A Practice of Peace (Tova Averbuch)

[Harrison Owen]

At 02:57 PM 4/13/2002 -0400, Meg Salter wrote:
>And yes, it begins in my own being, with as much acknowledgement of and 
>non-resistance to all that I see in myself as I can manage [the good, the 
>bad and the ugly!] and than naturally extending that out to others - 
>close.. further.. further still. Being able to provide a container for 
>peacefullness in myself helps me to provide such a container for others 
>too. Some of these "others" are clients; but it is also children, family, 
>friends.... ultimately and hopefully everyone we come in contact with. For 
>me peace is not just the feeling of peacefulness, kindness, friendliness. 
>It is the place which is able to contain that AND it's "opposite" - anger, 
>fear, jealousy.. and hold them until a resolution naturally appears.

Meg -- I think the point you make about the "inclusiveness" of Peace is 
critical. As I have been slowing moving along in the creation of what might 
be a new book (or not) -- the following showed up on the screen...


         How shall we understand Peace in ways that allow the inclusion and 
transcendence of the harsher realities of our lives? Peace without chaos, 
confusion and conflict is no peace, not because we would not prefer it that 
way, but because each member of this unholy trinity makes a positive 
contribution to the process of living. Equally, peace without ending and 
death is productive of an idealized, static life, stuck in its ways – 
precluding the possibility of any sort of evolution.
         Had the Ruler of the Universe taken our council at the start, 
perhaps we could have suggested a better way. Indeed it seems that He or 
She almost had it right in those halcyon days of The Garden of Eden (or 
whatever primal/primitive vision of our initial utopia). But then something 
happened. Some folks will see the departure from that happy place as the 
beginning of the end, and the source of all our problems. Personally, I see 
it as the end of the beginning, the starting place of the incredible human 
journey. In a word, we were kicked out of the nest and forced to fly. Like 
young eagles, we have been screaming ever since, and for sure our initial 
wing beats were frantic, verging on comical. But we have learned. Not 
without a multitude of rough landings, ill advised take-offs – to say 
nothing of more than a few “crash and burns,” but we now know something of 
the joys of flight. For those who desire a return to that idyllic state, I 
say lots of luck, and have a nice day. And when the going genuinely gets 
tough in this thing we call life, I can certainly see their point. But at 
the end of the day, and indeed on most days, I choose to celebrate the rich 
heritage of Homo sapiens, crash landings and all. The flight of the human 
spirit is, for me, truly awesome. But you do have to leave the nest, and 
that departure has its consequences.
         As for peace – I like the metaphor of  flying – all of flying, 
including first flights, last flights, and bumps along the way. Peace then 
is a process, not a thing, a journey and not a destination. It is flow and 
not a state.  Peace is the dynamic interrelationship of complex forces 
productive of wholeness, health and harmony. The Practice of Peace is the 
intentional creation of the requisite conditions under which Peace may 
occur. Peace, as far as I am concerned is infinitely more than the 
cessation of hostilities, which recently has taken the form of bombing the 
offending parties into submission until they can no longer fight back or 
each other. And Peacemaking neither starts nor ends at the negotiating 
table, for the objective is not just a set of treaty terms acceptable to 
all parties, but rather the renewal of meaningful and productive 
organizational life for the nation, business, social institution or family.

Harrison

>Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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