For me, Juan, peace is a place beyond the struggle and opposition. I am not sure about peace as a duty, but I am sure that a focus on peace will bring peace into our lives, and a focus on conflict, whether we are for or against it, will bring conflict into our lives. When I talk about planting the seed of peace, I am talking about the way that we conduct ourselves in thought, feeling and act, that brings peace into our experience. Having a sense of duty in this regard is not necessary, but noble I think. A focus on peace may be purely altruistic, in that acting in this way brings our own peace as it ripples inward, and peace around us, as it ripples outward.
If we are struggling to bring peace into our lives, that struggle should tell us what it is about our own nature, that prevents our peace. It is important that this be recognized, and then released because ultimately, I have found, reconciling our own oppositional nature is the path to true peace. I don't agree with your assessment of totalitarianism and peace. I think a peaceful community has democracy at its core, what is good for each is good for all, all voices heard. I have had the pleasure of belonging to such groups on a small scale, and the other experience of toxic group cultures. Creating a group like this does not need to be a struggle, but it might mean bringing some members to peaceful means and processes in place to allow this. In each moment, we are called in one way or another, into motion or action. Our efficacy and peace will be the result of what we bring to each moment and how we conduct ourselves in it. Sometimes, as Vam believes, even in our peace, we are called (into I AM) to back up an aggressor in less than peaceful ways because there are those among us who will not respond otherwise. In the end, if these acts reinstate peace within the group, the greater good was served. On Oct 12, 11:26 am, Lonlaz <[email protected]> wrote: > I may be an Ogre. Vam says that peace is our true nature. Molly asks > how we are promoting peace as if it is a duty, or an obligtation. > > Peace is a passive state, true peace can only brought about with a > strong totalitarian government and a populance tamed enough to follow > the rules. Peace is a rest after your last battle and before your > next. We must struggle every day to be better people and to make > society a better place, isn't struggle the opposite of peace? > > Am I the only one in this news group who believes that two people's > definitions of peace are likely to be incompatible and inevitibly lead > to conflict? > > If you think about it, our story is a story of war and conflict, ever > since protiens linked up in the primordial soup. We are not happy > ameobas, even our ideas war with each other. I am not a warmonger, > and I don't believe in needless conflict. But there is a such thing > as necessary conflict, and sometimes the conflict is not about what is > best for everyone, but about personal survival. What is peace's place > in this world? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
