Global Peace Issues
Ideas about peace abound, and vary according to ones personal values and ideals. For many it can be an extension of their christian or spiritual beliefs, a desire for social justice, or a mantra to guide personal development, or a fervent desire to promote the futility of war. The perspective one takes varies according to the horizon adopted. This may indeed be about peaceful living, a focus on community development, creating a peaceful existence living in harmony and respect for the environment that is our world, or recognizing our interconnectedness, as citizens of the world. Peace can invoke feelings that are warm and fuzzy, serene, but can also be driven by 'the fire in the belly' - passions about perceptions of right and wrong !
Putting personal visions of peace to one side for a moment, the growth of the internet as a source of information and communication networks has allowed people to join and create communities of interest spread across the world, and in numbers previously unheard of. The advances in technology and telecommunications made it possible to reach out internationally with gestures of goodwill and world friendship. Global awareness became an integral part of mainstream education. Educators believed that the study of cultures, customs, and beliefs of people around the world would enable students to appreciate differences, to discover similarities, and to develop empathy for others--all necessary skills for creating a harmonious society. Global awareness became peace education in action.
Interestingly some 30 years before the advent of the world wide web,in the early 1960s, Marshall McLuhan wrote that the print culture would soon be brought to an end when electronic media replace visual culture with aural/oral culture. In this new age, humankind will move from individualism and fragmentation to a collective identity, with a "tribal base." McLuhan's coinage for this new social organization is the global village, a term which has predominantly negative connotations in The Gutenberg Galaxy (a fact lost on its later popularizers) The key to McLuhan's argument is the idea that technology per se, has no moral bent, however it is a tool that profoundly shapes an individual's and, by extension, a society's self-conception and realization.
The challenges to peace are many. Since 1945 the world has only seen 26 days without war.
The Dalai Lama, in The Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1989, commenting on peace, said:
Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.
True peace with oneself and with the world around us can only be achieved through the development of mental peace. The other phenomena mentioned above are similarly interrelated. Thus, for example, we see that a clean environment, wealth or democracy mean little in the face of war, especially nuclear war, and that material development is not sufficient to ensure human happiness.
Material progress is of course important for human advancement. In Tibet, we paid much to little attention to technological and economic development, and today we realize that this was a mistake. At the same time, material development without spiritual development can also cause serious problems. In some countries too much attention is paid to external things and very little importance is given to inner development. I believe both are important and must be developed side by side so as to achieve a good balance between them. Tibetans are always described by foreign visitors as being a happy, jovial people. This is part of our national character, formed by cultural and religious values that stress the importance of mental peace through the generation of love and kindness to all other living sentient beings, both human and animal. Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility. In that state of mind you can deal with situations with calmness and reason, while keeping your inner happiness. This is very important. Without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed or unhappy because of circumstances.
Peace in Videos
Peace in the News
Simplistic pacifism won't help Afghans - Sydney Morning Herald |
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UN Delays Release Of DR Congo Massacre Report - RTT News |
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Wallace's Blog: Showing our love for Iraq - TVNZ |
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Londonistan continues to provide British hospitality to genocidal fanatics - Spectator.co.uk |
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Obama Is Still AWOL on Sudan - Wall Street Journal |
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