the zeitgeist of inner peace, and peripherally, its projection into/onto the expectations for, and interactions with, others.
It has been my experience that it is crucial to the discussion to have some consensus, within the group, of the definitions of, for lack of a better term, primary words. Particularly a communal understanding, or agreement on the meaning relative to the debate at hand, of the terms: ANGER, RAGE, HATE, and PEACE.
Each individual’s personal perception/integration of these words will color their responses in many ways, as will the experiences they bring that formed and support their particular views.
Inner peace, and the projection of it, manifests itself in many ways. What is appropriate for one may be inappropriate for others, recognition and acceptance of that dichotomy is the first step, imho, in achieving a communal basis for discussion. A daunting task in and of itself.
Welcome back.
Peace
Thank you Kansas, and let me say right up front that I won’t be goin out on you ;o)
I, like a few others here, am angry. Very angry. I think anger is good if it’s energy is harnessed to change things for the better. It’s difficult not to feel outrage at what we witness every day and yet for myself, I yearn for some sense of inner peace. I find it sometimes just in knowing that I AM outraged and that I’m on the right side in this. I find inner peace in the knowledge that there are fights to be waged here that I will join. I really believe, maybe naively, that evil such as that that we see now can’t be defeated through pascifism. It’s going to take some sort of confrontation through a revolution of protest, an armed revolution, or a revolution of ideas and compassion, but I’m leaning toward the less pascifistic way right now.
Regardless of my anger and my need to fight I welcome this and remain openminded.
Yes! Like dada above, I’d be interested in learning how we all variously define what “peace” means to each of us. Is it acceptance? Is it the absence of conflict? Is it contentment, security, feeling loved? Is peace freedom from attachment? Is peace the result when we live according to the Serenity prayer; (Grant us the couirage to change the things we can, the serenity to accept the things we cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.)?
And if peace is a combination of these things how do we resolve the apparent contradictions?
I’m interested also in how everyone defines peace for themselves and to addressing the greater world. I’m sure there will be as many definitions as there are people..which in a way as it should be for everyone comes from different backgrounds, personalities, economic levels and so on. I don’t particularly see the goal as to try and change anyone’s idea of what peace may mean to them but to see how everyone’s idea of peace can work to the greater good. To shape a policy that works toward peaceful solutions in all areas of life and can be adopted by everyone no matter their varied ideas of peace.
I have no interest in “changing” or otherwise shaping others’ ideas of what “peace” is so much as I look for us all to seek some depth and clarity within ourselves as to what constitutes the noble idea of “peace” that we claim to revere.
My sense is that we tend to have a simplistic and unexplored perspective on peace in general, and it is this lack of clarity in our own psyches that in some subtle way creates a disconnect that makes it very much more difficult for us to truly understand and appreciate the value of a less-combative way of life.
I wasn’t disagreeing with you at all and just probably didn’t make myself that clear..and agree with you completely.
Looking forward to it. I heard about her several years back; there’s a video about her life, and she was presented to our group as an exemplar of someone who has reached Dabrowski’s Level 5.
I had to look that up. From Wikepedia’s write-up on the levels:
The fifth level displays an integrated and harmonious character, but one vastly different from that at the first level. At this highest level, one’s behavior is guided by conscious, carefully weighed decisions based on an individualized and chosen hierarchy of personal values. Behavior conforms to this inner standard of how life ought to be lived and, thus, little inner conflict arises.
That last sentence sounds like my idea of inner peace.
This is a great idea, Kansas. After reading through all the thoughtful comments here this morning, I’m looking forward to the whole series.
I am looking forward to following this series. Outside of my family life, I find that so much makes me angry and I’d like to find far more useful ways to address crazy situations without ulcer-causing stress.