Peace is commonly understood to mean the absence of hostilities. Other definitions include freedom from disputes, harmonious relations and the absence of mental stress or anxiety, as the meaning of the word changes with context. However, there are others who would say that the absence of hostilities would refer to only those hostilities which are evident and that true peace only derives from the mind of each individual.
Peace may refer specifically to an agreement concluded to end a war, or to a lack of external warfare, or to a period when a country's armies are not fighting enemies. It can also refer more generally to quietude, such as that common at night or in remote areas, allowing for sleep or meditation. Peace can be an emotion or internal state. And finally, peace can be any combination of these definitions.
A person's conception of peace is often the product of culture and upbringing.
People of different cultures sometimes disagree about the meaning of the word, and so do people within any given culture.
Could peace – a sort of deep, constant and enduring peace – be possible in a world that is engraved with the permanent changing of everything? Nothing is permanent, nothing is stable… We live within an evolutionary pattern that uses impermanence to make us grow. It is obvious that comfort and satisfaction stop all spiritual growth. And peace might well be a spiritual tool within the human being. Sadness, suffering, restlessness, are question marks in the path of our lives. How do we react to them? We do have the possibility to choose how to react to them. But we don't know how. And it all seems too difficult… But all negative things that happen to us can also become purifying things. We can grow thanks to them. We can become better persons thanks to them. Of course this does not mean that we don't have to go through pain and suffering anymore, that we will be alleviated from that burden. In life we have to have a taste of everything. And we can perhaps go through moments of pain and suffering with inner peace. But it is also true that sometimes suffering can break us down. Is there something we can do about that? Something that would help us maintain peace even in moments of great pain?
Can peace be achieved on a large scale? One thing is to achieve inner peace through a personal effort. Another is to have community or social peace. Inner peace and social peace are intertwined. The second cannot exist without the first. It is everyone's resposibility to have inner peace, to be well. But even so, can peace be lasting?
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