Peace – In a Time of Endless War

​By Daniel G. Weidner, MS/LMHP
 
It seems that the United States has been at war almost continuously since the end of World War II. As a result we now hear the term “endless war”. It seems as if we are trapped. The current polling indicates that the American people are sick of war and want their government to focus more on the mounting domestic issues here at home. 
 
There is a line in the John Lennon song IMAGINE that states: “Imagine all the people living life in peace”. I think that he was on to a very important concept in terms of peace and war. All human endeavors begin in the human imagination: poems, songs, inventions, recipes, weapons, tools, art, medicine, war- everything. It all begins in the human imagination. 
 
We seem very capable and skilled at imagining war and inventing new ways to kill each other. We use our amazing human minds to do this out of a sense of fear. We devote massive amounts of our human and material resources toward making war. Then we seem to wonder why we are stuck in endless wars. 
 
I suggest here that we will not get out of this cycle of endless wars until we begin to imagine peace. Until we use our wonderful human imagination for inventing new ways to live in peace. Until we devote at least the same amount of time and resources toward attaining peace (living in peace) as we do in preparing for, and engaging in, war. 
 
A.J. Muste was a mid-twentieth century leader of the Peace Movement in America. He said “There is no way to peace, peace is the way”. Thich Nhat Hanh (TNH) famously stated (in his book of the same name) that “Peace is every step”. All of the wisdom teachers throughout our history have taught that peace begins with the individual and is realized by the way that the individual leads her/his life. 
 
TNH tells us that hope, while important, can be an obstacle to peace. We cling to the hope that something better will happen in the future. That perhaps we will find some place after we die where peace will be… He suggests that if we refrain from hoping, then we can bring ourselves into the present moment and discover the joy and peace that are already here. Peace is every step.
 
There is a plaque at the Center for Mindful Living that states:
 
Peace.
It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.
 
Peace begins with the individual. It begins with each of us imagining all of the people living life in peace. TNH states that “Enlightenment, peace, and joy will not be granted by someone else. The well is within us, and if we dig deeply in the present moment, the water will spring forth. We must go back to the present moment in order to be really alive.” Therefore, peace begins with mindful-living, and peace - is the only way out of endless wars.

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