Practice of Peace in Sweden--A reflection on the Issue

[Alexander Kjerulf]

Hi

I agree that we each must find peace with ourselves and the world.
However, we can't base that inner peace on the "outer" peace, ie. we
can't wait to achieve inner peace until all (or most) external conflict
has ceased. Rather, we need a way to achieve inner peace knowing full
well, that there is war, conflict, evil and death.

I'll say this again, because it's so important: We must achieve inner
peace knowing full well that there is still war in Iraq, hunger in
Ethiopia, poverty in India, Human rights violations in China and
questionnable leadership in the west. If we don't, I fear that all our
efforts to bring about peace will be just another step in the existing
conflicts.

And remember that inner peace isn't the same as complacency. Quite the
contrary, if you're at peace with yourself and the world, you're much
more ready and willing to do something about it. Conversely, if your
worldview is dominated by anger and frustration at the current state of
the world, you're in a bad position to spread peace.

I found an excellent quote by Patch Adams, that points to this:
/Change that is deeply effective and positive presents a paradoxical
challenge. On the one hand, there needs to be an appreciation and
acceptance of how things are in the here and now. On the other hand,
there needs to be an active intention to make things better. Nothing
needs to change, and everything can improve. This is the way to avoid
the two extremist traps of activist's frustration or pessimistic
complacency./
- Patch Adams

Can you accept and appreciate the world as it is right now? Then you can
start to make it better (to quote the Beatles) :o)

Cheers

Alex

Alexander Kjerulf
alexander at kjerulf.com
http://www.positivesharing.com
http://www.projektarbejdsglaede.dk

+45 2688 2373
Tagensvej 126, lejl. 613
2200 København N



Funda Oral wrote:

>My answer to Paul, Anu and Therese is I think we don't need to chose among
>all these alternative
>behaviours; we can do all of them.
>
>- yes we should question whose story we are forced to live if this is not
>our story?
>- yes an increase is needed in our consciousness, tolerance and patience, to
>be able to go on
>( as Tova was mentioning )
>
>But there is no such thing as "individual peace, even if  only 2 people are
>fighting somewhere in the world, for
>whatever reason" ......."we can turn around, go away, close our eyes, our
>ears... but we can not find peace"..
>
>this is what I think.
>
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